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[Angry Grimace]

Some guy just ragequit in response to a Summary Dismissal I boarded in for his Elder Deep Fried chain.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

Ideally, MDN would most likely combine the Duels interface (with tweaks, obv) and the depth of MTGO into one better experience. There could be a F2P style gameplay exterior with B2P interior like MTGO.

I think the Duels interface is worse than MTGO from a fundamental point of view. I actually believe that any true Magic game needs to have the stack as seen in MTGO to some degree. Most of the important interactions happen via the Stack and a very literal representation of it is helpful.

I haven't read the last page, just responding to your post

 

[Haines]

I do 1 prerelease tmrw and one Sunday.

Both 6 rounds minimum so it's more than enough for me with 2 lil ones at home.

I think this format will be a hair slower than SOI so my sealed pool is going to be built on value no matter how fast of a pool I open.

Good luck to everyone. Anticipate waking up to some impressions tmrw morning.

 

[A Serious Man]

Haven't decided if I'm going or not. The set doesn't excite me but I have no plans tomorrow.

 

[Joba62x]

Looks like Ishkanah, Grafwidow just jumped from 5ish to 13 on TGCP.

 

[SigmasonicX]

The Latest Developments article today mentioned that they were testing a mechanic where "until end of turn" effects don't end, like Staying Power in Unhinged, and MaRo confirmed he was behind that.

shadowman2099 asked: Sam Stroddard talked about how there was an Eldrazi mechanic in EMN that was similar to Staying Power in Unhinged. Were you the one who tried to introduce that mechanic?

I was. Sometimes you have to test the boundaries.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Looks like Ishkanah, Grafwidow just jumped from 5ish to 13 on TGCP.

It's very good against small fliers that can counter 4 CMC spells if you get my drift.

 

[Infinite Stars]

I can't think of a way it wouldn't be busted, but man that would have been an interesting idea for Kozilek's Eldrazi.

I mean, it'd still be a better mechanic then Process/Ingest, though it'd need a crapton of restrictions to not be broken day 1.

 

[Giant Panda]

I can't think of a way it wouldn't be busted, but man that would have been an interesting idea for Kozilek's Eldrazi.

I mean, it'd still be a better mechanic then Process/Ingest, though it'd need a crapton of restrictions to not be broken day 1.

It would have been annoying to keep track of in paper.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I can't think of a way its not dumb and busted

 

[Angry Grimace]

This one is pretty good. It's a lot different than the one I was playing with before that had Mindwrack.

Deck: GB Delirium - Grafwidow Emrakul

//Lands
4 Hissing Quagmire
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
6 Swamp
1 Rogue's Passage

//Creatures
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Grim Flayer
4 Tireless Tracker
1 Woodland Bellower
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
1 Emrakul, the Promised End

//Planeswalkers
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited

//Spells
4 Oath of Nissa
2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
3 Grasp of Darkness
2 Ultimate Price
4 Murder
2 Ruinous Path

//Sideboard
2 Infinite Obliteration
1 Grasp of Darkness
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Languish
2 Grapple with the Past
1 Distended Mindbender
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
2 Ruinous Path
1 Traverse the Ulvenwald

Display deck statistics

 

["God's Beard!"]

I think Rogue's Passage is pretty bad in that deck, it's a grindy strategy and the only combo is with a 2-drop. Blighted Fen is going to help a lot more.

Also, Ultimate Price is pretty bad when the premier deck of the format plays basically only multicolor creatures. I get that Murder is a concession to Delirium, but I still think that Ruinous Path is better in a deck that wants tons of lands for Tireless Tracker and Sylvan Advocate anyway.

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";210146451]I think Rogue's Passage is pretty bad in that deck, it's a grindy strategy and the only combo is with a 2-drop. Blighted Fen is going to help a lot more.

Also, Ultimate Price is pretty bad when the premier deck of the format plays basically only multicolor creatures. I get that Murder is a concession to Delirium, but I still think that Ruinous Path is better in a deck that wants tons of lands for Tireless Tracker and Sylvan Advocate anyway.[/QUOTE]

You have to have Murder or you die to endless loops of Elder Deep Fried.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

You have to have Murder or you die to endless loops of Elder Deep Fried.

Not if you're playing sinister concoction you don't.

Started strong 2-0 with RG beats then lost to elder deep fried and then got flooded, land and colour screwed in the final round. Variance and bad keeps.

Got Lili in my price pack all is well.

 

[The Technomancer]

Cryptolyth Fragment is legit. Run it, it's amazing

 

[charlequin]

Presumably they'll be the Planeswalker pack cards? Without a core set, they'd have to pick and choose the Gatewatchers from the other sets (Chandra and Nissa from OGW, Liliana from EDM, etc.) which seems kind of clunky.

It definitely won't be Planeswalker pack cards, overcosted casual junk doesn't sell $300 boxes of 5 cards.

Assuming they don't break the Planeswalker tradition for these, they'll almost certainly just do a Gatewatch collection. There's two ways they could go with that: they could do the five GW planeswalkers from this year (Gideon AOZ, Nissa VOZ, Jace UOS, Chandra Flamecaller, and Liliana TLH), or they could do the first circuit of Gatewatch face cards and swap out Chandra for a preview of Kaladesh Chandra. The latter wouldn't be totally insane (they've done single previews that don't tell you anything about the set as a whole before in FTVs) and it'd be one reason they'd want to give a little more hype to this set. (But it's probably just the first thing.)

The Latest Developments article today mentioned that they were testing a mechanic where "until end of turn" effects don't end, like Staying Power in Unhinged, and MaRo confirmed he was behind that.

