Magic the Gathering Arena

[Akratus]

Golgari really wants to go for edgewall innkeeper plus adventure cards (lovestruck beast, foulmire knight, murderous rider).

Also you want to ramp into Nissa. Yes, you definitely want to do that.

I'm not sure. . I feel that distracts from the overgrowth, which should be the focus. The deck used to have like 90 cards but I trimmed it down because I wanted efficiency and I took out all the cards that were good, sure, but didn't contribute to the overgrowth. Or am I missing something here?

 

[spectre]

Overgrowth is a mechanic that's delegated to mostly a casual play and limited.
On the other hand, dumping shit in your graveyard then bringing them back is a quintessential green-black experience, so I won't be dissuade you from the good path. Have fun with it for the time being
and be sure to sprinkle some discard in there for good measure.
I recommend crafting a set of Sanitarium Skeletons together with some sacrifice pay-off cards like Blood for Bones (this and Bond of revival are the quintessential reanimation spells in the current cardpool).
It's fun to cycle things like Plaguecrafter a few times with those. It might even make stuff like bone splinters playable.

Don't use shit like Sporecap Spider, District Guide, Cauldron's Gift, Golgari Locket, Crushing Canopy, Swarm Shaman, Disentomb. It's pretty much intended for limited and has little business in constructed.
Paradise Druid is the (inexpensive) thing to craft and can help playing the less optimal stuff on time - status // statue, deathsprout. I realize you may need to stick to those until you get more big boy toys.

Obviously, Cauldron Familiar + Witches Oven is another viable and inexpensive thing to try in anything featuring black.

 

[Akratus]

Don't use shit like Sporecap Spider, District Guide, Cauldron's Gift, Golgari Locket, Crushing Canopy, Swarm Shaman, Disentomb. It's pretty much intended for limited and has little business in constructed.
Paradise Druid is the (inexpensive) thing to craft and can help playing the less optimal stuff on time - status // statue, deathsprout. I realize you may need to stick to those until you get more big boy toys.

Obviously, Cauldron Familiar + Witches Oven is another viable and inexpensive thing to try in anything featuring black.

I suppose I see why those cards you mention are better left out of the deck, but even Cauldron's gift? It's really helped me turn games around, and can even get a major creature on the battlefield early if I'm lucky enough to get it into the graveyard.

 

[spectre]

The +1/+1 counter isn't that big of a deal for the setup required. Overall, Blood For Bones and Bond of Revival are better cards for the reanimation strategy (and easy to craft) - Bond is better for ending the game on the quickly (targeting something like Drakuseth), while Blood for Bones is great for generating value (use it with stuff like Cavalier of Night, Plaguecrafter or Agent of Treachery).

 

[Venser]

Started playing the game again, all my decks were out of standards and I created some shitty random deck on my own. I was surprised I was able to make it to Mythic against all the net decks.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Pope Amole II]

Eh, compared to shitting ceratops it's pretty much nothin'. Weak body, legendary, vulnerable to two kinds of removal and it can be countered. Veil was much faster & meaner.

All in all, the set looks to be a huge power drop in comparison to eldraine. Escape looks like retarded child of Delve & Flashback, providing weaksauce effects for unfunnily inflated costs. Enchantment theme is kinda out there atm. Setessan champion is nice but she'll need a ton of decent cheap enchantments and we've yet to see them. Temples are meh. Out of mythics, only the puppies and 3-mana gods are really impressive. The satyr girls is amazing, though it's hilarious how she has hairy body and hands but shaved armpits. Black devotion seems really strong - mono-black already is almost a deck and now they're given two incredible payoffs.

Dunno, for a half of a set that we're aware of, there's not much to be excited for.

 

[spectre]

Yeah, this one dies to Murderous Rider, so it's okay.

Is it just me, or the last few events were all fucking rip-offs? If the plan was to make me to just hoard those shekels, the crazy sons of bitches did it.
And I used to be crazy for this shit. 2500 geld for 3000 Exp does nothing for me, given that I am already level 117 and cosmetic effects for two cards that I won't ever be playing can fuck right off.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

so far im attending out of habit... i amassed gold faster than before. with my play patterns i dont rly spend anything. maybe its time to play limited a bit? its a scam but its not like i have better stuff to do once i amassed all the gold/gems and wild cards i need

Nothing wrong with getting premium currency this way, though I tend to get massive diminishing returns after hitting gold. I suppose you could try to game it an try staying in silver for as long as possible, e.g. just cutting off at the 3-4 wins mark,
but that feels like too much of a bother. Not to mention, not all sets are equally enjoyable to draft. No way to tell if Theros will be any good.

