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Magic the Gathering Arena

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,519
Location
Crait
Got there in Singleton with Rakdos aggro on the 4th try. Was too lazy to get too creative. Should probably have a Pestilent Spirit in there.

mtga062.jpg


1 Theater of Horrors (RNA) 213
1 Judith, the Scourge Diva (RNA) 185
1 Isareth the Awakener (M19) 104
1 Captain Lannery Storm (XLN) 136
1 Blade Juggler (RNA) 63
1 Rakdos Firewheeler (RNA) 197
1 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82
1 Hackrobat (RNA) 181
1 Plague Mare (M19) 114
1 Ruin Raider (XLN) 118
1 Midnight Reaper (GRN) 77
1 Fireblade Artist (RNA) 172
1 Rix Maadi Reveler (RNA) 109
1 Dire Fleet Poisoner (RIX) 68
1 Kitesail Freebooter (XLN) 110
1 Orzhov Enforcer (RNA) 79
1 Gutterbones (RNA) 76
1 Pilfering Imp (GRN) 81
1 Grasping Scoundrel (RIX) 74
1 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
1 Rigging Runner (XLN) 157
1 Footlight Fiend (RNA) 216
1 Light Up the Stage (RNA) 107
1 Skewer the Critics (RNA) 115
1 Drill Bit (RNA) 73
1 Walk the Plank (XLN) 130
1 Lava Coil (GRN) 108
1 Divest (DAR) 87
1 Duress (XLN) 105
1 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
1 Bedevil (RNA) 157
1 Murder (M19) 110
1 Cast Down (DAR) 81
1 Wizard's Lightning (DAR) 152
1 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149
1 Shock (M19) 156
1 Carnival // Carnage (RNA) 222
1 Bedeck // Bedazzle (RNA) 221
1 Blood Crypt (RNA) 245
1 Cinder Barrens (M19) 248
1 Rakdos Guildgate (RNA) 255
1 Dragonskull Summit (XLN) 252
1 Evolving Wilds (RIX) 186
1 Unclaimed Territory (XLN) 258
10 Swamp (RIX) 194
6 Mountain (RIX) 195

mtga061.jpg

Can we keep the Machete avatar?

Also pulled the jellyfish from today's pack so it was a gud day.

mtga063.jpg
 
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illuknisaa

Cipher
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
686
Hostage taker is pretty sweet. I style opponent's helm of the host and the put it on my taker. He scooped.

Ive been trying to get my play set of ghaltas but so far I only got two. It seems I always get matched with sultai, esper or jeskai control with piece of shit esper list. Cant I have some vampire tribal opponents?
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,519
Location
Crait
anyone here do traditional draft? I wanna play with RNA cards in a draft but I'm silver and I think matchmaking doesn't account for rank there?

Will I just be getting hosed by mythic rank players? shit's p expensive
It's draft... if they're better than you at playing magic than they're better than you

but I'm sure there are plenty of newbs to bully in the ocean
 

111111111

Guest
It so hard building a good deck if your new to the game.

Green seems like shit considering mana cost of big creatures vs kill/enchant cards. When I win with green it's not cause my deck strength but because the other guy got unlucky.

Cant comment on black as I just dont vibe with it and never felt really oppressive.

Mono red burn seems to be the fastest and simplest way to winning the game. It's relatively brainless and the deck building is pretty intuitive. Just pack damage spells and spectacle cards.

White seems pretty strong. It can gain life, get strong creatures and their enchantments feels really good to use. Like red, building a white deck feels intuitive.

Just fuck blue. Whenever I see an island I just want to concede.

Just some takes from a new player.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,519
Location
Crait
It so hard building a good deck if your new to the game.

Green seems like shit considering mana cost of big creatures vs kill/enchant cards. When I win with green it's not cause my deck strength but because the other guy got unlucky.

Cant comment on black as I just dont vibe with it and never felt really oppressive.

Mono red burn seems to be the fastest and simplest way to winning the game. It's relatively brainless and the deck building is pretty intuitive. Just pack damage spells and spectacle cards.

White seems pretty strong. It can gain life, get strong creatures and their enchantments feels really good to use. Like red, building a white deck feels intuitive.

