I still don't get why Nexus also shuffles itself back into the deck. I think that's the part that really twists me up.
With creatures that sort of clause is used so it's impossible (or at least harder) to cheat it into play from the graveyard (Progenitus, eldrazi, Blightsteel etc). That's not usually a concern with instant/sorceries, and usually those just exile themselves to prevent loops (Flood of Recollection, Wildest Dreams, even old stuff like Recall). They started experimenting with putting powerful instants/sorceries back in the library for some reason (I guess it's another way of preventing people from getting them out of the graveyard), but that still created loops with Seasons Past. Putting it on Nexus (and doing it from anywhere, not just when it's cast) just seems like one of many mistakes they made with the card, both in terms of design and distribution.
"Player loses a turn" has been a well-known bad boardgame design concept for at least a decade now. I can't think of another boardgame that employs it.
Uno!
Ahh, I know i should have thrown a "recent" or "modern" in that statement.
Uno at least only has like 5 second turns, unlike the ten minutes or so you can spend waiting for your turn in arena.
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Blue Eye White Wild Draw Four?! There are only four of these in the world and two got inexplicably sold to the public.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
+1
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21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
i'm 1:1 with this janky tank deck.
And the win i got was tense. but thanks to The Guardian Project, I always ended up having the answer i needed to survive. Thanks, jennifer.
Because if you're going to attempt to squeeze that big black monster into your slot you will need to be able to take at least 12 inches or else you're going to have a bad time...
And the win i got was tense. but thanks to The Guardian Project, I always ended up having the answer i needed to survive. Thanks, jennifer.
This seems very janky. The civic stalwart does not seem worth splashing for. Personally I don't like the lockets either but I know some people do. Wrecking Beast is okay but costs a whole bunch. Can work with all the mana ramp and vannifer though.
I decided to try mill out in a draft halfway through pack 2 last night. Seemed like a fun deck, but I went 1-3, I think. Maybe if I'd started building around it earlier things would have done well. I didn't have enough removal, or card draw.
Next draft I have 2 Guardian Projects and 1 Rhythm of the wild. Multiple games I've had to keep creatures in hand to avoid milling myself. Fun contrast!
There's a difference between a player losing a turn and a player taking an extra turn, since most examples of bad "lose a turn" design are in multiplayer games and come at little/no resource cost for the person forcing a lost turn.
Extra turn effects have existed forever and at a high enough mana cost aren't bad for the game or broken. Nexus being an instant and shuffling in made it constructed playable, but it's still not broken except in the arena-isn't-designed-for-this sense.
Like, power level complaints about Nexus have to recognize it's very beatable in Bo3 and less powerful and less prevalent than aggro in Bo1.
I understand it's not overpowered in Bo3, apparently. I'm not arguing that. It's just not fun is my issue for the opposing deck.
I dunno what would change it for me. Higher mana cost, maybe? I dunno.
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21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
And the win i got was tense. but thanks to The Guardian Project, I always ended up having the answer i needed to survive. Thanks, jennifer.
This seems very janky. The civic stalwart does not seem worth splashing for. Personally I don't like the lockets either but I know some people do. Wrecking Beast is okay but costs a whole bunch. Can work with all the mana ramp and vannifer though.
i got real unlucky with packs, basically. i should've done a pivot towards Orzhov on pack 2 but i didn't.
And the win i got was tense. but thanks to The Guardian Project, I always ended up having the answer i needed to survive. Thanks, jennifer.
You have a lot of power at the top end of your curve, and a number of good cheap interactive spells, so I think the core of your deck is quite solid!
I'd be interested to see your sideboard. I think Saruli Caretaker and Coral Commando are basically unplayable, Nikya is SUPER borderline, and I agree with SniperGuy's assessment that Civic Stalwart isn't worth splashing for (at which point Azorius Locket is a clear cut). This deck would be substantially more consistent as straight Simic, even if you need to bring in a few relative clunkers to flesh our your playables count.
EDIT because I just saw your reply above: this format seems to really reward paying attention to signals and staying flexible. The power level of the gold cards (including many commons) is so high that even if it takes you until basically the end of pack 1 to identify the open guild, it can still be correct to pivot and abandon (say) 8 of your first 13 picks.
I think coral commando is not completely bunk but he is pretty much filler. Saruli Caretaker is pretty terrible though, yeah.
the only other one-drop i got are two Twilight Panthers. Why do I have 2 Twilight panthers? Because the packs had fuck all in green and blue creatures.
I'm sure the fix is super obvious but i don't see it.
