Magic the Gathering Arena

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Scruffy]

if you think you'll have fun with the format, go for it i say

 

[spectre]

Cunts, the lot of them. I would totally buy it I hadn't just blown all my gold on premier draft earlier today. Note to self: I'll just have to keep a healthy 10 000 lying around.

I wouldn't use it for traditional draft (because for some reason I suck at this one), but drafting with the premier pays off nicely if you can get those 3 wins, and the discount is rather nice if you do.
Even if you don't feel like using it now, play bot draft until you git gud and then use it. Bo1 is Bo1, and doesn't matter too much who you draft with. It's not like you'll be playing with the same pod later.
I'm still contemplating if it's worth touching my cache of gems for it.

 

[Thac0]

You can buy with gems aswell, They always use the exact same gem to gold ratio on those with a fair 50 gems = 250 gold. Gold is obv better since gems are harder to get but its still a massive discount

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Thac0]

I think I will use this one for trad draft. Something about the higher stakes of a possible 0 gem payout and the inherent depth of BO3 makes my brain go into turbo autism and I play a lot better.

Trad draft having no matchmaking beyond win number is really good for me aswell, my limited often soars to platin and above too quick for my taste, and then I get shred by people in Diamond.
I played about 10 trads in Ikoria and had 2 complete fumbles, 3 3 wins runs for the massive payout and the rest was neutral 2 wins. Amazing payouts for that.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Vito and Revenge/Gray Merchant is quite a laugh.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Best shrine deck I was able to come up with:

Spoiler

Deck
4 Sanctum of All (M21) 225
21 Island (XLN) 266
4 Perilous Voyage (XLN) 67
1 Sanctum of Tranquil Light (M21) 33
1 Honden of Cleansing Fire (CHK) 14
1 Sanctum of Calm Waters (M21) 68
1 Sanctum of Stone Fangs (M21) 120
1 Honden of Night's Reach (CHK) 116
1 Honden of Infinite Rage (CHK) 172
1 Sanctum of Shattered Heights (M21) 157
1 Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest (M21) 203
1 Honden of Life's Web (CHK) 213
4 Chromatic Lantern (GRN) 233
4 Blink of an Eye (DAR) 46
4 Opt (XLN) 65
3 Omen of the Sea (THB) 58
4 Brazen Borrower (ELD) 39
3 River's Rebuke (XLN) 71

I think mono blue + lantern is the way to go, just bounce all of opponent's shit and scry hard for lantern and sanctum of all and if you can survive like 2 more turns you basically win. lantern also ramps into sanctum so you can have it on the board T4. Fun mostly mindless deck that's actually quite strong

speaking of drafts my trad drafts have been fucking miserable, two 2-1s and two 1-2s RIP my gems ugh

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

omg finally 3-0

now I have 2x 1-2, 4x 2-1, and 1x 3-0 wooo only down 3k gems now! getting less than 2 win really really really sucks still need more 3-0s to make those up

 

[Thac0]

omg finally 3-0

now I have 2x 1-2, 4x 2-1, and 1x 3-0 wooo only down 3k gems now! getting less than 2 win really really really sucks still need more 3-0s to make those up

Gz! That looks a lot like my stuff that got me to 7 wins. Massacre Wurm and Roaming Ghostlight and Library Larcenist + Rousing Read are insane.

 

[Scruffy]

when i cast new ugin they just concede

 

[Thac0]

Eugene is bae

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Since M21 released I've gotten a decent share of people trying the Underworld Dreams/Abyss combo and it seems like almost everyone uses that Ugin planeswalker card.

During another trip to Historic I was exposed to the rather hilarious Ulamog mill god. Not gonna lie, Historic looks like it has a lot of fun toys to play with in those anthology bundles.

 

[Thac0]

Ugin is a house and in Magics former most popular nonrotating formats, and one of the most popular formats in general, he si one of the strongest win conditions. All cards from 2003 onwards are legal in Modern, with a rather short ban list. It makes for a really powerfull forum where games can end on turn three.
Eugene the Spirit Dragon is one of the strongest win conditions in that format, and is next to Karn Liberated and Wurmcoil Engine

Spoiler

what makes that deck tick and win.

