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Magic the Gathering Arena
- Thread starter Berekän
- Start date
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- Tags
- f2p magic the gathering
Nope, I don't play Golgari Riders.
Sultai is probably where you want to be if you wanna play midrange tbh. I think there was even some big tournament recently that was won by Sultai Mid.
Sultai is probably where you want to be if you wanna play midrange tbh. I think there was even some big tournament recently that was won by Sultai Mid.
v1rus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2008
- Messages
- 2,294
How often is MTG meta dominated by this ultra-heavy turbo fog control and RDW polarization?
Me, personally, will be crafting Sultai as soon as deck lists stabilize, and then, Bant probably. Then Ill finally have all five colors for decks, thank god.
Me, personally, will be crafting Sultai as soon as deck lists stabilize, and then, Bant probably. Then Ill finally have all five colors for decks, thank god.
Jason Liang
Arcane
There used to be more variety but for the past few years in Standard design has hated on combo. Without combo, the archetypes are reduced to aggro, aggro-control (tempo), mid-range, ramp and control. Ramp and mid-range often have consistency issues, and aggro-control needs to have specific types of cards available to be competitive.
fwiw this standard environment has been getting a big aggro-control push
but generally speaking the lack of variety you feel is mostly the lack of viable combo decks
to be fair, the engine for combo is there (black has both Mastermind's Acquisition and Secrets of the Mausoleum) but the only interesting two card combo is still Star Captain combo
although to be fair Niv Mizzet Parun is basically a 1 card combo
hm perhaps Kraul Harpooner + Rhythm of the Wild + Gravitic Punch? ("get over here")
hm looking at the card lists, maybe Vannifar + Etrata? And you get a window to sacrifice Etrata before she reshuffles? Also Lazar would let you have two "copies" of Vannifar in play?
Vannifar + Blade Juggler ---> Niv Mizzet? Vannifar + Zahid
Blood Fast + Fountain of Agonies + Doom Whisperer + Mausoleum Secrets?
fwiw this standard environment has been getting a big aggro-control push
but generally speaking the lack of variety you feel is mostly the lack of viable combo decks
to be fair, the engine for combo is there (black has both Mastermind's Acquisition and Secrets of the Mausoleum) but the only interesting two card combo is still Star Captain combo
although to be fair Niv Mizzet Parun is basically a 1 card combo
hm perhaps Kraul Harpooner + Rhythm of the Wild + Gravitic Punch? ("get over here")
hm looking at the card lists, maybe Vannifar + Etrata? And you get a window to sacrifice Etrata before she reshuffles? Also Lazar would let you have two "copies" of Vannifar in play?
Vannifar + Blade Juggler ---> Niv Mizzet? Vannifar + Zahid
Blood Fast + Fountain of Agonies + Doom Whisperer + Mausoleum Secrets?
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Jason Liang
Arcane
Brainstorming Vannifar ~
1cc - Llanowar Elf, Saruli Caretaker,
2cc - Lazar, Emmara, Merfolk Branchwalker, Merfolk Trickster, Highland Game, Incubation Druid, Ixalli's Diviner, Growth Chamber Guardian
3cc - Knight of Autumn, Elvish Rejudenator, Generous Stray, Jadelight Ranger,
4cc - Nicol Bolas, Traxos, Shalai, Etrata, Zegana, Goreclaw, Rhada, Frilled Mystic, Golgari Findbroker, Conclave Cavalier, Sumala Woodshaper, Forerunner of the Heralds, Vine Mare, World Shaper
5cc - Lyra Dawnbringer, Garna, Vona, Arvad, Tatyova, Trostani Discordant, Nikya, Venerated Loxodon, Salvager of Secrets, Vampire Sovereign, Doom Whisperer, Tendershoot Dryad, Skalla Wolf, Prosperous Pirates, Kraul Foragers, Demanding Dragon, Blade Juggler, Bishop of Rebirth
6cc - Zahid, Muldrotha, Tetzimoc, Belzenok, Niv Mizzet, Izoni, Lena, Dream Eater, Vengeant Vampire, Ravager Wurm, Carnage Tyrant
7cc - Verdant Sun's Avatar, Tishana, Siege Wurm, Pelakka Wurm, Meteor Golem, Lotleth Giant
8cc - Zetalpa Primal Dawn, Torgaar, Polyraptor, Gate Colossus
9cc - Zacama, Molderhulk
10cc - Impervious Greatwurm
Enchantments
- Rhythm of the Wild
- Guardian Project
- Wilderness Reclamation
- Sarkhan's Unsealing
- Path of Discovery
- Sagas
Planeswalkers
- Domri
- Vivien Reed
Instants/ Sorceries
- Incubation/ Incongruity
- Adventurous Impulse
- Dive Down
- Wizard's Rebuttal
- Quench
- Negate
- Growth Spiral
Bant?