I'd play the Mammoth Spider, Arrester's Admonition, Titanic Brawl, Gateway Sneak, and Chillbringer (I think this is the best common in the set and would play any number of them) over the five cards I listed above, and fix the manabase to be pure two colors.
Gateway sneak isn't great with only 2 gates, but it's okay. The mammoth spider is quite good and so is chillbringer, I'd absolutely run 2 chillbringer. I like arrester's admonition and titanic brawl too. I'm not a big fan of steeple creeper, the toughness is pretty low, but it works if you can use the flying evasively, there's just so many flyers in this format it is hard to do that.
There's a difference between a player losing a turn and a player taking an extra turn, since most examples of bad "lose a turn" design are in multiplayer games and come at little/no resource cost for the person forcing a lost turn.
Extra turn effects have existed forever and at a high enough mana cost aren't bad for the game or broken. Nexus being an instant and shuffling in made it constructed playable, but it's still not broken except in the arena-isn't-designed-for-this sense.
Like, power level complaints about Nexus have to recognize it's very beatable in Bo3 and less powerful and less prevalent than aggro in Bo1.
I understand it's not overpowered in Bo3, apparently. I'm not arguing that. It's just not fun is my issue for the opposing deck.
I dunno what would change it for me. Higher mana cost, maybe? I dunno.
Any complaint of non-infinite Nexus being not fun reads very similarly to "I don't want to play against combo", and there's not much to do there if you aren't willing to ban out all combo decks.
I still don't get why Nexus also shuffles itself back into the deck. I think that's the part that really twists me up.
With creatures that sort of clause is used so it's impossible (or at least harder) to cheat it into play from the graveyard (Progenitus, eldrazi, Blightsteel etc). That's not usually a concern with instant/sorceries, and usually those just exile themselves to prevent loops (Flood of Recollection, Wildest Dreams, even old stuff like Recall). They started experimenting with putting powerful instants/sorceries back in the library for some reason (I guess it's another way of preventing people from getting them out of the graveyard), but that still created loops with Seasons Past. Putting it on Nexus (and doing it from anywhere, not just when it's cast) just seems like one of many mistakes they made with the card, both in terms of design and distribution.
I think they just wanted to make a 'Player gets infinite turns' card, and shuffling the card back into the deck is one way to do that.
So not really a mistake unless you count that design aim as a mistake.
Any complaint of non-infinite Nexus being not fun reads very similarly to "I don't want to play against combo", and there's not much to do there if you aren't willing to ban out all combo decks.
Well, of course it does, you like the deck .
I'm fine with combo decks if there's above a certain %, degree, threshold, whatever of interruptions I can throw their way. That's why I said I'd probably be fine with it if it didn't also shuffle itself back into the deck.
XBL: Bizazedo
PSN: Bizazedo
CFN: Bizazedo (I don't think I suck, add me).
It is an interruptible combo. I don't think there's any archetype that can't alter their deck to have play against Nexus or go under it.
The implication I'm only defending the deck because I personally enjoy playing it is shitty (and wrong; I haven't played the deck in weeks. Arena makes it a hassle to pilot.)
There is though, aggro decks like mono U, mono W and RDW can kill them before they get to play anything and decks like midrange Sultai can board in Negates and enchantment removal and win slightly later. 4+ turns where they do nothing but draw cards is a lot of time to get your own plan going before you even have to worry about what they're doing.
What I like is Magic, and specifically the ideal of Bo3 Magic with a variety of archetypes and counterplay to those archetypes available. I defend Nexus the same reason I defended Teferi control in the open beta or RDW in... all the time, but specifically the Amonkhet w/o Kaladesh period. I don't like the idea of making a bunch of aggressive banning/balancing decisions based on people getting mad at videogames because midrange and jank aren't the only valid archetypes.
What I like is Magic, and specifically the ideal of Bo3 Magic with a variety of archetypes and counterplay to those archetypes available. I defend Nexus the same reason I defended Teferi control in the open beta or RDW in... all the time, but specifically the Amonkhet w/o Kaladesh period. I don't like the idea of making a bunch of aggressive banning/balancing decisions based on people getting mad at videogames because midrange and jank aren't the only valid archetypes.
Combo is the type of deck I like to play against the least (because it is the least interactive) but the reason I really hate nexus (which in fairness I have never played against but have watched streamers play against a million times, and I always just want to turn off the screen) is that it typically takes FOREVER, at least in arena. In paper I imagine it would be way less onerous, except that shuffling is instant in mtga.
