I tried my first game of ranked and the very first guy is running persistent petitioners. Great well, I get to play one of these decks. I'm running red blue drakes. Guy gets 4 petitioners on the board quickly and starts dumping my deck into my graveyard.
My deck is mostly spells. Spells in my graveyard buff my creatures. I realized he's doing exactly what I want to do.
By turn 6 I had a 5/5 and a 9/4 on board and even more damage in hand.
I tried my first game of ranked and the very first guy is running persistent petitioners. Great well, I get to play one of these decks. I'm running red blue drakes. Guy gets 4 petitioners on the board quickly and starts dumping my deck into my graveyard.
My deck is mostly spells. Spells in my graveyard buff my creatures. I realized he's doing exactly what I want to do.
By turn 6 I had a 5/5 and a 9/4 on board and even more damage in hand.
you, a fool: RNA draft is a complex format with elaborate synergies
me, an intellectual: fliers good
went 7-1 with a grindy loss to a player who cast two Prying Eyes and a Sphinx's Insight and drew 36 of their cards to beat me, one extremely tight game where I popped an Inheritance and Slimebinded an 8/8 Zegana to survive at four, then cracked back with Thrull for an exact kill, and six smooth wins.
Every card in the deck is pretty great. I wouldn't normally run two Faerie Duelists but with High Alert and 2xWindstorm Drake they did work. High Alert only really went off in one game and I never got to hit with a 5/5 Knight-Arbiter, but it was good enough. One opponent forgot the untap ability twice in the same game.
You're a braver deckbuilder than I am! The nonland cards in this deck look great, and then I look at the manabase and see seven blue sources (including a Locket) and I'm amazed that you ever got to cast your spells.
(relevant changes since I started playing again: -2 Skymarcher Aspirant, -2 Leonin Vanguard, -2 Viashino Pyromancer, -1 Sworn Companions, +4 Hunted Witness, +2 Boros Challenger, +1 History of Benalia)
The deck is a lot more resilient to Chainwhirler and Gates Ablaze than it used to be. The Boros Challengers have performed admirably too, now that all our 1-drops have 1 power - they block well on turn 2 vs. monored and can usually get an attack in safely on turn 3. The Tajic should be something else (probably a second Legion Warboss), but I'm not yet willing to spend a rare WC on a marginal upgrade for one slot.
What I'm most happy with in this deck is the removal suite - you have outs to almost any creature, Lava Coil in particular solves a lot of your Big Flier problems, and against big creatures your "dead" burn spells can always go face.
I'm gradually fleshing out the dual lands while keeping a few rare WCs around in case I want to brew something new. I can't wait to get that lone Stone Quarry out of there.
Also includes some negate, spell pierce, and an extra island in the sideboard. (Plus 4 glacial fortress and 4 hallowed fountain mainboard to make the deputies castable)
Against sultai, I imagine you put in the baffling ends and the tocatli, but what else? And what comes out?
Also you can call it "Wet Weenie" to make people uncomfortable :surprised:
I've been playing this Wet Weenie and loving it. Absolutely soaking the competition.the best part is getting early tithe takers so they can't essence scatter/ counter counter my creatures, or spell pierce my Histories.
There's juuuuust enough recovery/protection from wrath, too. Holding three to give my dudes indestructible vs a Kaya's Wrath is Sopping Wet Weenie.
Also includes some negate, spell pierce, and an extra island in the sideboard. (Plus 4 glacial fortress and 4 hallowed fountain mainboard to make the deputies castable)
Against sultai, I imagine you put in the baffling ends and the tocatli, but what else? And what comes out?
Also you can call it "Wet Weenie" to make people uncomfortable :surprised:
I've been playing this Wet Weenie and loving it. Absolutely soaking the competition.the best part is getting early tithe takers so they can't essence scatter/ counter counter my creatures, or spell pierce my Histories.
There's juuuuust enough recovery/protection from wrath, too. Holding three to give my dudes indestructible vs a Kaya's Wrath is Sopping Wet Weenie.