- Emmara
- Knight of Autumn
- Conclave Cavalier
- Shalai
Temur?
- Rhythm of the Wild
- Sarkhan's Unsealing
Sultai?
- Legion Zealot
- Blade Juggler
- Golgari Findbroker
- Muldrotha
- Lazar
- Etrata
1cc - Llanowar Elf, Saruli Caretaker,
2cc - Lazar, Emmara, Merfolk Branchwalker, Merfolk Trickster, Highland Game, Incubation Druid, Ixalli's Diviner, Growth Chamber Guardian
3cc - Knight of Autumn, Elvish Rejudenator, Generous Stray, Jadelight Ranger,
4cc - Nicol Bolas, Traxos, Shalai, Etrata, Zegana, Goreclaw, Rhada, Frilled Mystic, Golgari Findbroker, Conclave Cavalier, Sumala Woodshaper, Forerunner of the Heralds, Vine Mare, World Shaper
5cc - Lyra Dawnbringer, Garna, Vona, Arvad, Tatyova, Trostani Discordant, Nikya, Venerated Loxodon, Salvager of Secrets, Vampire Sovereign, Doom Whisperer, Tendershoot Dryad, Skalla Wolf, Prosperous Pirates, Kraul Foragers, Demanding Dragon, Blade Juggler, Bishop of Rebirth
6cc - Zahid, Muldrotha, Tetzimoc, Belzenok, Niv Mizzet, Izoni, Lena, Dream Eater, Vengeant Vampire, Ravager Wurm, Carnage Tyrant
7cc - Verdant Sun's Avatar, Tishana, Siege Wurm, Pelakka Wurm, Meteor Golem, Lotleth Giant
8cc - Zetalpa Primal Dawn, Torgaar, Polyraptor, Gate Colossus
9cc - Zacama, Molderhulk
10cc - Impervious Greatwurm
Enchantments
- Rhythm of the Wild
- Guardian Project
- Wilderness Reclamation
- Sarkhan's Unsealing
- Path of Discovery
- Sagas
Planeswalkers
- Domri
- Vivien Reed
Instants/ Sorceries
- Incubation/ Incongruity
- Adventurous Impulse
- Dive Down
- Wizard's Rebuttal
- Quench
- Negate
- Growth Spiral
Bant?
- Emmara
- Knight of Autumn
- Conclave Cavalier
- Shalai
Temur?
- Rhythm of the Wild
- Sarkhan's Unsealing
Sultai?
- Legion Zealot
- Blade Juggler
- Golgari Findbroker
- Muldrotha
- Lazar
- Etrata
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Multi-headed Cow
Arcane
Been playing more of this than anything else lately. It's been weird how I played 1, maybe 2 games of it in closed beta and didn't give a shit. Ignored it when it moved to open beta, then reinstalled it for the game awards promo code on a whim and figured "I guess I'll play until I get all the starter decks" and now pretty much every evening I crank through my dailies and have a blast. Broke down and crafted mono blue just as a change from RDW and it actually does play a fair bit differently. When I'd match against it it felt fairly ooga booga face race like RDW, but I think those were just bad players. Seems to work way better to take easy and keep enough mana on hand for counters so you just cockblock your opponent repeatedly and grind him down. Pretty much what Projas was saying last page, but since I'm a cardlet in MTGA I've been having a great time when I finally pick up meta decks in drips and drabs. Pretty fun to play, not sure if I'll make the jump to Izzet drakes yet but I very well may.
Speaking of Projas, the mono red arclight deck is this:
I've seen it played a bit and it's kind of cool. Using the fields and guttersnipes to chip away damage with the single mana cantrips and Tormenting Voice for more draw and easily tossing the arclights, and the cantrips again work well with getting arclights out (And the spectacle cards do too). It's slower and less aggressive than RDW but it can go hog wild if even one field or guttersnipe sticks reasonably well. And it's also pretty cheap (Other than the arclights) which is always a plus for me burning up wildcards.
spectre
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2008
- Messages
- 5,595
Izzet drakes is nice because you can tweak it quite a bit and it'll play very differently. Not to mention, it's a nice gateway to going jeskai control.
Be sure to tech vs. aggro when you build it, because the netdecks I keep running into tend to forget about this, and being weak vs. RDW isn't the best place to be at the moment.
I bump into that mono red arclight deck every now and then and it always fails to impress (unless it's playing a deck that has little to no board interaction).
Doesn't really do anything until turn three and really goes tits up if its handful of creatures get blown away. You really need an early drop in there to trigger spectacle.
All in all, I think UR makes for a better arclight shell, and when it comes to straight face burn, I think prefer the BR version.