You just wait there for a long time and then lose. If the combo took less time to kill or took less time to "prove" then I would probably be more okay with it. Also it's way easier to disrupt in a meta which predominantly includes mortify. People tend to be maindecking enchantment removal which means reclamation is more vulnerable. I'm just jealous because neither of my decks maindeck enchant removal.
Honestly I should build a mono blue, it's always been one of my favorites.
I think every infinite combo deck in standard has been unintended. Felidar Guardian for instance was something that they admitted was just overlooked in playtesting and got emergency banned. Wizards seems to to prefer combo to be more on the lines of Timestream Navigator or Famished Paladin/Sorcerer's Wand/Lifelink where there's technically an infinite combo possible but it's firmly below the power level of what standard decks are doing.
As for Nexus in particular, I'm mostly alright with it through I won't shed any tears if it suddenly goes away. It does hold any deck down that can't kill by turn 5 or interact with enchantments at instant speed which I think contributes to the polizations of standard. Maybe if nexus went away, big midrange decks could safely thrive which would cut down on the amount of aggro in the format. I also think that the bant nexus deck is an inferior version of the temur so it's possible that refinement of the nexus deck will result in something oppressive but I trust the balance team at wotc if that happens.
I'm in a weird spot in constructed right now - I took a two-month break from playing Arena and now that I'm back, all my old decks are bad and I'm not really sure what to invest wildcards in.
My best-performing deck is R/W Convoke, mostly on the back of Venerated Loxodon and Heroic Reinforcements being busted, and History of Benalia just being so damn efficient. It's possible the deck is just a worse version of mono-white, but Heroic Reinforcements and Goblin Instigator specifically are reasons to splash red, along with having reach in the form of Shock and Lightning Strike to steal the occasional game when the opponent stabilizes behind a sweeper. I can still never beat a Wildgrowth Walker on 5 toughness.
I'm trying to figure out if I want to refresh/update this deck or build something totally different. There aren't a lot of tools in GRN/RNA that feel like a good fit - Skewer the Critics and Light up the Stage are maybe the most obvious choices, but this deck wants its cheap interaction at instant speed (I think I'd rather have Shock than Skewer) and really lives and dies by the quality of its nut draws (where it's hard to fit in Light up the Stage). If anyone has deck recommendations that are in a similar vein, I'd like to hear them -- in particular, I'm debating taking the plunge on some flavor of Rakdos go-wide with Judith, the Scourge Diva, but losing access to white cuts off many of the most powerful cards in my current deck.
Look at any of the WW splash U ("Wet Weenies") decks that have had success in recent lists for ideas. It essentially upgrades your removal from an enchantment to another body, Deputy of Detention, upgrades heroic reinforcements or pride of conquerors to Unbreakable Formation. Perhaps more importantly, it let's you play blue disruption in the board.
What I like is Magic, and specifically the ideal of Bo3 Magic with a variety of archetypes and counterplay to those archetypes available. I defend Nexus the same reason I defended Teferi control in the open beta or RDW in... all the time, but specifically the Amonkhet w/o Kaladesh period. I don't like the idea of making a bunch of aggressive banning/balancing decisions based on people getting mad at videogames because midrange and jank aren't the only valid archetypes.
On the other hand, I was listening to the Pro Points podcast and they made the point that if some part of your game is making players unhappy, it's probably worth removing if you possibly can. A variety of of archetypes isn't worth it if it causes people to rage and waste their time attempting to "punish" the nexus player for playing a legal deck. Wizard's ultimate concern is making their game fun (so that people will spend money on it) rather than preserving some kind of platonic strategic balance.
Again, not advocating for a ban on nexus but just pointing out that play experience is something that is of concern as well as strategic depth.
Copycat was banned because it was too fast for Standard and required you to hold up instant speed kill spells the whole game against a deck that could mostly get away with playing the midrange energy shell. Nexus is slower and more all in
I'm in a weird spot in constructed right now - I took a two-month break from playing Arena and now that I'm back, all my old decks are bad and I'm not really sure what to invest wildcards in.
My best-performing deck is R/W Convoke, mostly on the back of Venerated Loxodon and Heroic Reinforcements being busted, and History of Benalia just being so damn efficient. It's possible the deck is just a worse version of mono-white, but Heroic Reinforcements and Goblin Instigator specifically are reasons to splash red, along with having reach in the form of Shock and Lightning Strike to steal the occasional game when the opponent stabilizes behind a sweeper. I can still never beat a Wildgrowth Walker on 5 toughness.