I've been running a slightly different version after looking at various other decks online. 1 Tithe Taker, no hawk, 4 conclave tribunal, 2 unbreakable formation instead of just one. No deputy of detention, but 4 skymarchers. The only blue is for the negates, spell pierce, and a disdainful stroke in the sideboard. I'm not sold on spell pierce yet, I like it but it seems tricky to actually get to use. The negates are fantastic though. No kaya's wrath for you! Unbreakable formation to give everyone counters and to break stalemates, or to avoid sweepers. It has been working quite well, I'm up to platinum 2 just doing best of threes. Hoping I can make it to diamond pretty soon, then the long grind to mythic begins again.
you, a fool: RNA draft is a complex format with elaborate synergies
me, an intellectual: fliers good
went 7-1 with a grindy loss to a player who cast two Prying Eyes and a Sphinx's Insight and drew 36 of their cards to beat me, one extremely tight game where I popped an Inheritance and Slimebinded an 8/8 Zegana to survive at four, then cracked back with Thrull for an exact kill, and six smooth wins.
Every card in the deck is pretty great. I wouldn't normally run two Faerie Duelists but with High Alert and 2xWindstorm Drake they did work. High Alert only really went off in one game and I never got to hit with a 5/5 Knight-Arbiter, but it was good enough. One opponent forgot the untap ability twice in the same game.
You're a braver deckbuilder than I am! The nonland cards in this deck look great, and then I look at the manabase and see seven blue sources (including a Locket) and I'm amazed that you ever got to cast your spells.
Oh yeah I definitely ran lucky. I was usually able to plug up the board with a couple two-drops and early removal long enough to find my third color, but there were at least two games where I went "if I don't draw a swamp/island this turn I probably lose" and then I did.
I need to learn to mulligan more successfully. Too many times I keep a hand, "this hand is great once I draw a forest!" And then draw green spells or mountains instead.
I need to learn to mulligan more successfully. Too many times I keep a hand, "this hand is great once I draw a forest!" And then draw green spells or mountains instead.
Yeah, but remember that mulliganed hands have no guarantees of land. more often than not, when i mulligan i get a much worse hand and have to mulligan to 5.
I need to learn to mulligan more successfully. Too many times I keep a hand, "this hand is great once I draw a forest!" And then draw green spells or mountains instead.
Instead of thinking "this hand is great once I draw a forest!" think "do I lose this game instantly if I don't draw a forest?" and decide around that. The scry makes that first mulligan a lot less painful and it's usually not until I get down to five cards that I go "this hand is playable if the top of my deck is exactly <x>" and roll the dice, because winning on a mull to 4 is... not likely.
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
In general if you can't play any of the cards in your hand, you probably want to mulligan. Drafting is a bit more forgiving with that since everyone's deck is jankier, and if you're on the draw you can take slightly worse hands due to the card draw. The MTGA algorithm drawing two hands and giving you the more balanced one might be helping too, but mulliganing is definitely a tricky skill.
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
+1 for this
Way too many people view mulliganing to 6 as a death sentence, especially in draft. But once you start thinking about your bad 7-card hands as virtual mulligans -- due to missing a color, having a ton of uncastable late-drops, or having situational cards that are unlikely to be of use -- it's a lot easier to see how going to 6 cards + a scry is likely to substantially improve your winrate. It only takes one solid 2-for-1 to get you back to card parity on a mulligan, and your opponents stumble on development with some frequency as well.
KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
Oof, just had the most painstaking Bo3 draft match. You know who loves Azorius Skyguard mirror matches? Nobody!
Game 1, Skyguard standoff with both of us durdling behind 0- and 1-power stalled armies, I lose because I cast Sphinx's Insight at some point and opponent didn't.
Game 2, I nail their Skyguard with a Deputy of Detention and sit back behind another durdly army (including my own Skyguard) until my two Azorius Knight-Arbiters get the kill.