Just fuck blue. Whenever I see an island I just want to concede.

Just some takes from a new player.
Unfortunately red is just about as cancerous as blue these days

Green's main strength in standard is ramp (Llanowar Elves), midrange value (Wildgrowth Walker, Growth Chamber Guardian, Jadelight Ranger, Guardian Project, Vivien Reed), dig (Incubation, Commune with Dinosaurs, Adventurous Impulse) and some of the best, sticky finishers (Vine Mare, Carnage Tyrant, Hydroid Krasis). Green relies on another color for control elements, but it pairs well with each of the other colors.

Black is the most versatile control color. In addition to mass removal and targeted removal, black has discard, graveyard manipulation and even tutoring.

White's my least favorite color. Just boring, knights and angels. White also can't deal with tricks very well.

In Magic, to win, you got to deal damage, either with creatures or direct damage effects. Game is not too complicated once you break it down like that

Some basic deckbuilding guidelines-
a) color
build a two color deck. One color is your main color and the other is your splash color. You need to draw your early creatures and spells from your main color, while your splash color should be spells you want to cast turn 3 and later. For example, if you want green for Llanowar Elves then green must be your main color, not a splash color.

b) don't underestimate cheap creatures and spells
although 1cc creatures like Fanatical Firebrand seem weak, they are still some of the best cards you can play on turn 1. A 5cc spell like Eldest Reborn might seem really powerful when you cast it, but most of the time a 1cc or 2cc spell like Cast Down will help you win more.

c) have some sources of card draw or card flow
every deck improves with some card draw. It helps smooth out your lands, help you hit land drops, make sure you draw enough gas and gets you closer to your bombs. Cheap card draw is especially useful to hit land drops. Make sure you have at least 6 sources of card draw in your deck, even small stuff like Dusk Legion Zealot.

d) have some spells that can directly remove Planeswalkers
Planeswalkers can get out of hand quickly so unless you are running a blitz aggro deck, you need some spells that can remove planeswalkers directly. You can't count on creature damage alone.
 
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spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,603
If you feel uncertain about ability, just don't do it. Otoh, traditional draft is not that different from bo1 draft, you only get to see the same wanker a few times more and you can get away with picking a few "sideboard" cards along the way.
Other than that, everybody's in the same boat, sometimes you get all the right cards to make a full blown fucking Izzet, with all the drakes, together with Parun himself (I've seen one such guy previous season),
other days you struggle bashing three colors together.

Nobody's going to take a plunge for you. If the worst possible outcome isn't acceptable to you, then don't do it. These gems aren't going anywhere. Practice in the f2p draft, google drafting BREAD,
fire up a bunch of tutorials for drafting ravnica and take your time picking stuff then shaving the deck down to 40 cards. It's only hard if you don't know what you're doing.
 

Dawkinsfan69

Dumbfuck!
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Otoh, traditional draft is not that different from bo1 draft, you only get to see the same wanker a few times more and you can get away with picking a few "sideboard" cards along the way.

It's actually quite a bit different.. Ranked draft bases matchmaking on your rank and matches you against people of similar skill level. Traditional doesn't, it just matches randomly.

I'm hesitant because I think that most people in Traditional are going to be very very good at the game because it's just too expensive to play and go 0-2
 

Scruffy

Ex-janitor
Patron
Joined
May 16, 2008
Messages
18,150
Codex 2012 Torment: Tides of Numenera Codex USB, 2014
a friend of mine and i were brainstorming all weekend and managed 5-0s and 5-1s with this:


1 Orzhov Enforcer (RNA) 79
8 Swamp (RIX) 194
1 Basilica Bell-Haunt (RNA) 156
9 Plains (RIX) 192
1 Knight of Malice (DAR) 97
1 Knight of Grace (DAR) 23
1 Hunted Witness (GRN) 15
1 Resplendent Angel (M19) 34
1 History of Benalia (DAR) 21
1 Martyr of Dusk (RIX) 14
1 Murder (M19) 110
1 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
1 Mortify (RNA) 192
1 The Eldest Reborn (DAR) 90
1 Cast Down (DAR) 81
1 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79
1 Walk the Plank (XLN) 130
1 Severed Strands (GRN) 85
1 Vicious Offering (DAR) 110
1 Priest of Forgotten Gods (RNA) 83
1 Doomed Dissenter (M19) 93
1 Deathbloom Thallid (DAR) 84
1 Fungal Infection (DAR) 94
1 Golden Demise (RIX) 73
1 Adanto Vanguard (XLN) 1
1 Plaguecrafter (GRN) 82
1 Gutterbones (RNA) 76
1 Lyra Dawnbringer (DAR) 26
1 Soul Salvage (DAR) 104
1 Isareth the Awakener (M19) 104
1 Recover (RIX) 84
1 Seraph of the Scales (RNA) 205
1 Imperious Oligarch (RNA) 184
1 Teysa Karlov (RNA) 212
1 Memorial to Folly (DAR) 242
1 Forsaken Sanctuary (M19) 250
1 Godless Shrine (RNA) 248
1 Isolated Chapel (DAR) 241
1 Orzhov Guildgate (RNA) 252
1 Tithe Taker (RNA) 27
1 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82
1 Midnight Reaper (GRN) 77
1 Final Payment (RNA) 171
1 Kinjalli's Sunwing (XLN) 19
1 Karn, Scion of Urza (DAR) 1
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,519
Location
Crait
Guys what's the blue/white counter to mono red? outhealing the damage somehow?
Absorb
Revitalize and History of Benalia for value
Shalai and Lyra
Conclave Judgment/ Settle the Wreckage for their Phoenixes

They draw more gas than you so you need to find the opportunity to wittle their life down. If you live long enough to drop Lyra you should be good.
 

Dawkinsfan69

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Thx guys I'm trying to build a mass manipulation deck.. The idea is to basically lock all of opponent's creatures down, mass manipulate, then cleansing nova the enchantments

I added 4 fountains of renewal, 1 Kaya, 1 ritual of soot, 4 mephitic vapors to wipe tokens

1 Mass Manipulation (RNA) 42
1 Cleansing Nova (M19) 9
2 Lawmage's Binding (RNA) 190
4 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
2 Slimebind (RNA) 54
4 Luminous Bonds (RIX) 12
2 Sky Tether (RNA) 21
1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper (RNA) 186
1 Ritual of Soot (GRN) 84
4 Mephitic Vapors (GRN) 76
3 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
1 Search for Azcanta (XLN) 74
2 The Immortal Sun (RIX) 180
4 Treasure Map (XLN) 250
1 Clear the Mind (RNA) 34

4 Meandering River (M19) 253
4 Azorius Guildgate (RNA) 244
4 Submerged Boneyard (M19) 257
2 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
4 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 245
4 Fountain of Renewal (M19) 235
4 Forsaken Sanctuary (M19) 250
2 Island (RIX) 193

It's pretty hilarious when it works. Most people just concede after like 15 minutes of being totally locked down but if I don't get fountains out vs red very early it's gg. Annoying that mono red is so damn popular
 
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Dawkinsfan69

Dumbfuck!
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OK after further testing I've realized that 2 clear the minds is NECESSARY for infinite draw. I've added a flying creature as well for good measure.. This is what we're at now:

1 Mass Manipulation (RNA) 42
1 Cleansing Nova (M19) 9
2 Lawmage's Binding (RNA) 190
3 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
1 Search for Azcanta (XLN) 74
4 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
2 Slimebind (RNA) 54
4 Luminous Bonds (RIX) 12
2 Sky Tether (RNA) 21
1 Ritual of Soot (GRN) 84
1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper (RNA) 186
4 Fountain of Renewal (M19) 235
2 The Immortal Sun (RIX) 180
4 Treasure Map (XLN) 250
3 Mephitic Vapors (GRN) 76
2 Clear the Mind (RNA) 34
1 The Haunt of Hightower (RNA) 273

4 Azorius Guildgate (RNA) 244
4 Submerged Boneyard (M19) 257
4 Forsaken Sanctuary (M19) 250
2 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
4 Meandering River (M19) 253
4 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 245
2 Island (RIX) 193
 

spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,603
It's actually quite a bit different.. Ranked draft bases matchmaking on your rank and matches you against people of similar skill level. Traditional doesn't, it just matches randomly.