I'm trying to figure out if I want to refresh/update this deck or build something totally different. There aren't a lot of tools in GRN/RNA that feel like a good fit - Skewer the Critics and Light up the Stage are maybe the most obvious choices, but this deck wants its cheap interaction at instant speed (I think I'd rather have Shock than Skewer) and really lives and dies by the quality of its nut draws (where it's hard to fit in Light up the Stage). If anyone has deck recommendations that are in a similar vein, I'd like to hear them -- in particular, I'm debating taking the plunge on some flavor of Rakdos go-wide with Judith, the Scourge Diva, but losing access to white cuts off many of the most powerful cards in my current deck.
Look at any of the WW splash U ("Wet Weenies") decks that have had success in recent lists for ideas. It essentially upgrades your removal from an enchantment to another body, Deputy of Detention, upgrades heroic reinforcements or pride of conquerors to Unbreakable Formation. Perhaps more importantly, it let's you play blue disruption in the board.
You have just sold me on playing this deck. It seems to work well in BO3 too, just have to figure out the sideboard plan. Also I'm in need of a single deputy of detention but that won't be that hard to get.
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21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
Well, two losses back to back after changing my draft deck.
I'd say a 1:3 run is a miserable failure.
How do i get better at drafting MTG?
I've drafted 4 or 5 times in the last week or so and i lost with the opponent barely breaking a sweat every single time. It's getting embarrassing and increasingly unlikely that it's just bad luck.
I check the tierlists, i try to use decent ratios of creatures (5-7 one/two drops, 7-10 three/four drops, 1-2 five/six drops), i try to get removal when possible..... but i still lose all the time.
Well, two losses back to back after changing my draft deck.
I'd say a 1:3 run is a miserable failure.
How do i get better at drafting MTG?
I've drafted 4 or 5 times in the last week or so and i lost with the opponent barely breaking a sweat every single time. It's getting embarrassing and increasingly unlikely that it's just bad luck.
I check the tierlists, i try to use decent ratios of creatures (5-7 one/two drops, 7-10 three/four drops, 1-2 five/six drops), i try to get removal when possible..... but i still lose all the time.
Help me, my family is dying.
Some of it might be luck, some of it might be the way you're playing. It's hard to tell without seeing a game because that deck seemed overall pretty solid, but it's still possible to get trounced by better stuff. One thing to remember is to keep mana up to threaten creature adapts, don't do it immediately. Swing in with it and make them wonder if you have a combat trick in hand or if you're just going to adapt. (Assuming you'll win if you adapt of course). Keep 'em guessing instead of knowing what your strategy is. If you have a 2/2 and they have a 1/1 and they swing into it, go ahead and block it. If they have a combat trick, that's an awful lot of cards they're spending to get rid of your lackluster creature. Maybe record a game sometime (OBS lets you do it without broadcasting) and throw it on youtube or something so we can see what's happening.
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21stCenturyCall me Pixel, or Pix for short![They/Them]Registered Userregular
Well, two losses back to back after changing my draft deck.
I'd say a 1:3 run is a miserable failure.
How do i get better at drafting MTG?
I've drafted 4 or 5 times in the last week or so and i lost with the opponent barely breaking a sweat every single time. It's getting embarrassing and increasingly unlikely that it's just bad luck.
I check the tierlists, i try to use decent ratios of creatures (5-7 one/two drops, 7-10 three/four drops, 1-2 five/six drops), i try to get removal when possible..... but i still lose all the time.
Help me, my family is dying.
Some of it might be luck, some of it might be the way you're playing. It's hard to tell without seeing a game because that deck seemed overall pretty solid, but it's still possible to get trounced by better stuff. One thing to remember is to keep mana up to threaten creature adapts, don't do it immediately. Swing in with it and make them wonder if you have a combat trick in hand or if you're just going to adapt. (Assuming you'll win if you adapt of course). Keep 'em guessing instead of knowing what your strategy is. If you have a 2/2 and they have a 1/1 and they swing into it, go ahead and block it. If they have a combat trick, that's an awful lot of cards they're spending to get rid of your lackluster creature. Maybe record a game sometime (OBS lets you do it without broadcasting) and throw it on youtube or something so we can see what's happening.
yep, that's how i do it.
I could try to record myself but IDK if i have enough ram for that. (old PC)
Well, two losses back to back after changing my draft deck.
I'd say a 1:3 run is a miserable failure.
How do i get better at drafting MTG?
I've drafted 4 or 5 times in the last week or so and i lost with the opponent barely breaking a sweat every single time. It's getting embarrassing and increasingly unlikely that it's just bad luck.