Game 3, opponent is off to a faster start with a big Skitter Eel and a Humongulous, and finds the High Alert that they clearly built their deck around (P.S. the High Alert ruins like half the cards in my deck - Slimebinds, Skyguard, Sky Tether, Faerie Duelist). I smack them with the Gate Colossus I boarded in, they Sky Tether it and one of my flying blockers. I was holding back my Deputy of Detention to remove either their High Alert or any number of the four Chillbringers I saw in game 1, but decide killing two Sky Tethers is worth it so my Colossus can attack again. We're both one attack away from death in a very weird race. They attack with the Eel and Chillbringer, I have to chump. They've left back the Skyguard and they can untap either attacker with High Alert, all of them can block the Colossus. Then they tap out to play Watchful Giant, who can also block the Colossus.
Ya done fucked up now, you can't activate High Alert! My formerly-useless Sky Tether goes on their Skyguard, then main-phase Arrester's Zeal on the Colossus, giant-face-punch.
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
NumotTheNummy, who is currently Mythic #5 in draft, just took gates with his 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th picks from the first pack. Apparently I have no idea how to draft this format.
The "pick all gates early and force goodstuff packs 2-3" works to an extent unless you get no gate payoffs. Gruul/Rakdos don't punish durdling as much as Boros did
I've been packing Gates as my default pick during the first 8 rounds, with a Gate Payoff card (the Angel, Colossus, Sheep, or Ablaze) prioritized, maybe with a good removal card like Mortify. It's becoming more like GREED for me instead of BREAD (Gate Payoff or Gate > Removal > Evasion > Everything Else > Duds). You don't need an accelerator card when you are already throwing down a big threat on turn 4 or 5 (Sheep or Colossus), and most of their removal will be to pick off your dumb flyers in the early rounds.
It may not be as powerful as traditional drafting at times, but it also presents a problem to most opponents beyond the scope of traditional drafting, which gets you some surprise wins.
Usually I'm even able to pare down the mana base to 3 colors, and it seems to work fine with all the Gates in there.
EDIT: Conversely, when I see two gates with completely different mana flop down on my opponent's side, I save an answer for either a Ram or a Colossus. Or I wait up on laying down my creatures until the Gates Ablaze hits.
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
+1 for this
Way too many people view mulliganing to 6 as a death sentence, especially in draft. But once you start thinking about your bad 7-card hands as virtual mulligans -- due to missing a color, having a ton of uncastable late-drops, or having situational cards that are unlikely to be of use -- it's a lot easier to see how going to 6 cards + a scry is likely to substantially improve your winrate. It only takes one solid 2-for-1 to get you back to card parity on a mulligan, and your opponents stumble on development with some frequency as well.
Mulling to 5 feels like a death sentence every time I do it
+1
KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
on the flip side, winning from a mull to five feels amazing.
2x Chart a Course
2x Dive Down
3x Essence Capture
4x Opt
1x Sleep
2x Spell Pierce
4x Wizard's Retort
4x Curious Obsession
It feels awesome to play. Lots of early plays, basically 3 mana casts anything in the deck and really you only need 2, and it's tricksy as well.
I'm running the same list right now with -1 Sleep -2 Essence Capture +1 Spell Pierce +2 Chart a Course.
One bit of spicy tech I saw was adding Faery Duelists in the sideboard and bringing them in against WW and mono-red. They can eat a 2/1 that's attacking you and then block another later. I'm not 100% sure it's worth it over just running surge mare or diamond mare but it's a card that I wouldn't have expected to see constructed play.
Battlenet ID: NullPointer
0
KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
Pauper is back for the first time in the new format - anyone have any fun new decks for it? My surveil deck did pretty well last time, but obv it didn't get many new toys.
Normal Brain: 2 color decks splash a third color for bombs
Galaxy Brain: Play all the colors so you can play the best stuff
7-2. This worked. Somehow? Rhythm of the Wild did SO much work
I'm actually doing this at an office Sealed tournament and so far it's actually working. Nothing like casting electrodominance to the face and plopping down a free Rakdos the Showstopper followed next turn by a Hydroid Krasis.
Pauper is back for the first time in the new format - anyone have any fun new decks for it? My surveil deck did pretty well last time, but obv it didn't get many new toys.
Pauper petitioners is really difficult to deal with atm. They block well and present a super fast clock.
I ate an engineer
+1
admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
Not ranked but this was a bo3 5-1, which means I think I've now won a full draft playing every guild except Gruul?
Pauper is back for the first time in the new format - anyone have any fun new decks for it? My surveil deck did pretty well last time, but obv it didn't get many new toys.
Pauper petitioners is really difficult to deal with atm. They block well and present a super fast clock.
Well if it becomes too powerful you could always counter it with a relentless rats deck with a couple thousand cards.
Edit: After doing a lot of clicking I just found out there is a 250 card maximum. Disapointing.
Pauper is back for the first time in the new format - anyone have any fun new decks for it? My surveil deck did pretty well last time, but obv it didn't get many new toys.
Pauper petitioners is really difficult to deal with atm. They block well and present a super fast clock.
Yeah it seems to be either petitioner or rat. not a super fun way to burn through gold.
PAD ID - 328,762,218
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KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
1-3 in draft with no-removal rakdos. (Had three treasons and the treason creature though?)
Mana screwed twice, first with no third land, second no black land after 6-7 red had dropped.
Got the matching pain land though?
...
Pretty sure the other loss was mulliganing to 4 too.
NumotTheNummy, who is currently Mythic #5 in draft, just took gates with his 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th picks from the first pack. Apparently I have no idea how to draft this format.
Just some context, this is not his default strategy carrying him to mythic or anything. I watch him probably more than any other streamer, and think he's probably one of the better players, getting mythic in draft and constructed the first season. He values gates and payoffs highly, but drafts plenty of "normal" decks, too. I think what's likely is the packs just didnt have high power cards in them, so taking gates to hedge is good anyway, or one of his first two picks was already a ram or colossus.
PSN: Broodax- battle.net: broodax#1163
0
ChaosHatHop, hop, hop, HA!Trick of the lightRegistered Userregular
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
+1 for this
Way too many people view mulliganing to 6 as a death sentence, especially in draft. But once you start thinking about your bad 7-card hands as virtual mulligans -- due to missing a color, having a ton of uncastable late-drops, or having situational cards that are unlikely to be of use -- it's a lot easier to see how going to 6 cards + a scry is likely to substantially improve your winrate. It only takes one solid 2-for-1 to get you back to card parity on a mulligan, and your opponents stumble on development with some frequency as well.
Mulling to 5 feels like a death sentence every time I do it
Yeah mulligan to 5 feels bad, especially because at that point I have a 2 land hand which is maybe what I threw away in the original 7 card hand.
I almost feel like you should get one free mulligan or one partial mulligan. I can't imagine that would break the game but it would make your opening a little more consistent which I think is the biggest problem with mana screw.
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
+1 for this
Way too many people view mulliganing to 6 as a death sentence, especially in draft. But once you start thinking about your bad 7-card hands as virtual mulligans -- due to missing a color, having a ton of uncastable late-drops, or having situational cards that are unlikely to be of use -- it's a lot easier to see how going to 6 cards + a scry is likely to substantially improve your winrate. It only takes one solid 2-for-1 to get you back to card parity on a mulligan, and your opponents stumble on development with some frequency as well.
Mulling to 5 feels like a death sentence every time I do it
Yeah mulligan to 5 feels bad, especially because at that point I have a 2 land hand which is maybe what I threw away in the original 7 card hand.
I almost feel like you should get one free mulligan or one partial mulligan. I can't imagine that would break the game but it would make your opening a little more consistent which I think is the biggest problem with mana screw.
One idea that I've seen floated is actually really good. Since the Vancuever mulligan was introduced, there's actually a way to do a "partial" mulligan that I think would help with the nightmare mulligan scenarios without giving anything away or making people build worse manabases or anything like that.
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
+1 for this
Way too many people view mulliganing to 6 as a death sentence, especially in draft. But once you start thinking about your bad 7-card hands as virtual mulligans -- due to missing a color, having a ton of uncastable late-drops, or having situational cards that are unlikely to be of use -- it's a lot easier to see how going to 6 cards + a scry is likely to substantially improve your winrate. It only takes one solid 2-for-1 to get you back to card parity on a mulligan, and your opponents stumble on development with some frequency as well.
Mulling to 5 feels like a death sentence every time I do it
Yeah mulligan to 5 feels bad, especially because at that point I have a 2 land hand which is maybe what I threw away in the original 7 card hand.
