“But, Chris,” you say,”I have some extra money that my grandmother sent me for my birthday, and I’d really like to spend it on a Beast deck with a ton of rares in it. What do I do?” Well, first off, you have to realize that, while I can hear my Self when I talk to my Self, I can’t hear you when you talk to me. Unless you got my phone number. Which would be a great trick, since I don’t have a phone.
Casual Fridays closes with a bang today in three separate articles today as Anthony gives his take on the finest artifacts for multiplayer!
Anthony looks back at the Hall, and tells you all how to graduate with honors from the Along School Of Multiplayer Magic…. Or he would, if you ever graduated. Also included: The entire Hall, sortable across colors and types!
Sayonara, Anthony – and hello to the last of the Hall of Fame, an updated spreadsheet link that works *ahem*, and miscellany!
So Astroglide won a Masters tourney… But the problem with e-league is that the Wishes are banned. And the problem with a Wish-less metagame is it features a total of zero good Wake decks, and only one or two even remotely good blue-based control decks. What you end up with is a bunch of U/G decks, goblin Sligh by the boatload, a handful of MBC, and maybe a bit of G/x aggro. Astroglide ownz deez. But how can we make it competitive for the real world?
Sheldon wraps up the relevant rulings on cards he’s pretty sure you’ll see at States! Check here before you to go make sure you don’t get cheesed out thanks to your misunderstanding!
And remember, Sheldie sez: If you’re not sure, call a judge!
To dream the impossible dream…. Jim takes Sheng Hsun Hsai’s Taipei-winning Hunting Grounds deck and attempts to transform it into a new Standard Control deck. But we gotta be honest, Jim… Without the Snake, you’re battling uphill….
For the last four weeks, I have been stuffing myself with States information, and now I’ve reached my limit. I can’t hold any more tech; therefore, I’m going to turn purge mode: on and spew forth everything that I’ve learned in the last four weeks. Plus, some strange Finnish guy called”Tomi” emailed me to tell me what changes he’d be making to his Punisher build in light of Pyroclasms. But man, can you really listen to a guy who came in a paltry second place at the Invitational?
My basic advice is simple: Take your deck’s foundation, then add the details you might add in a regular deck. For now, ignore mana and cards to round out your deck – we are still working on the raw side of things. We want to take that skeleton and mold into a solid, well-rounded list of cards.
I haven’t yet had time to read the Onslaught spoiler. Usually, I print the new spoiler and take it around with me to read in my spare time in order to have it read as soon as possible. So why am I waiting for enough free time to read the spoiler directly from the computer? Because I don’t see the need to be on the cutting edge of the new environment.
Back in the days of Academy, Duress was a turn 1 Godsend, capable of grabbing the explosive turn 1 Dark Ritual, the largest monored burn spell, or Academy’s first Windfall. But in the new and much slower environment, is turn 1 Duress always the best play?
Budde said something that got my wheels turning when he said that the deck could create”infinite” elephant tokens. Well, when I think”infinite,” I jump straight to the phrase”game over” – so I asked myself if there was anyway to guarantee a one-turn kill. Turns out the answer is yes. Also, my Oversold Cemetery tech seems to be slugging it out at about 50/50 with U/G – better than most!
Ah, yes.”Draw X” always gets your attention, and Read The Runes caught my eye… But a small Read the Runes doesn’t look very impressive; compare this to a small Braingeyser or a small Stroke. So we end up with the question,”Can combo use this to set up the end game?”
So I opened my deck and North Korea called, asking me if they could maybe buy a few off of me – I had Visara, Jareth, AND Glarecaster. And I screwed the deck build. So after an ignominious defeat, I asked Alex Shvartsman and Gary Wise what I did wrong… And the answer was most distinctly NOT about the bombs. Plus, a possible Mobilization build that works? Check your States, man…