I check the tierlists, i try to use decent ratios of creatures (5-7 one/two drops, 7-10 three/four drops, 1-2 five/six drops), i try to get removal when possible..... but i still lose all the time.
Help me, my family is dying.
If you are still drafting with the BREAD principle (Bombs > Removal > Evasion > Aggro > Duds), there are some other considerations that you may further develop.
For example, I also add "Roaches" to Removal. Roaches are creatures that are exceedingly hard to get rid of and are excellent in a draft because they counter removal simply by existing. Stuff like things that pop back in from the graveyard or Hexproof/Shroud or even Afterlife on Orzhov cards give you a lot of staying power.
I add "Efficient" to Evasion as well. Efficient cards are effects that are 2-for-1 or better. Creatures that also do an effect that removes a card while entering the battlefield are very useful, for example. A creature that forces a discard is effectively a 2-for-1 as well. These creatures conveniently take up one of your creature slots instead of the 4-5 removal slots that you generally have in a draft.
Finally, while Removal is important, once you've grabbed your 4-5 removal cards, stop drafting Removal, or only draft more Removal if it can pare down your mana base.
Well, two losses back to back after changing my draft deck.
I'd say a 1:3 run is a miserable failure.
How do i get better at drafting MTG?
I've drafted 4 or 5 times in the last week or so and i lost with the opponent barely breaking a sweat every single time. It's getting embarrassing and increasingly unlikely that it's just bad luck.
I check the tierlists, i try to use decent ratios of creatures (5-7 one/two drops, 7-10 three/four drops, 1-2 five/six drops), i try to get removal when possible..... but i still lose all the time.
Help me, my family is dying.
Variance will happen, especially in BO1, and especially when people are drafting against bots. I've crapped out at 0-3 or 1-3 with decks I thought were legitimately great.
I think you're approaching the draft portion the right way -- try to pick up good removal, draft a coherent mana curve, and research what cards are stronger in a vacuum than others. A lot of times, just losing a game to a specific card will help reinforce just how good that card is, or what game state is required to make a specific card or strategy shine.
One thing that's worth doing is trying to identify commons and uncommons from each color-pair/guild that might be "signals" that guild is open if you see them coming around late. For RNA this might be something like:
This is far from an exhaustive list (especially once you get into uncommons), but the idea is: if you see this card around 7th pick of pack 1 or later, strongly consider taking it and pivoting into that guild. If you identify the open guild, you will get higher-quality cards with later picks than you will if you're fighting over them.
One thing to note is that even if you see Gates-matter cards wheeling you should plan to take early-ish (pick 5-10) gates in the second and third packs, because the bots will take all of those and leave you sad.
I'm in a weird spot in constructed right now - I took a two-month break from playing Arena and now that I'm back, all my old decks are bad and I'm not really sure what to invest wildcards in.
My best-performing deck is R/W Convoke, mostly on the back of Venerated Loxodon and Heroic Reinforcements being busted, and History of Benalia just being so damn efficient. It's possible the deck is just a worse version of mono-white, but Heroic Reinforcements and Goblin Instigator specifically are reasons to splash red, along with having reach in the form of Shock and Lightning Strike to steal the occasional game when the opponent stabilizes behind a sweeper. I can still never beat a Wildgrowth Walker on 5 toughness.
I'm trying to figure out if I want to refresh/update this deck or build something totally different. There aren't a lot of tools in GRN/RNA that feel like a good fit - Skewer the Critics and Light up the Stage are maybe the most obvious choices, but this deck wants its cheap interaction at instant speed (I think I'd rather have Shock than Skewer) and really lives and dies by the quality of its nut draws (where it's hard to fit in Light up the Stage). If anyone has deck recommendations that are in a similar vein, I'd like to hear them -- in particular, I'm debating taking the plunge on some flavor of Rakdos go-wide with Judith, the Scourge Diva, but losing access to white cuts off many of the most powerful cards in my current deck.
Heroic Reinforcements is such an insanely good card
In the new set consider Unbreakable Formation in white for your deck too.
What I like is Magic, and specifically the ideal of Bo3 Magic with a variety of archetypes and counterplay to those archetypes available. I defend Nexus the same reason I defended Teferi control in the open beta or RDW in... all the time, but specifically the Amonkhet w/o Kaladesh period. I don't like the idea of making a bunch of aggressive banning/balancing decisions based on people getting mad at videogames because midrange and jank aren't the only valid archetypes.