I'm sitting on 20k judengeld and 8k gems at the moment, which isn't terribly spectacular, but will let me stay F2P with the mastery. Standard has worn me out and nothing terribly exciting in Theros so far.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I'm somewhere around 105k gold and 4k gems because I hadn't been spending it for about half of Eldraine's season, might try to be decent and play more draft for Theros when the time comes rather than just cracking packs but it depends. Not all that wild about standard currently either even though it's less obnoxious than all-Oko all the time at least. But I also still play suboptimal decks like Izzet drakes just because I like 'em. Haven't been keeping up on Theros spoilers so I know jack shit about it, I just know the white god looks pretty obscene and that black draw 3 enchantment should be good for Esper dance.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

Looks like my shekel count is still in the rookie numbers. Though I do tend to spend it all on shit that catches my fancy.
I need to try one of them fancy trackers to show me my collected percentages. I used one, but it kept going tits up with every update,
then I kept forgetting to turn it on. They really could get their shit together and code the basic stats display into the client.

Though who am I kidding, they had a hard time finalizing the sorry excuse for friends list.

There's one card from Theros is this:

I hope it represents a more general trend, maybe they came to their senses and treat them on equal terms to creatures, now that they're nearly as common.
Regardless, finaly some 'wanker sweep other than the clunky elderspell or white ethnic cleansings. Rven though it won't hit the major players, at it's something.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

It's not that big of a committment, you don't need all four, and the sweet spot is somewhere between 2 and 3.

Embercleave on a Rotting Regisaur pretty much ends the game on the spot, it's also usable in all kinds of GR aggro, I'm also using one in a UR flash varaint.
If you're running red and creatures with 4+ power, it's a card that will do good work as long as it's legal in standard.

Technically when you count it, the damage output isn't always that spectacular if you have to cleave smaller creatures - if you were just to burn face with spells you might achieve similar results, considering the mana investment.
On the other hand it gives trample, which can be a big deal when rolling over shit like Cauldron Familiar. Then there's the issue of Teferi shitting on the entire business.

tl;dr, I crafter one, liked it, wanted a second one, got third from packs and I use them every now and then.

 

[Pope Amole II]

I'll second that - atm, I have two decks for when I need to finish dailies quickly and they're UR-flash with cleaves and BR knights. It works real nice and there's no obvious reason why it shouldn't continue to be so until the far time of its rotation.

 

[Akratus]

spectre, thanks for the advice. Really made my deck more efficient and improved my win rate.

Deck at the moment:

Spoiler

Voodoo you do Deck
4 Jungle Hollow (M20) 248
4 Plaguecrafter (GRN) 82
2 Lotleth Giant (GRN) 74
8 Swamp (RNA) 262
2 Kraul Foragers (GRN) 135
4 Glowspore Shaman (GRN) 173
1 Find // Finality (GRN) 225
1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed (GRN) 180
2 Molderhulk (GRN) 190
2 Rhizome Lurcher (GRN) 196
1 Underrealm Lich (GRN) 211
9 Forest (M20) 280
2 Deathsprout (WAR) 189
2 Kraul Harpooner (GRN) 136
1 Vigorspore Wurm (GRN) 147
4 Golgari Findbroker (GRN) 175
3 Status // Statue (GRN) 230
1 Witch's Cottage (ELD) 249
2 Golgari Raiders (GRN) 130
1 Castle Locthwain (ELD) 241
4 Midnight Reaper (GRN) 77
1 Blood for Bones (M20) 89
1 Bond of Revival (WAR) 80
1 Sanitarium Skeleton (M20) 112
4 Leyline Prowler (WAR) 202
2 Severed Strands (GRN) 85

I don't think this can be improved much. I'll have to think of a new, other deck. I'm thinking either blue-black or blue-green.

 

[anvi]

Started playing the game again, all my decks were out of standards and I created some shitty random deck on my own. I was surprised I was able to make it to Mythic against all the net decks.

What was the deck like that got you to mythic? I am almost there but my deck takes all day to win 1 match. It is easier this time because each month it resets and now I only have to start from Gold which is faster. But it still took me a week to get to Platinum and now I am working towards Diamond again slowly. Hope I can get to Mythic this time.

I really want to make a new deck but I can't think or anything or find anything that is better than what I already have.

 

[Venser]

What was the deck like that got you to mythic?

Just a bunch of discards: Thought Erasure, Disinformation Campaign...You wouldn't believe how many guys just quit when I cast Thought Erasure on my second turn

 

[anvi]

Sounds strong. Surveil deck is one thing I still haven't tried.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Scruffy]

momir is shit

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

momir is shit

mtg is shit

 

[Jason Liang]

i'm pretty sure you're about to see the environment flooded by Leyline of the Voids and other yard hate. So if you are going to be dredging, you have to be in colors that can play the enchantment/ artifact hate.

There are some pretty interesting ways to dredge, including Emry and her sekret fishy sisters, but the only standout Undergrowth card is Mausoleum Secrets. A 2 mana, instant speed tutor is worth jumping through some hoops for and typically your target is going to be 4 cmc (for example Ritual of Soot). So getting 4 creature cards into the yard isn't that tough (6 at most for Command the Dreadwhore), although keeping them there is another story.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG