i got torn up by a guy with the red tap to do damage enchantment on a typhoid rats, with 2 forge devils in my library somewhere. that card seems very good in general.
also, i played against a guy with spectra ward and twice he put it on a 2/2 and ran it into my will-forged golem. the 2nd time i was sure he had a trick, because how could you do that twice, but i needed to block regardless. i like to imagine he put in a compensation claim before finally realizing what he had done.
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 1 August 2014 14:23 (nine years ago) link
ha
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 14:26 (nine years ago) link
we were doing side drafts/teamdrafts at the GP and one of my friends just kept taking all the undergrowth scavengers and satyr wayfinders every draft and crushing people with 4-mana 6/6s
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 14:34 (nine years ago) link
yeah that + the 3/1 black dude that mills you 3 feels like a decent strategy. nobody seems to take the Scavenger.
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Friday, 1 August 2014 14:39 (nine years ago) link
have thought about that deck, and having a primadox or the 3/3 that makes you return to hand to 'refresh' an early scavenger if needed.
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 1 August 2014 14:43 (nine years ago) link
i dont like primadox as much in this set without elvish visionary, recurring a 4-drop is a lot more of a cost for drawing cards than recurring a 2-drop
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 15:05 (nine years ago) link
there are other targets too, the +1/+1 counter dude, the frost cat, forge devil etc
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 15:08 (nine years ago) link
I just realized that Underground Scavenger is basically just a dumb Lhurgoyf
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Friday, 1 August 2014 15:32 (nine years ago) link
by the way, I'm still incredibly peeved by the new client, it seems like every time I play it I discover a new, major design flaw; nothing showstopping (though having to play through a pop-up window of my previous opponent's "revealed hand" was pretty bad), but a lot to make you wonder just how little the client was beta tested
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Friday, 1 August 2014 16:28 (nine years ago) link
the client was beta tested plenty, i've been a beta tester for the past 2 years
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 18:12 (nine years ago) link
still refuses to download on my computer, through googling I've found others w/ the same problem
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 18:19 (nine years ago) link
and as bad as this is, the new wizards website is just...
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link
likely surely they've seen the traffic just crater
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 18:21 (nine years ago) link
i think the new website actually looks fine aesthetically, its just buggy and not actually intuitive to use or find anything
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 18:56 (nine years ago) link
like its clearly an out-of-the-box CMS that hasn't been tailored to their content or use cases at all
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 18:57 (nine years ago) link
who cares how it looks if people will actually completely stop visiting because it's too hard to find anything
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 18:58 (nine years ago) link
like this kinda thing should result in people fired
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:00 (nine years ago) link
it seems like they tried so hard to keep it simple that they accidentally made it really really complicated
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:03 (nine years ago) link
someone high up heard that mobile was the future and said "our site needs to look good on an ipad, do whatever it takes!"
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:05 (nine years ago) link
wotc has never been very good at software but as of late they seem to be falling even further behind the curve, in addition to a sudden strange insistence at doing everything in-house with their underpaid devs - it seems pretty clear to me at this point that they either don't have money or someone at the top doesn't think any of this stuff is important
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:11 (nine years ago) link
even duels, their one remaining successful software venture, seems to have crashed and burned this year, i haven't played it but saw bad reviews and negative feedback across the board
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:13 (nine years ago) link
its troubling that a game that's claimed to have huge sales growth for the past 4 years is unable to reinvest any of those profits into the game but that seems to be what's going on
― ciderpress, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:15 (nine years ago) link
i impulse bought the new dotp the day it came out and it is super thin. i wondered if maybe they are going to add in some of the missing features and modes as dlc. but tbf, i did get something like the going rate for the amount of mtg entertainment 15 bucks buys!
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:17 (nine years ago) link
I realize how tough it is to write a client for such a complex game - those who gripe about MTGO by pointing out that Hearthstone or SolForge have much better interfaces seem to be missing just how wide a lattitude of things have to be given in Magic (especially considering that it has to support like 10 years worth of cards that weren't designed with the rules being like they are now) - but what bothers me is just the easy design stuff, like how there's so much blankspace on the battlefield now and yet the colorless mana symbols are basically unreadable on a 19" monitor, or how hopeless it is to get the chat or preview panes to stay anywhere, like it's the kind of stuff you'd think would get immediately pointed out during testing. At least the life total isn't a Font Size 7 number off in the corner anymore.
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Friday, 1 August 2014 19:22 (nine years ago) link
the website has no similar excuses - a basic site where you can find and read articles w/ text and photos shouldn't take a company w/ the best programmers in seattle or w/e, it should be something any competent company can get done in 2014
― iatee, Friday, 1 August 2014 19:30 (nine years ago) link
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/2015-pro-tour-and-grand-prix-schedule-revealed-2014-08-02
so dumb, no more modern protours (at least next year)
― iatee, Saturday, 2 August 2014 21:42 (nine years ago) link
Upset at that announcement - Of the three PT formats, Standard is my least favorite to watch and play (not that I'm likely to play in another Pro Tour again soon, heh). Also, are they just done having PTs in Asia?
― Vinnie, Sunday, 3 August 2014 15:32 (nine years ago) link
i really wonder what prompted that decision - my first thought was 'wow you really dont want to have to reprint fetchlands' but maybe they just feel like standard is the most profitable/worthwhile format to promote? idk
i missed most of the video coverage of the pt but quickly glancing at the the top 8 records it looks like jund planeswalkers may have been the most successful deck which is kinda interesting
― dude (Lamp), Monday, 4 August 2014 15:07 (nine years ago) link
White seems to be really powerful in M15 draft. I thought it would be since White was so underpowered in M14 (similar to how Blue was nearly unplayable in M13 but a powerhouse in M14) but I think it's even better than it looked on the spoiler, Triplicate Spirits is maybe the best common in the set, and that + Raise the Alarm gives you plenty of Convoke fodder and as mentioned here that +2/+1 instant is such a killer, as iatee mentioned you can't play around it even though you pretty much always know when they have it
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Monday, 4 August 2014 15:31 (nine years ago) link
I'm really liking these planeswalker builds, they look like lots of fun. I'm hoping to play my own version at next FNM.