On the other hand, I was listening to the Pro Points podcast and they made the point that if some part of your game is making players unhappy, it's probably worth removing if you possibly can. A variety of of archetypes isn't worth it if it causes people to rage and waste their time attempting to "punish" the nexus player for playing a legal deck. Wizard's ultimate concern is making their game fun (so that people will spend money on it) rather than preserving some kind of platonic strategic balance.
Again, not advocating for a ban on nexus but just pointing out that play experience is something that is of concern as well as strategic depth.
My point is that Nexus isn't uniquely the root cause of people being upset about Nexus. There is a base level of saltiness about any decks that win, especially combo, face aggro, and control. If you ban Nexus, you don't get 100% of people complaining about Nexus happy with the play experience, you get 20% of people happier and 80% of people equally mad with Mono Red (as people i this thread have demonstrated by wanting Nexus and multiple mono-red bans). Then when you kill aggro, you get people mad about control (and half justifiably, because Teferi is kind of badly designed).
I ate an engineer
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Even if aggro is good everyone will complain about control. If control is remotely playable, everyone will complain about it.
What I like is Magic, and specifically the ideal of Bo3 Magic with a variety of archetypes and counterplay to those archetypes available. I defend Nexus the same reason I defended Teferi control in the open beta or RDW in... all the time, but specifically the Amonkhet w/o Kaladesh period. I don't like the idea of making a bunch of aggressive banning/balancing decisions based on people getting mad at videogames because midrange and jank aren't the only valid archetypes.
On the other hand, I was listening to the Pro Points podcast and they made the point that if some part of your game is making players unhappy, it's probably worth removing if you possibly can. A variety of of archetypes isn't worth it if it causes people to rage and waste their time attempting to "punish" the nexus player for playing a legal deck. Wizard's ultimate concern is making their game fun (so that people will spend money on it) rather than preserving some kind of platonic strategic balance.
Again, not advocating for a ban on nexus but just pointing out that play experience is something that is of concern as well as strategic depth.
My point is that Nexus isn't uniquely the root cause of people being upset about Nexus. There is a base level of saltiness about any decks that win, especially combo, face aggro, and control. If you ban Nexus, you don't get 100% of people complaining about Nexus happy with the play experience, you get 20% of people happier and 80% of people equally mad with Mono Red (as people i this thread have demonstrated by wanting Nexus and multiple mono-red bans). Then when you kill aggro, you get people mad about control (and half justifiably, because Teferi is kind of badly designed).
The white weenies decks I've seen can justify splashing red for Tajic and Heroic Reinforcements. Past that (and Tajic is greedy) you're not splashing red, you're Boros and can't justify Benalish Marshall.
I ate an engineer
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
edited February 2019
If there isn't a Teferi to hate they'll hate Torrential Gearhulk, if there's no Gearhulk they'll hate Dig Through Time, if there's no Dig Through Time they'll hate Sphinx's Revelation. Hell, even when control was mediocre during original Innistrad people still complained about Terminus almost as much as they complained about Delver.
Here's the secret: the card is irrelevant. If a control deck can resolve a 5+ mana spell and you can't either kill them or nullify the spell within two turns, you should lose. If you don't, it's not a good control deck.
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Ahh, I know i should have thrown a "recent" or "modern" in that statement.
Uno at least only has like 5 second turns, unlike the ten minutes or so you can spend waiting for your turn in arena.
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
And the win i got was tense. but thanks to The Guardian Project, I always ended up having the answer i needed to survive. Thanks, jennifer.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
This seems very janky. The civic stalwart does not seem worth splashing for. Personally I don't like the lockets either but I know some people do. Wrecking Beast is okay but costs a whole bunch. Can work with all the mana ramp and vannifer though.
Next draft I have 2 Guardian Projects and 1 Rhythm of the wild. Multiple games I've had to keep creatures in hand to avoid milling myself. Fun contrast!
I dunno what would change it for me. Higher mana cost, maybe? I dunno.
PSN: Bizazedo
CFN: Bizazedo (I don't think I suck, add me).
i got real unlucky with packs, basically. i should've done a pivot towards Orzhov on pack 2 but i didn't.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
You have a lot of power at the top end of your curve, and a number of good cheap interactive spells, so I think the core of your deck is quite solid!
I'd be interested to see your sideboard. I think Saruli Caretaker and Coral Commando are basically unplayable, Nikya is SUPER borderline, and I agree with SniperGuy's assessment that Civic Stalwart isn't worth splashing for (at which point Azorius Locket is a clear cut). This deck would be substantially more consistent as straight Simic, even if you need to bring in a few relative clunkers to flesh our your playables count.