The deck tries to get Urzas Mine, Powerpland and Tower into play by turn three every game to tap for seven mana.

Spoiler

not their prettiest art apart from the tower, but the effects are hard to read on the other cards

The deck is called Tron, and having all three lands, tapping for seven into Ugin, Wurmdaddy or Karn is assembling Tron. It is very consistent due to cards that let you search lands into your hand for 1 mana and has T3 Tron most games.
Tron is generally pretty hated to play against since many decks just lose to the T3 7 mana fatty and as such only have 2 turns when on the draw to do anything.

Being able to T4 Tron Ugin into play with Grazer-Cultivate-Nissa is absolutely ridiculous and will probably get banned. Enjoy it while it lasts, this is as crazy as ramp will get in a long time.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Ranselknulf]

Since M21 released I've gotten a decent share of people trying the Underworld Dreams/Abyss combo and it seems like almost everyone uses that Ugin planeswalker card.

During another trip to Historic I was exposed to the rather hilarious Ulamog mill god. Not gonna lie, Historic looks like it has a lot of fun toys to play with in those anthology bundles.

I've bumped into a lot of shrine abuse decks or whatever the fuck they are called.

Had to bump up the number of "Heliods Interventions" in my deck.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

i knew getting discounted token is a miastake. Waited to get back to bronze and amassed amazing 0:3. In two of those games I couldnt do a thing rly with my amazing draw. Whats more annoying is that in theory I had very nice deck.
Ill know better next time

BO1 draft pisses me off because of this thing. Sometimes in BO3 you'll lose a match because of shit draws but it's pretty rare that it'll just happen two games in a row and it's also pretty rare that your opponent will have some BS perfect curve out in more than one game. Lots of matches that seem totally unwinnable in BO1 because of lopsided draw orders get fixed in BO3. Also there's the whole mystery shuffler in BO1 that makes things even worse, while the BO3 shuffler is actually totally random.

I'll do BO1 quick drafts and it's good value because you're essentially paying 5k gold for 5+ rares and some gems back no matter what, but premier draft reward structures seem designed to just screw you out of $$

 

[Thac0]

i knew getting discounted token is a miastake. Waited to get back to bronze and amassed amazing 0:3. In two of those games I couldnt do a thing rly with my amazing draw. Whats more annoying is that in theory I had very nice deck.
Ill know better next time

BO1 draft pisses me off because of this thing. Sometimes in BO3 you'll lose a match because of shit draws but it's pretty rare that it'll just happen two games in a row and it's also pretty rare that your opponent will have some BS perfect curve out in more than one game. Lots of matches that seem totally unwinnable in BO1 because of lopsided draw orders get fixed in BO3. Also there's the whole mystery shuffler in BO1 that makes things even worse, while the BO3 shuffler is actually totally random.

I'll do BO1 quick drafts and it's good value because you're essentially paying 5k gold for 5+ rares and some gems back no matter what, but premier draft reward structures seem designed to just screw you out of $$

Preach it brother, Magic is way too volatile and the first player winrate is way too high for BO1. Magic was designed around BO3 and it shines in that. Even if sideboarding is a major pain in the ass to learn and games take forever.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Thac0]

Preach it brother, Magic is way too volatile and the first player winrate is way too high for BO1. Magic was designed around BO3 and it shines in that. Even if sideboarding is a major pain in the ass to learn and games take forever.

just joined with free token for another premier draft.

Spoiler

13 rare/mythic pics. beg drafting ftw!

I always raredraft like a whore aswell. Passing a playable uncommon for a cool rare shaves maybe 1-2% of your winrate. The immediate reward is absolutely worth it. Only when I suspect that this pod can go to 7 wins I pick power over fancy shit,

 

[Thac0]

Hellkite Punisher is absolutely busted in draft. Now I understand why WotC does not like to put Shivan Dragons at uncommon. Had a traditional draft with 2x cultivate and 3x track for ramp into 3x Hellkite Punisher. Easiest 3 wins of my life.