In my opinion, there are better mythics to craft than the phoenix, but hey, your call. It fits along nicely with UR drakes.
Be sure to tech vs. aggro when you build it, because the netdecks I keep running into tend to forget about this, and being weak vs. RDW isn't the best place to be at the moment.
I bump into that mono red arclight deck every now and then and it always fails to impress (unless it's playing a deck that has little to no board interaction).
Doesn't really do anything until turn three and really goes tits up if its handful of creatures get blown away. You really need an early drop in there to trigger spectacle.
All in all, I think UR makes for a better arclight shell, and when it comes to straight face burn, I think prefer the BR version.
In my opinion, there are better mythics to craft than the phoenix, but hey, your call. It fits along nicely with UR drakes.
Jason Liang
Arcane
Brainstorming Biomancer's Familiar:
spectre
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2008
- Messages
- 5,595
I really liked Thirsting Shade, but it's a pretty crap card without the discount. And The familiar doesn't help it too much, because you want to have pretty much all black mana on board and while it's not impossible with all the duals we have, going UBG does not guarantee that. Drudge Sentinel is another card I always wanted to make use of, but just couldn't get value out of it even in limited. I think UBG would be a worthwile approach if Winding Constrictors were still in standard.
I think the best pairing is with Growth-Chamber Guardians, turn two guardian then turn three familiar and adapt is right on curve, and from then on, you can just start shitting them out turn after turn and don't play anything else other than holding out mana for counters. Top off with Hadana's Climb and the game might end quite fast. Adding white just for Shalom seems like a decent idea if you want to base the deck on creature abilities.
You've also missed incubation Druids. The familiar makes the adapt cost quite adaptable and lets you keep going when you tap it for mana. Since a lot of the bunch are elves, you just might try and recreate the good old elf-fireball. The pieces are all there.
I think the best pairing is with Growth-Chamber Guardians, turn two guardian then turn three familiar and adapt is right on curve, and from then on, you can just start shitting them out turn after turn and don't play anything else other than holding out mana for counters. Top off with Hadana's Climb and the game might end quite fast. Adding white just for Shalom seems like a decent idea if you want to base the deck on creature abilities.
You've also missed incubation Druids. The familiar makes the adapt cost quite adaptable and lets you keep going when you tap it for mana. Since a lot of the bunch are elves, you just might try and recreate the good old elf-fireball. The pieces are all there.
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Jason Liang
Arcane
Some fun times with Kitesails and Cannonades today ~
Self-detonated Judith for the instant win; fire beats vampires
Couldn't get through Lyra so I just waited with Experimental Frenzy until I had the right cards to burn her out. The Lightning Strike is from a Light up the Stage.
Funny game, every time he Conclaved my Kitesail to get back his Heroic Reinforcements I had another Kitesail waiting to steal it back. I suppose Drill Bit would have settled things for good. Very lucky since on turn 4 he tapped out Replendent Angel and two Adantos to Conclave the first Kitesail; lost the picture but Cannonade took out the two Adantos and a Resplendent Angel on my turn. Then the dead Dire Fleet Captain traded with a 3rd Adanto - I figured it was a good trade. Chipped him down with Captain Storm and the 3rd Kitesail, drew Carnage for lethal face damage.
Funny land draw - playing against a mill deck didn't help. Still got through with a hoard of tiny jolly men; a timely Kitesail nabbed his Ritual of Soot, although he lacked the black to cast it at the time. I suppose my two noncreature spells wouldn't have helped in this match up.
Self-detonated Judith for the instant win; fire beats vampires
Couldn't get through Lyra so I just waited with Experimental Frenzy until I had the right cards to burn her out. The Lightning Strike is from a Light up the Stage.
Funny game, every time he Conclaved my Kitesail to get back his Heroic Reinforcements I had another Kitesail waiting to steal it back. I suppose Drill Bit would have settled things for good. Very lucky since on turn 4 he tapped out Replendent Angel and two Adantos to Conclave the first Kitesail; lost the picture but Cannonade took out the two Adantos and a Resplendent Angel on my turn. Then the dead Dire Fleet Captain traded with a 3rd Adanto - I figured it was a good trade. Chipped him down with Captain Storm and the 3rd Kitesail, drew Carnage for lethal face damage.
Funny land draw - playing against a mill deck didn't help. Still got through with a hoard of tiny jolly men; a timely Kitesail nabbed his Ritual of Soot, although he lacked the black to cast it at the time. I suppose my two noncreature spells wouldn't have helped in this match up.
Jason Liang
Arcane
Very good with combat tricks like Deadeye Rigger or Deadeye Quartermaster + Pirate's Cutlass/ Fell Flagship. Of course best hijinks is still Hostage Taker.