Between SCG Dallas and PTM15, I think I watched about 20 hours of mtg broadcasts this week, it was pretty crazy. I wanted to go to Dallas, but then forgot about it until like a day before and had to bail.
― odd proggy geezer (Moodles), Monday, 4 August 2014 15:58 (nine years ago) link
if the white token deck is open, it's def the best deck in the format, I've seen / played games that weren't far from being the b/w modern tokens deck
red is also very good. infero fist, l strike, forge devils, cone, enforcers. I have found lava axe to be very playable in this format.
― iatee, Monday, 4 August 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
it 'makes sense' if the protour is about advertising the set - born of the gods was a particularly bad set to release before a big modern event, but rarely will a set lead to new decks in the format. and standard post-release does reward the teams that have tested/brewed well.
but standard gameplay is pretty clearly not the highest level of play and that's supposed to be a big part of what a protour is
― iatee, Monday, 4 August 2014 16:11 (nine years ago) link
I've mainboarded 2 Festerglooms just to take care of the tokens deck, only to have White Paragon come down and destroy me :(
Just paging through the spoiler it really looks like White has the best ratio of great uncommons, lots of solid bears + benefits, and Heliod's Pilgrim which can be really great, especially since it grabs Opressive Rays in a pinch. Losing Pacifism kinda sucks but you can really beat through just about anything, even Selfless Cathar can be a killer in this deck.
Blue on the other hand seems just not good, lots of overcosted flyers and some okay bounce but not much else. I've heard a number of good players say Black was the worst color in M15 but I think it's Blue. Black gets a lot of solid uncommons and I think the Rotfeaster is quite underrated.
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Monday, 4 August 2014 16:44 (nine years ago) link
blue is not a good core color for a deck but throwing some bounce/terns/illusory angels to an otherwise good deck is v good
― iatee, Monday, 4 August 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
maybe not saying much because red and white are already good but WU fliers and UR tempo/artifacts seem like p good archetypes in m15. my wins to date have been those two and GW.
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 4 August 2014 17:05 (nine years ago) link
jund will always be at the top as long as they continue to be more willing to ban 'unfair' cards than 'fair' ones
Thinking about this a bit over the past couple of days, I've realised a card I really don't like is abrupt decay - I'm not really a Johnny at all and I can see that it could be positive for Legacy as an answer to Counterbalance but in Modern it's just a silent death-knell to so many fun and interesting cards.
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Friday, 8 August 2014 10:33 (nine years ago) link
yeah there was a time not too long ago when people had to play Smother if they wanted to be able to kill tarmogoyfs and dark confidants with the same card, now they get to hit all the artifacts/enchantments that used to be blind spots too
― ciderpress, Sunday, 10 August 2014 02:47 (nine years ago) link
the card itself doesn't seem oppressive (wasn't it mostly designed to give legacy people a break from top-locks?) it just sucks that it fits so well into the already best decks in modern
― iatee, Sunday, 10 August 2014 04:01 (nine years ago) link
oh gravel basically said the legacy thing oops
― iatee, Sunday, 10 August 2014 04:02 (nine years ago) link
I have been playing delver in modern w/ illusory angel it's really sweet
man i forgot that wasn't a 'real' card until m15, i get it mixed up with Illusory Demon for some reason
― ciderpress, Sunday, 10 August 2014 12:13 (nine years ago) link
modern pro tours back already
― iatee, Sunday, 10 August 2014 22:27 (nine years ago) link
i'm fine with them locking in standard for all large-set PTs but they should let small-set PTs be other formats at least some of the time
― ciderpress, Sunday, 10 August 2014 22:42 (nine years ago) link
which seems to be what they're doing here so props
you guys are probably up to date on all this butRWB clan mechanic: http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/130/837/635436027465518449.jpgUWR clan mechanic: http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/130/914/635439531581439469.png
and the completely unsurprising tri-lands:http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/130/915/635439535566463578.pnghttp://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/130/916/635439535594972038.png
― ciderpress, Monday, 18 August 2014 18:05 (nine years ago) link
neither mechanic is particularly linear so my fears of getting a gatecrash style limited format are hopefully unfounded
― ciderpress, Monday, 18 August 2014 18:07 (nine years ago) link
had not seen those. the mechanics seem pretty mild but make for interesting play decisions, which sounds good to me tbh
― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, 18 August 2014 18:12 (nine years ago) link
Prowess seems like a rather dangerous mechanic should they push a card hard for Standard play
― Maggie killed Quagmire (collest baby ever) (frogbs), Monday, 18 August 2014 18:16 (nine years ago) link
i think they're supposed to be mild, much like the ravnica guild mechanics. the block has morph in it already, which is one of the weirder mechanics that exist in this game, so you can't go too hard on the other ones
i really like how raid is the rare 'attacking matters' mechanic that doesn't actually scale in effectiveness with the aggressiveness of your deck; maybe we can finally get a limited format where RW aggro isn't capable of snowballing
― ciderpress, Monday, 18 August 2014 18:20 (nine years ago) link
ha yeah r/w has had quite the run hasn't it
― iatee, Monday, 18 August 2014 19:26 (nine years ago) link