EDIT because I just saw your reply above: this format seems to really reward paying attention to signals and staying flexible. The power level of the gold cards (including many commons) is so high that even if it takes you until basically the end of pack 1 to identify the open guild, it can still be correct to pivot and abandon (say) 8 of your first 13 picks.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
the only other one-drop i got are two Twilight Panthers. Why do I have 2 Twilight panthers? Because the packs had fuck all in green and blue creatures.
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Faerie Duelist
Sage's Row Savant
Territorial Boar
Quench
Slimebind x2
Gift of Stregth
Applied Biomancy
Coral Commando
Senate Courier
Steeple Creeper
Gyre Engineer
Azorius Locket
Civic Stalwart
Skitter Eel
Prime Speaker Vannifar
Frilled Mystic
Guardian Project
Chillbringer
Nikya of the Old Ways
Scuttlegator
Wrecking Beat
- Plains x1
- Island x7
- Mountain x1
- Forest x6
- Simic Guildgate x2
Sideboard is
-Twilight Panther x2
-Tenth District Veteran x1
-Syndicate Messenger x1
-Archway Angel x1
-Wall of Lost Thought x2
-Arrester's Admonition x1
-Gateway Sneak x1
-Senate Courier x1
-Chillbringer x1
-Prying Eyes x1
-Thirsting Shade x1
-Drill Bit z1
-Blade Juggler x1
-Titanic Brawl x1
-Mammoth Spider x1
-High Alert x1
-Simic Locket x1
I'm sure the fix is super obvious but i don't see it.
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I would take out the centaur,replace with chilbringer. I would also bring in the gatewaysneak over civic stalwart or lockets.
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
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I'd play the Mammoth Spider, Arrester's Admonition, Titanic Brawl, Gateway Sneak, and Chillbringer (I think this is the best common in the set and would play any number of them) over the five cards I listed above, and fix the manabase to be pure two colors.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
Any complaint of non-infinite Nexus being not fun reads very similarly to "I don't want to play against combo", and there's not much to do there if you aren't willing to ban out all combo decks.
I think they just wanted to make a 'Player gets infinite turns' card, and shuffling the card back into the deck is one way to do that.
So not really a mistake unless you count that design aim as a mistake.
I'm fine with combo decks if there's above a certain %, degree, threshold, whatever of interruptions I can throw their way. That's why I said I'd probably be fine with it if it didn't also shuffle itself back into the deck.
PSN: Bizazedo
CFN: Bizazedo (I don't think I suck, add me).
The implication I'm only defending the deck because I personally enjoy playing it is shitty (and wrong; I haven't played the deck in weeks. Arena makes it a hassle to pilot.)
Combo is the type of deck I like to play against the least (because it is the least interactive) but the reason I really hate nexus (which in fairness I have never played against but have watched streamers play against a million times, and I always just want to turn off the screen) is that it typically takes FOREVER, at least in arena. In paper I imagine it would be way less onerous, except that shuffling is instant in mtga.
You just wait there for a long time and then lose. If the combo took less time to kill or took less time to "prove" then I would probably be more okay with it. Also it's way easier to disrupt in a meta which predominantly includes mortify. People tend to be maindecking enchantment removal which means reclamation is more vulnerable. I'm just jealous because neither of my decks maindeck enchant removal.
Honestly I should build a mono blue, it's always been one of my favorites.
As for Nexus in particular, I'm mostly alright with it through I won't shed any tears if it suddenly goes away. It does hold any deck down that can't kill by turn 5 or interact with enchantments at instant speed which I think contributes to the polizations of standard. Maybe if nexus went away, big midrange decks could safely thrive which would cut down on the amount of aggro in the format. I also think that the bant nexus deck is an inferior version of the temur so it's possible that refinement of the nexus deck will result in something oppressive but I trust the balance team at wotc if that happens.
Look at any of the WW splash U ("Wet Weenies") decks that have had success in recent lists for ideas. It essentially upgrades your removal from an enchantment to another body, Deputy of Detention, upgrades heroic reinforcements or pride of conquerors to Unbreakable Formation. Perhaps more importantly, it let's you play blue disruption in the board.
On the other hand, I was listening to the Pro Points podcast and they made the point that if some part of your game is making players unhappy, it's probably worth removing if you possibly can. A variety of of archetypes isn't worth it if it causes people to rage and waste their time attempting to "punish" the nexus player for playing a legal deck. Wizard's ultimate concern is making their game fun (so that people will spend money on it) rather than preserving some kind of platonic strategic balance.
Again, not advocating for a ban on nexus but just pointing out that play experience is something that is of concern as well as strategic depth.