I almost feel like you should get one free mulligan or one partial mulligan. I can't imagine that would break the game but it would make your opening a little more consistent which I think is the biggest problem with mana screw.
One idea that I've seen floated is actually really good. Since the Vancuever mulligan was introduced, there's actually a way to do a "partial" mulligan that I think would help with the nightmare mulligan scenarios without giving anything away or making people build worse manabases or anything like that.
I was having this discussion with @Zombie Hero yesterday. I don't think you can move to a system like this without splitting the mulligan rules for Limited and Constructed, as the above suggestion just gives combo decks (especially in older formats) way too many looks to find a specific combination of cards in their opening hand.
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
+1 for this
Way too many people view mulliganing to 6 as a death sentence, especially in draft. But once you start thinking about your bad 7-card hands as virtual mulligans -- due to missing a color, having a ton of uncastable late-drops, or having situational cards that are unlikely to be of use -- it's a lot easier to see how going to 6 cards + a scry is likely to substantially improve your winrate. It only takes one solid 2-for-1 to get you back to card parity on a mulligan, and your opponents stumble on development with some frequency as well.
Mulling to 5 feels like a death sentence every time I do it
Yeah mulligan to 5 feels bad, especially because at that point I have a 2 land hand which is maybe what I threw away in the original 7 card hand.
I almost feel like you should get one free mulligan or one partial mulligan. I can't imagine that would break the game but it would make your opening a little more consistent which I think is the biggest problem with mana screw.
One idea that I've seen floated is actually really good. Since the Vancuever mulligan was introduced, there's actually a way to do a "partial" mulligan that I think would help with the nightmare mulligan scenarios without giving anything away or making people build worse manabases or anything like that.
I don't see why "Draw 7 cards. You may set aside any number of cards and draw back up to 7, then shuffle the set aside cards into your library" wouldn't work awesome.
Or maybe like "You may set aside any two cards face down, search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, add it to your hand, and then shuffle the set aside cards into your library." I could see trading 2 lands 5 spells into 3 lands 3 spells pretty regularly. Or you could fix mana a little by trading in two superfluous land (or one land + spell, whatever) for the one you need.
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The motion is denied.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
they were just doing change.org
You're a braver deckbuilder than I am! The nonland cards in this deck look great, and then I look at the manabase and see seven blue sources (including a Locket) and I'm amazed that you ever got to cast your spells.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
2 Legion's Landing
4 Hunted Witness
3 Shock
4 Goblin Instigator
3 Boros Challenger
4 Lightning Strike
2 Lava Coil
4 History of Benalia
1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
1 Legion Warboss
4 Heroic Reinforcements
2 Conclave Tribunal
4 Venerated Loxodon
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Clifftop Retreat
1 Stone Quarry
9 Plains
8 Mountain
(relevant changes since I started playing again: -2 Skymarcher Aspirant, -2 Leonin Vanguard, -2 Viashino Pyromancer, -1 Sworn Companions, +4 Hunted Witness, +2 Boros Challenger, +1 History of Benalia)
The deck is a lot more resilient to Chainwhirler and Gates Ablaze than it used to be. The Boros Challengers have performed admirably too, now that all our 1-drops have 1 power - they block well on turn 2 vs. monored and can usually get an attack in safely on turn 3. The Tajic should be something else (probably a second Legion Warboss), but I'm not yet willing to spend a rare WC on a marginal upgrade for one slot.
What I'm most happy with in this deck is the removal suite - you have outs to almost any creature, Lava Coil in particular solves a lot of your Big Flier problems, and against big creatures your "dead" burn spells can always go face.
I'm gradually fleshing out the dual lands while keeping a few rare WCs around in case I want to brew something new. I can't wait to get that lone Stone Quarry out of there.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
And, like...
Gosh it feels good. I love blue so much.
I've been playing this Wet Weenie and loving it. Absolutely soaking the competition.the best part is getting early tithe takers so they can't essence scatter/ counter counter my creatures, or spell pierce my Histories.