I'm hesitant because I think that most people in Traditional are going to be very very good at the game because it's just too expensive to play and go 0-2
I didn't read too much about this, because I really could care less, but from what I remember only the initial pairings are random, after that it's mostly current win/loss that counts.
So yeah, ranked draft has a bit of initial padding, but if you played arena draft before, you should know your chances.
Fear is the mind killer.

Guys what's the blue/white counter to mono red? outhealing the damage somehow?
A good bunch of Esper decks pack 4x Absorb, 4x Moment of Craving, sometimes 3x Revitalize or Haunt of the Bell Tower. This is more than sufficient to get you out of their range.
If they are still playing Experimental Frenzy, it's important to be able to counter that, cause once the Steam Kins are a-going all the lifegain in the world won't be enough.
Other than that, mono red really doesn't like 4 and 5 toughness creatures. If they shat out all their burn and you're still not dead on turn 5, plop a Lyra Dawnbringerova and they should fold right after you attack.
Can be paired with Shalom, Voice of Oy Vey to seal the deal even better.

I see you choose Fountains of Removal, and this is also a decent choice; however, it's really the optimal choice if you can exploit the life drip (Dawn of Hope, Ajanis White Pride, Mate) and artifact synergy (Djinn of the Lamp, Tezzeret, Karn).
 

Dawkinsfan69

Dumbfuck!
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A good bunch of Esper decks pack 4x Absorb, 4x Moment of Craving, sometimes 3x Revitalize or Haunt of the Bell Tower. This is more than sufficient to get you out of their range.
If they are still playing Experimental Frenzy, it's important to be able to counter that, cause once the Steam Kins are a-going all the lifegain in the world won't be enough.
Other than that, mono red really doesn't like 4 and 5 toughness creatures. If they shat out all their burn and you're still not dead on turn 5, plop a Lyra Dawnbringerova and they should fold right after you attack.
Can be paired with Shalom, Voice of Oy Vey to seal the deal even better.

I see you choose Fountains of Removal, and this is also a decent choice; however, it's really the optimal choice if you can exploit the life drip (Dawn of Hope, Ajanis White Pride, Mate) and artifact synergy (Djinn of the Lamp, Tezzeret, Karn).

Absorb is a good idea it'd probably be better than sinister sabotage. Think I'll replace that if I have enough copies.

I'm trying not to run creatures cuz I really wanna win with mass manipulate for the memes but I think I need one creature in case my opponent is just running a bunch of shitty little 2/1 red things. I'll probably swap haunt of hightower for pridemate I think? I like hightower's discard + the fact that it's flying + it survives soot but I guess that doesn't really matter when you have a 1000/1000 pridemate after a few turns
 

spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,603
I really could care less
if you could care less, then why didn't you read about it?
Because my supply of fucks to give is running dangerously short, to the point that each one requires a Stock Issue Confirmation (CI).
And If I couldn't care less, I probably also couldn't even, and let's not go down that path, m'kay?


I'm trying not to run creatures cuz I really wanna win with mass manipulate for the memes but I think I need one creature in case my opponent is just running a bunch of shitty little 2/1 red things. I'll probably swap haunt of hightower for pridemate I think? I like hightower's discard + the fact that it's flying + it survives soot but I guess that doesn't really matter when you have a 1000/1000 pridemate after a few turns
There's always Eldest Reborn if you like to beat people up with their own shit. Going creatureless is fine, but I think you need more board wipes to make it happen. Kaya's Cries from Carnarium, Cleansing Novas.
Until you have the rares to burn, you need to plug the holes with creatures.
The problem with Pridem8s is that fragile moment where they need to grow more before they're ready to go, but yeah, it's fun to watch them grow. One game the other guy knew I was holding a Seal Away, so we watched his dude grow all the way to something like 30/30.
You really need trample or some kind of evasion on your finishers or a silly Dawn of Hope will block it infinitely.

I actually suggested DoH, because it's quite all right under The Immoral Sun.
 

lukaszek

the determinator
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
13,164
deterministic system > RNG
 
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