You have just sold me on playing this deck. It seems to work well in BO3 too, just have to figure out the sideboard plan. Also I'm in need of a single deputy of detention but that won't be that hard to get.
I'd say a 1:3 run is a miserable failure.
How do i get better at drafting MTG?
I've drafted 4 or 5 times in the last week or so and i lost with the opponent barely breaking a sweat every single time. It's getting embarrassing and increasingly unlikely that it's just bad luck.
I check the tierlists, i try to use decent ratios of creatures (5-7 one/two drops, 7-10 three/four drops, 1-2 five/six drops), i try to get removal when possible..... but i still lose all the time.
Help me, my family is dying.
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Some of it might be luck, some of it might be the way you're playing. It's hard to tell without seeing a game because that deck seemed overall pretty solid, but it's still possible to get trounced by better stuff. One thing to remember is to keep mana up to threaten creature adapts, don't do it immediately. Swing in with it and make them wonder if you have a combat trick in hand or if you're just going to adapt. (Assuming you'll win if you adapt of course). Keep 'em guessing instead of knowing what your strategy is. If you have a 2/2 and they have a 1/1 and they swing into it, go ahead and block it. If they have a combat trick, that's an awful lot of cards they're spending to get rid of your lackluster creature. Maybe record a game sometime (OBS lets you do it without broadcasting) and throw it on youtube or something so we can see what's happening.
yep, that's how i do it.
I could try to record myself but IDK if i have enough ram for that. (old PC)
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For example, I also add "Roaches" to Removal. Roaches are creatures that are exceedingly hard to get rid of and are excellent in a draft because they counter removal simply by existing. Stuff like things that pop back in from the graveyard or Hexproof/Shroud or even Afterlife on Orzhov cards give you a lot of staying power.
I add "Efficient" to Evasion as well. Efficient cards are effects that are 2-for-1 or better. Creatures that also do an effect that removes a card while entering the battlefield are very useful, for example. A creature that forces a discard is effectively a 2-for-1 as well. These creatures conveniently take up one of your creature slots instead of the 4-5 removal slots that you generally have in a draft.
Finally, while Removal is important, once you've grabbed your 4-5 removal cards, stop drafting Removal, or only draft more Removal if it can pare down your mana base.
Variance will happen, especially in BO1, and especially when people are drafting against bots. I've crapped out at 0-3 or 1-3 with decks I thought were legitimately great.
I think you're approaching the draft portion the right way -- try to pick up good removal, draft a coherent mana curve, and research what cards are stronger in a vacuum than others. A lot of times, just losing a game to a specific card will help reinforce just how good that card is, or what game state is required to make a specific card or strategy shine.
One thing that's worth doing is trying to identify commons and uncommons from each color-pair/guild that might be "signals" that guild is open if you see them coming around late. For RNA this might be something like:
Azorius
Lawmage's Binding
Sphinx's Insight
Senate Griffin
Simic
Aeromunculus
Skatewing Spy
Biogenic Upgrade
Gruul
Rhythm of the Wild
Frenzied Arynx
Savage Smash
Rakdos
Get the Point
Fireblade Artist
Rakdos Firewheeler
Blade Juggler
Orzhov
Grasping Thrull
Imperious Oligarch
Basilica Bell-Haunt
Gates deck
Gates Ablaze
Gate Colossus
Gatebreaker Ram
This is far from an exhaustive list (especially once you get into uncommons), but the idea is: if you see this card around 7th pick of pack 1 or later, strongly consider taking it and pivoting into that guild. If you identify the open guild, you will get higher-quality cards with later picks than you will if you're fighting over them.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
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One thing to note is that even if you see Gates-matter cards wheeling you should plan to take early-ish (pick 5-10) gates in the second and third packs, because the bots will take all of those and leave you sad.
Heroic Reinforcements is such an insanely good card
In the new set consider Unbreakable Formation in white for your deck too.
My point is that Nexus isn't uniquely the root cause of people being upset about Nexus. There is a base level of saltiness about any decks that win, especially combo, face aggro, and control. If you ban Nexus, you don't get 100% of people complaining about Nexus happy with the play experience, you get 20% of people happier and 80% of people equally mad with Mono Red (as people i this thread have demonstrated by wanting Nexus and multiple mono-red bans). Then when you kill aggro, you get people mad about control (and half justifiably, because Teferi is kind of badly designed).
Gosh I hate teferi
Here's the secret: the card is irrelevant. If a control deck can resolve a 5+ mana spell and you can't either kill them or nullify the spell within two turns, you should lose. If you don't, it's not a good control deck.