Just noticed that you can hostage your own stuff, so Hostage Taker is itself a Siren's Ruse.
Just noticed that you can hostage your own stuff, so Hostage Taker is itself a Siren's Ruse.
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spectre
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2008
- Messages
- 5,595
You can always try and live the dream - Forerunner of the Coalition for Hostage taker, Hostage the Forerunner, get another hostage taker, repeat until you can loop all three infinitely and drop the life total to zero.
Perhaps I am underestimating the card, but Moodmark Painter is pretty shite. Only works in dedicated undegrowth decks, and even there it's plenty of better 4 cmc stuff.
If you want blink targets, people use do dick around with Chupa. Though I believe this kind of deck is a bit slow for the current meta. Deputy of detention is another great target, and adding white
gives you access to more blinks - Justiciar's Portals. The bell-haunts aren't too shabby as well.
IMO, don't try too hard to get off the additional draw a card from pirate synergy. It's great when it happens, but not 100% necessary. Even if you blink to dodge removal is fine, because it keeps the pressure on the table.
Also, check out Quasiduplicate. Obviously you can't blink tokens, but it's another great way to abuse CiP abilities.
Perhaps I am underestimating the card, but Moodmark Painter is pretty shite. Only works in dedicated undegrowth decks, and even there it's plenty of better 4 cmc stuff.
If you want blink targets, people use do dick around with Chupa. Though I believe this kind of deck is a bit slow for the current meta. Deputy of detention is another great target, and adding white
gives you access to more blinks - Justiciar's Portals. The bell-haunts aren't too shabby as well.
IMO, don't try too hard to get off the additional draw a card from pirate synergy. It's great when it happens, but not 100% necessary. Even if you blink to dodge removal is fine, because it keeps the pressure on the table.
Also, check out Quasiduplicate. Obviously you can't blink tokens, but it's another great way to abuse CiP abilities.
Dawkinsfan69
Dumbfuck!
^^ I'm glad that there's enough people playing where you can make fun theme decks and find people on a similar level
Always annoying to play games where people only do meta crap
Always annoying to play games where people only do meta crap
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2017
- Messages
- 180
Jason Liang
Arcane
Were Walking Ballista still legal, you could probably one-shot your opponent with an adapt creature and Lazav.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2017
- Messages
- 180
No idea how you would do that, but there's always Chamber Sentry.
spectre
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2008
- Messages
- 5,595
People play to win. Can't really progress otherwise, so can't blame them. I guess "play mode" just spells easy wins for some wankers who can't handle paid-in events or ranked.
Only way you can get that kitchen table magic on is by hitting people up on discord and direct challenge.
Probably the sneakiest way to do it is drop a Lazav and once he resolves immediately dump a Chamber Sentry and a Ballista, or you can get lucky with stitcher's suppliers. Toughest part is probably getting and keeping the two familiars on board.
Only way you can get that kitchen table magic on is by hitting people up on discord and direct challenge.
Two Biomancer's Familiars means you put counters on Wanking Ballista for free. Lazav turns into ballista for no cost, but needs to have at least one counter to kickstart the whole thing, otherwise he'll die as state based effect.
Probably the sneakiest way to do it is drop a Lazav and once he resolves immediately dump a Chamber Sentry and a Ballista, or you can get lucky with stitcher's suppliers. Toughest part is probably getting and keeping the two familiars on board.
Jason Liang
Arcane
Biomancer's familiar can't reduce the activation cost below 1. If it could, you'd just go 2 Apprentices + Slimefoot.
Lazav needs an anthem effect so it doesn't die when it changes into Ballista. Otherwise he can change to say Pteramander, get 4 +1/+1 tokens for u, change to Ballista, discharge the tokens, repeat.
Lazav needs an anthem effect so it doesn't die when it changes into Ballista. Otherwise he can change to say Pteramander, get 4 +1/+1 tokens for u, change to Ballista, discharge the tokens, repeat.
spectre
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2008
- Messages
- 5,595
Right, gotta read them fucking cards one day.
Pteramander seems like a decent rate of mana to counters, though you still need a handful instants in the graveyard to make it happen. You'd probably need to start with a bunch of stitcher's suppliers to get things going.
I'd still love to see some decent fucking tutoring in this game. I know these things are pretty much haram for the design team, but is land tutoring, Mausoleum Secrets and Mastermind's Acquisition really the best we can work with?
Pteramander seems like a decent rate of mana to counters, though you still need a handful instants in the graveyard to make it happen. You'd probably need to start with a bunch of stitcher's suppliers to get things going.
I'd still love to see some decent fucking tutoring in this game. I know these things are pretty much haram for the design team, but is land tutoring, Mausoleum Secrets and Mastermind's Acquisition really the best we can work with?
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