Magic: The Gathering C/D

It didn't end up mattering as I promptly reeled off an epic losing streak, including losses to fucking MERFOLK of all things (never found my third land, drew 4 Wizard's Lightning in a row with nary a wizard to be seen)

Couldn't get back to sleep this morning, so I drafted a b/w Midnight Hunt deck and so far I'm up 3 wins with 1 loss, this is unprecedented.

I think this is the first time I've actually had fun playing draft (and not just because I'm winning, it feels like an actual deck of sorts).

(also I'm assuming that Midnight Hunt is draft-only for the moment and not quite in Standard? It didn't look like I was able to search for or craft cards for my standard deck)

it's in Standard upon release, might be a bug? the servers were crapping out a lot yesterday

also note that as the September set, it rotates standard so your deck may not be standard-eligible anymore.

Yep, I made this deck to be 'standard 2022' a few days ago, and it said standard in the search window. Weird, I'll mess around with it later.

i'd guess its just a search/filter bug then

Reddit to the rescue: "You have to change the deck type from standard 2022 to just standard."

Went 7-1 in a draft today! I played blue/black, with a splash of green for Briarwood Tracker and Old Stickfingers. Wasn't sure about Sticky, but then I ran into someone who had turn 5 Wrenn & Seven. I managed to tap down the treefolk token with Skaab Wrangler (amazing card in this format) while my fliers chipped away at the walker's loyalty to stop her making a second one. Eventually they killed my Wrangler and I just started throwing dudes into the meatgrinder until my X/X was big enough to trade for theirs.

*Briarbridge Tracker, the 2/3 vigilance that gets +2/+0 as long as you control a token of any kind, and makes a Clue token when it ETBs

initial thoughts for draft:
-blue is the best color, red is the worst color
-organ hoarder is the best common, treat it like sarulf's packmate from kaldheim. better than common removal and many uncommons.
-UR spells archetype is a trap that doesnt have enough commons to come together often, don't try to force it based on having a payoff card, you need to make sure you're getting a lot of good spells first
-RG werewolves archetype just sucks, i wouldn't play this without some rares. treat all the common werewolves as curve filler, none of them are good and the more you have the harder it is to beat a good deck since they'll be able to keep it daytime via card advantage and flashback. i suspect there may be a backdoor RG 'control' deck you can make out of unwanted RG cards if people adjust to this situation but that's idle speculation.

I've done 5 drafts so far but had 7 wins with the three black decks I made (UB, UB, BW). Black has crazy good removal options this time around at common (all three close to hard removal), and Diregraf Horde also gives a ton of value at common. Several great uncommons like Morbid Opportunist. I had a very good RG Werewolf deck but I do feel cider's point that it came down to the uncommons and rares

I've only played 1 match but it seems U/B decks have a lot they can do with those dumb Zombie tokens

G/W seems to have a lot of explosive potential. I haven't quite figured out how to build it myself, but I lost some matches to it where I went second and OP was like: T1 Trapper, T2 Join the Dance, T3 3/3 vigilance with coven that pumps their whole team, T4-5 tap down my best blocker and swing for 8

Ummm what's "U"?

I did two drafts just sticking to B/W which made it much less stressful, made remarkably similar decks and went 3/3 both times.

Meanwhile my new constructed B/W deck has been fun, I had a ridiculous game where someone kept attacking with Angel of Destiny against my Marauding Blight Priests and Celestial Unicorns for some reason, I ended up with something like 116 life, lol.

Sorry, "U" is blue because mtg players try to make it as hard as possible for new players to learn heh

U is blue because B is black and L is land so U is the next available letter in 'blue'

i don't know if thats actually the reason

Morbid Opportunist is disgusting, i had 3 in my deck today because people kept passing them to me, don't do this. i got to just chain removal spells and draw my whole deck every game

Yeah I had a game where I traded creatures on my turn, killed a creature with a spell on their turn, attacked with a Decayed Zombie on my turn, then killed another creature on their turn. Enough to get the concession lol

I think that is the reason U is blue, comes from the early days of card design

Needed a vowel to make WUBRG even vaguely pronounceable.

I have made one new Standard deck, running 4x Thermal Alchemist, a couple of the red and blue dorks with abilities that trigger on day/night change (blue draws a card, red loots away 0-2 cards from your hand), and a bunch of instant speed interaction + flashback.

Seize the Storm is the win con, along with a single Smoldering Egg (didn't have the wildcards for more). I also managed to pick up a single Galvanic Iteration late in a draft bc it's obviously garbage in Limited, and it plays well here: spell doubling effects are usually too situational to play outside of dedicated combo decks like Experimental Frenzy, but the ability to loot this one away and then flash it back whenever you need to double a Frost Bite or a Crush the Weak is nice.

initial thoughts for draft:
-blue is the best color, red is the worst color
-organ hoarder is the best common, treat it like sarulf's packmate from kaldheim. better than common removal and many uncommons.
-UR spells archetype is a trap that doesnt have enough commons to come together often, don't try to force it based on having a payoff card, you need to make sure you're getting a lot of good spells first
-RG werewolves archetype just sucks, i wouldn't play this without some rares. treat all the common werewolves as curve filler, none of them are good and the more you have the harder it is to beat a good deck since they'll be able to keep it daytime via card advantage and flashback. i suspect there may be a backdoor RG 'control' deck you can make out of unwanted RG cards if people adjust to this situation but that's idle speculation.