There's juuuuust enough recovery/protection from wrath, too. Holding three to give my dudes indestructible vs a Kaya's Wrath is Sopping Wet Weenie.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
I've been running a slightly different version after looking at various other decks online. 1 Tithe Taker, no hawk, 4 conclave tribunal, 2 unbreakable formation instead of just one. No deputy of detention, but 4 skymarchers. The only blue is for the negates, spell pierce, and a disdainful stroke in the sideboard. I'm not sold on spell pierce yet, I like it but it seems tricky to actually get to use. The negates are fantastic though. No kaya's wrath for you! Unbreakable formation to give everyone counters and to break stalemates, or to avoid sweepers. It has been working quite well, I'm up to platinum 2 just doing best of threes. Hoping I can make it to diamond pretty soon, then the long grind to mythic begins again.
I've toyed with this in standard when I play and I really like it. I keep toying with the counters, etc. though. What's your list?
Oh yeah I definitely ran lucky. I was usually able to plug up the board with a couple two-drops and early removal long enough to find my third color, but there were at least two games where I went "if I don't draw a swamp/island this turn I probably lose" and then I did.
I netdecked this one: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21077&d=340096&f=ST
But the list is as such
4x Merfolk Trickster
3x Mist-Cloaked Herals
4x Pteramander
4x Siren Stormtamer
4x Tempest Djinn
2x Chart a Course
2x Dive Down
3x Essence Capture
4x Opt
1x Sleep
2x Spell Pierce
4x Wizard's Retort
4x Curious Obsession
It feels awesome to play. Lots of early plays, basically 3 mana casts anything in the deck and really you only need 2, and it's tricksy as well.
Yeah, but remember that mulliganed hands have no guarantees of land. more often than not, when i mulligan i get a much worse hand and have to mulligan to 5.
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Instead of thinking "this hand is great once I draw a forest!" think "do I lose this game instantly if I don't draw a forest?" and decide around that. The scry makes that first mulligan a lot less painful and it's usually not until I get down to five cards that I go "this hand is playable if the top of my deck is exactly <x>" and roll the dice, because winning on a mull to 4 is... not likely.
Easily the worst thing that happens to me when I go on tilt is I start making really bad keeps.
+1 for this
Way too many people view mulliganing to 6 as a death sentence, especially in draft. But once you start thinking about your bad 7-card hands as virtual mulligans -- due to missing a color, having a ton of uncastable late-drops, or having situational cards that are unlikely to be of use -- it's a lot easier to see how going to 6 cards + a scry is likely to substantially improve your winrate. It only takes one solid 2-for-1 to get you back to card parity on a mulligan, and your opponents stumble on development with some frequency as well.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
Game 1, Skyguard standoff with both of us durdling behind 0- and 1-power stalled armies, I lose because I cast Sphinx's Insight at some point and opponent didn't.
Game 2, I nail their Skyguard with a Deputy of Detention and sit back behind another durdly army (including my own Skyguard) until my two Azorius Knight-Arbiters get the kill.
Game 3, opponent is off to a faster start with a big Skitter Eel and a Humongulous, and finds the High Alert that they clearly built their deck around (P.S. the High Alert ruins like half the cards in my deck - Slimebinds, Skyguard, Sky Tether, Faerie Duelist). I smack them with the Gate Colossus I boarded in, they Sky Tether it and one of my flying blockers. I was holding back my Deputy of Detention to remove either their High Alert or any number of the four Chillbringers I saw in game 1, but decide killing two Sky Tethers is worth it so my Colossus can attack again. We're both one attack away from death in a very weird race. They attack with the Eel and Chillbringer, I have to chump. They've left back the Skyguard and they can untap either attacker with High Alert, all of them can block the Colossus. Then they tap out to play Watchful Giant, who can also block the Colossus.
Ya done fucked up now, you can't activate High Alert! My formerly-useless Sky Tether goes on their Skyguard, then main-phase Arrester's Zeal on the Colossus, giant-face-punch.
It may not be as powerful as traditional drafting at times, but it also presents a problem to most opponents beyond the scope of traditional drafting, which gets you some surprise wins.
Usually I'm even able to pare down the mana base to 3 colors, and it seems to work fine with all the Gates in there.