― ciderpress, Saturday, September 18, 2021 9:25 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

agree with all this, though I haven't seen anyone actually try to do the UR spells thing yet. U/B seems to be the best archetype right now, it's so full of card advantage and there are enough removal spells to ensure you don't get trucked by a bunch of fatties. Werewolves doesn't seem viable since there's just so much flashback & disturb, your opponent has too much control over what happens. also there don't seem to be enough instants/mana sinks that allow you to do something important while you don't play any spells.

G/W is what I'm running right now, I think it may be second to U/B, as bernard mentioned it's pretty explosive and the Coven stuff is pretty easy to trigger. that 0/2 Trapper is kind of neat in that regard. also it seems to have enough longevity later in the game. the 3W 2/3 that gives you two +1/+1 counters does a lot of work

my RG control musing is because 3 of the 4 common werewolves have defensive stats which is a bizarre design choice unless that's the intended archetype

Lol I'm dumb (re: "U"), thanks. I was a pre-internet Magic player before coming back to it, so there were no abbreviations necessary. :)

Standard feels fun rn but my main deck needs some work, at least I'm losing in some new and interesting ways (poison counters, lots of control, lots of stealing my creatures, etc). Gonna try adding some more removal.

Also I really wanted to make Vengeful Strangler work for my deck but it's just too fiddly, they're usually just going to sacrifice whichever permanent I attach it to. I guess it would be cool to attach it to a planeswalker, but at that point I've got bigger problems and the Strangler isn't going to change the game.

Its main use is probably having a creature that your opponent doesn't want to kill, which actually is pretty good maybe?

I've only drafted green that one RG deck that I mentioned - green feels way overdrafted, never open. And I've only played against WG once in ~10 drafts!

the strangler is one of those effects that looks better than it actually is because it gives the opponent too much choice - it kills their guy when their guy isnt super important, and it doesn't kill their guy when their guy is actually winning them the game

Makes sense, totally.

Btw bernard snowy, I'd love to see your decklist for that. Not gonna steal it directly, but I need some inspiration for a new deck type and that sounds fun (and aggro is boring for me, I've learned).

Yeah Jordan, I'll post a list tonight when I get home. It's definitely still a work in progress, but I have a lot of fun whenever I play it.

idk how it is on Arena or in actual paper Magic but these new lands make it kinda hard to tell which colors you have in your opening hand

Here's the list Jordan:

CREATURES:
4x 1R Thermo-Alchemist
2x 1R Obsessive Astronomer
2x 3U Firmament Sage

SPELLS:
3x R Frost Bite
2x U Consider
2x U Secrets of the Key
1x U You See a Guard Approach

2x UR Arcane Infusion
2x UR Expressive Iteration
1x 1U Test of Talents
1x UR Galvanic Iteration

3x 1UU Saw It Coming
3x 2R Moonrager's Slash
2x 2R Electric Revelation
2x 1UR Prismari Command

1x 2UU Memory Deluge
1x 2RR Unexpected Windfall

2x 4R Seize the Storm

1x 6UR Magma Opus

2x XRR Shatterskull Smashing

LANDS:
9x Snow-Covered Island
8x Snow-Covered Mountain
4x Frostboil Snarl

SIDEBOARD: 4x Crush the Weak, 2x You See a Guard Approach, 2x Test of Talents, 2x Reject, 2x Sea Gate Stormcaller, 1x Frost Bite, 1x Malevolent Hermit, 1x Smoldering Egg

WOULD LOVE TO RUN MORE IF I HAD THE WILDCARDS: Prismari Command, Memory Deluge, Malevolent Hermit, Smoldering Egg

Thank you! Cool, I was looking up similar decks and wrote down some of these cards to investigate/experiment with too:

Suspicious Stowaway
Geistflame Resevoir
Demilich
Fading Hope
Magic Missle
Roil Eruption
Cathartic Pyre

just playing this new set on MTG Arena and there's no way in hell the day and night thing isn't going to confuse the hell out of me in IRL games

XP I haven't opened a Geistflame Reservoir yet, but it seems like a fun piece for this deck.

Demilich could be a good wincon in a version of this deck that runs more cheap interaction (Play With Fire, Fading Hope, You See A Guard) and no Seize the Storm.

are there any good podcasters or you tubers who dissect new sets? I find it really hard to get a grip of this stuff

It seems like there's a ton out there, but I find MtG content unlistenable/unwatchable because it requires such familiarity with all the cards involved. Like to understand a single sentence I would need them to slow down and explain each card, lol.

I also can't imagine some of the games I've played happening on paper, with all the crazy synergies and mechanics.

I always enjoyed the Limited Resources set reviews, even though after a few of them you can fairly well predict how they'll rate cards

i dont really listen to LR since its kind of the level 1 draft strategy podcast and i need the level 2 stuff but it was still a bummer to see them promoting crypto on their recent shit

the level 2 stuff is sam black's ramblings

I made a haphazard version of that red/blue burn deck, just out of whatever I had lying around + a draft and some extra wildcards. Got some fun wins when I was able to draw the Thermo Alchemists and keep them on the board, but the losses have been pretty spectacular. Like if they have good aggro or they're able to quickly pump up a few creatures out of the range of my burn spells, and I'm just fiddling around with a hand of draw spells like Expressive Iteration/Electric Revelation without being able to do much about it.

Definitely need to keep tuning it (and I'm already going to take out Demilich and some of the other ones that haven't amounted to anything), but maybe I need some more small creatures to play defense/draw fire?

3 Roil Eruption (ZNR) 155
1 Bloodthirsty Adversary (MID) 129
2 Expressive Iteration (STX) 186
1 Shock (STA) 44
1 Demilich (AFR) 53
4 Frost Bite (KHM) 138
1 Consider (MID) 44
1 You See a Guard Approach (AFR) 85
3 Saw It Coming (KHM) 76
1 Electric Revelation (MID) 135
1 Prismari Command (STX) 214
1 Unexpected Windfall (AFR) 164
4 Thermo-Alchemist (MID) 164
1 Smoldering Egg (MID) 159
1 Obsessive Astronomer (MID) 152
1 Crush the Weak (KHM) 128
2 Play with Fire (MID) 154
1 Firmament Sage (MID) 53
1 Geistflame Reservoir (MID) 142
1 Shock (ANB) 84
1 Birgi, God of Storytelling (KHM) 123
1 Galvanic Iteration (MID) 224
2 Fading Hope (MID) 51

1 Island (MID) 381
1 Frostboil Snarl (STX) 265
9 Snow-Covered Island (KHM) 279
8 Snow-Covered Mountain (KHM) 282
5 Mountain (MID) 383

Imo this deck is not really worth playing if you're not playing Seize the Storm, as it's the main win con. Death by 1000 Thermo-Alchemist pings is a nice backup plan, but as you noted, those guys tend to draw removal and they don't block super well against the aggressive decks of the format. It feels bad when you're on the draw and they go Ranger Class, level up, attack into your Alchemist with a 3/3 wolf; in those situations, I take the 3 damage and save the Alchemist to block something even bigger next turn. Turning the corner usually involves Seize the Storm making a huge token and shutting down their attacks, but if they get your life total low enough then it can be too little too late.

Against green, I jam the Seize first chance I get. Blizzard Brawl usually won't kill the token, though they can hit it hard enough that it dies from combat damage if you block with it that turn.

Against white, I try not to play Seize until I have a way to protect the token -- it makes a very tempting target for Portable Hole (though thankfully it dodges Skyclave Apparition). I also try to save my removal for their fliers as much as possible. Foretelling Crush the Weak is usually a better turn 2 play than anything else you can do (protects it from Spellbinder). Don't be afraid to play instant speed card draw or burn on your turn to get around Paladin Class.

Angels are a tough matchup, thanks to the combination of high toughness + fliers. I've added some Heated Debates (the 4 damage for 3 mana spell that's uncounterable and gets around Ward), and it seems to help. I also brought in a single copy of Burn Down the House, for those times when Crush the Weak just doesn't get the job done.

Wow, you weren't kidding. I put in four of those and promptly won a bunch of matches, some with alchemists and some just with Seize (never drew them both in a match though, weirdly). Also took out Bloodthirsty Adversary in favor of another Galvanic Iteration.

I also underestimated how much people hate playing against control, I've had people concede in a few turns when they might have won otherwise.

I actually think Werewolves are decent in Limited, the fact that they can come into play transformed when it's nighttime is a big advantage on the old ones. It doesnt have the reach of other decks but sometimes just always having the biggest dudes on board wins you games

I don't understand how anyone gets out of platinum, every time I go on a win streak I end up having some bad match-ups or ridiculously bad shuffles and end up back at the bottom, lol. I've had some fun games though, including one mirror match with the red/blue deck (they got lucky and had their Fading Hopes handy for my Seize the Storm tokens, I didn't have any counters handy).

so far in my Sealed leagues I'm 16-2 with R/W and 13-14 with everything else. it's not as flashy as the U/B Zombie nor as explosive as G/W Coven but it's got the most straightforward gameplan

Still having fun with the red/blue deck (and doing better as I'm getting used to it), but also crafted a black/green Poison Elves deck based around Fynn the Fangbearer and Saryth, the Viper's Fang. Only played 2 matches with it so far but promising so far.

Still feeling like draft is just a fun way to get cards and packs, constructed/standard is the real game for me.

so far in my Sealed leagues I'm 16-2 with R/W

16-2!!

I actually won a game with Vorpal Sword's ability. O_O

Been refining that Poison deck (actually ended up taking out Saryth in favor of more deathtouch creatures) and having fun with it.