EDIT: Conversely, when I see two gates with completely different mana flop down on my opponent's side, I save an answer for either a Ram or a Colossus. Or I wait up on laying down my creatures until the Gates Ablaze hits.
Mulling to 5 feels like a death sentence every time I do it
because it rarely happens
Nintendo ID: Pastalonius
Smite\LoL:Gremlidin \ WoW & Overwatch & Hots: Gremlidin#1734
3ds: 3282-2248-0453
I'm running the same list right now with -1 Sleep -2 Essence Capture +1 Spell Pierce +2 Chart a Course.
One bit of spicy tech I saw was adding Faery Duelists in the sideboard and bringing them in against WW and mono-red. They can eat a 2/1 that's attacking you and then block another later. I'm not 100% sure it's worth it over just running surge mare or diamond mare but it's a card that I wouldn't have expected to see constructed play.
I'm actually doing this at an office Sealed tournament and so far it's actually working. Nothing like casting electrodominance to the face and plopping down a free Rakdos the Showstopper followed next turn by a Hydroid Krasis.
Pauper petitioners is really difficult to deal with atm. They block well and present a super fast clock.
Well if it becomes too powerful you could always counter it with a relentless rats deck with a couple thousand cards.
Edit: After doing a lot of clicking I just found out there is a 250 card maximum. Disapointing.
Yeah it seems to be either petitioner or rat. not a super fun way to burn through gold.
...and it happened again, less successfully.
why do opponents playing slow decks insist on also playing as slow as shit
also are you automatically assigned mirror matches or something, I dumped the Azorius deck, made a rakdos one, immediately ran into an identical deck.
Definitely not. You’re just unlucky. :P
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18 Mountain (RIX) 195
4 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
4 Ghitu Lavarunner (DAR) 127
3 Shivan Fire (DAR) 142
4 Shock (M19) 156
4 Spear Spewer (RNA) 117
4 Ornery Goblin (GRN) 112
4 Sure Strike (GRN) 118
4 Viashino Pyromancer (M19) 166
4 Skewer the Critics (RNA) 115
3 Frilled Deathspitter (RIX) 104
4 Wojek Bodyguard (GRN) 120
Mana screwed twice, first with no third land, second no black land after 6-7 red had dropped.
Got the matching pain land though?
...
Pretty sure the other loss was mulliganing to 4 too.
Just some context, this is not his default strategy carrying him to mythic or anything. I watch him probably more than any other streamer, and think he's probably one of the better players, getting mythic in draft and constructed the first season. He values gates and payoffs highly, but drafts plenty of "normal" decks, too. I think what's likely is the packs just didnt have high power cards in them, so taking gates to hedge is good anyway, or one of his first two picks was already a ram or colossus.
Yeah mulligan to 5 feels bad, especially because at that point I have a 2 land hand which is maybe what I threw away in the original 7 card hand.
I almost feel like you should get one free mulligan or one partial mulligan. I can't imagine that would break the game but it would make your opening a little more consistent which I think is the biggest problem with mana screw.
One idea that I've seen floated is actually really good. Since the Vancuever mulligan was introduced, there's actually a way to do a "partial" mulligan that I think would help with the nightmare mulligan scenarios without giving anything away or making people build worse manabases or anything like that.
7 -> 6 w/scry -> 6 w/o scry -> 5 w/scry -> 5 w/o scry -> etc.
I was having this discussion with @Zombie Hero yesterday. I don't think you can move to a system like this without splitting the mulligan rules for Limited and Constructed, as the above suggestion just gives combo decks (especially in older formats) way too many looks to find a specific combination of cards in their opening hand.
Path of Exile: snowcrash7
MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
I don't see why "Draw 7 cards. You may set aside any number of cards and draw back up to 7, then shuffle the set aside cards into your library" wouldn't work awesome.
Or maybe like "You may set aside any two cards face down, search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, add it to your hand, and then shuffle the set aside cards into your library." I could see trading 2 lands 5 spells into 3 lands 3 spells pretty regularly. Or you could fix mana a little by trading in two superfluous land (or one land + spell, whatever) for the one you need.