I think this mechanic is a Good Idea but it's hard enough to work out the rules in a way that makes sense that you don't want to try to squeeze it in as a side mechanic in a small set; probably you'd have to toss it out in Pre-Design and test it extensively to get it to stick. Note that the reaction here was "it'd be a lot of work to do" and not "it was absolutely vetoed by the rules manager" tho.

 

[noquarter]

Opened M'2krul and the Legwndary Werewolf in my first EMN pack, playing G/W and forcing r with one Cryptolith Fragment and 3 Terrarion for color fixing. Don't think this will go well, but hopefully I get to cast both once each tonight.

 

[Giant Panda]

Whenever I see the SDCC Planewalkers in person, they are practically unreadable. The text comes out as a dark grey on a black background. Anybody else see them this way?

 

[charlequin]

Opened M'2krul

I prefer "Emra2l"

Whenever I see the SDCC Planewalkers in person, they are practically unreadable. The text comes out as a dark grey on a black background. Anybody else see them this way?

I've never actually seen one in person, but they seem reasonably legible in, e.g., this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erzzoRg7GcA

 

[Star Falcon]

On my way to prerelease now! I'm a bit nervous as never done this before but excited to meet some new people and play...hopefully I can win a game!

I've bought a pack of 50 sleeves with me, is it generally OK to sleeve when making the deck? I like to try look after my stuff

 

[Gaming Truth]

On my way to prerelease now! I'm a bit nervous as never done this before but excited to meet some new people and play...hopefully I can win a game!

I've bought a pack of 50 sleeves with me, is it generally OK to sleeve when making the deck? I like to try look after my stuff

Yep, you have plenty of time to sleeve your deck. Almost everyone does

 

[Jhriad]

The print quality on our EMN prerelease packs is shit. Cards all curved, white cards look yellow, weird glossy feel, and they feel a little flimsy.

On the plus side, I opened 5 Mythics in my pool.

 

[Supast4r]

On the topic of banning SSG...and hear me out just because of my inner Johnny.

The T4 rule is basically that Wizards doesn't want decks to consistently win before turn 4. Fair enough..it's why Summer Bloom was banned and why a bunch of rituals are gone too.

I get what they are trying to do, but wouldn't it be easier if the modern rules just read "Each player begins play with an emblem that reads 'Any players life total cannot be reduced below zero until after all players have completed their third turn' " or something to that effect.

I mean isn't that what they're trying to do in essence? Ban out "glass cannons" and allow "fair decks" to develop board presence. To me banning SSG feels like it's just a grudge that people have since it's never seen the axe...is it really warping the format? Is it even winning tournaments? TWoo's dredge deck is the most amazingly consistent pre turn 4 win deck I've seen in a long time and no one seems to be crying about bans there.

Anyway, this is a hypothetical, but seriously if everyone knows there is an internal decree about the format and wins before turn 4, wouldn't the emblem be easier?

I would argue that an infect ban makes more sense than SSG since infect regularly breaks the rule and it has ways to save its creautres from removal all while winning on turn 2/3. I would rather see a glisenor elf ban because the card is a lot more unhealthy than see a SSG ban.

 

[Supast4r]

Why? Liliana of the Veil is one of the best planeswalkers ever printed and people clamor for it to be reprinted.

Because Chandra has two great versions of herself (pyromaster and oath chandra) yet people always dwell on the old Chandra's.) no one does that to Liliana of the dark realms when she was basically a green ramp card.

 

[Supast4r]

People used to rag on Nissa for her first appearance. Then she got güd and no one cares anymore.

If they print a good Chandra people will stop.

They have printed two Chandra's that are good (pyromaster and oath) both saw standard play, pyromaster has seen modern/legacy play before in Jund and big red. i wouldn't see surprised to see another super pushed Chandra in Kaladesh.

 

[Supast4r]

Oath was fun and I'm sure the eternals are happy they got a whole new deck archetype. That doesnt really happen much.

I'm not happy that eldrazi destroyed modern for months upon months and wizards didn't emergency ban it so we were stuck in a busted format. I still don't like that an ancient tomb for one creature type is legal. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these emerge cards break eldrazi temple.

 

[Yeef]

Had a pretty sweet pool tonight. Opened Olivia, Gisela and Tree of Perdition and had the fixing to play all through. I also got to meld the common melders several games; though one game it actually screwed me over; I needed the extra blocker more than the big creature.

 

[y2dvd]

I would argue that an infect ban makes more sense than SSG since infect regularly breaks the rule and it has ways to save its creautres from removal all while winning on turn 2/3. I would rather see a glisenor elf ban because the card is a lot more unhealthy than see a SSG ban.

Don't touch my infect deck. ;_;

Have infect been putting up dominating results? I hear people wanting bans all the time but I look at the results and modern is all over the place. Like I would understand if it is ahead of the pack, but right now it's simply up there with several others.

 

[noquarter]

Well, as expected my deck was meh. Always Watching helped me not lose super bad, but Emra2l only saw play once. 13 with only a Cryptolith to ramp doesn't make it easy, especially with none of the sac enchantments or lands. It also came out so late that there really wasn't anything to do with his hand. Guess it is nice being able to use any sorceries or enchantment removal before they get a turn, but is definitely a card that a good top deck would keep you from actually finishing after playing. Really think they should have given her something to help you in addition to the mindslaver, either untap your lands or draw some cards, something so if they do top deck you didn't just blow your load and not really have anything to show for it.

The legendary werewolf was good though and made me splashing r seem like the ok thing to do.

I would argue that an infect ban makes more sense than SSG since infect regularly breaks the rule and it has ways to save its creautres from removal all while winning on turn 2/3. I would rather see a glisenor elf ban because the card is a lot more unhealthy than see a SSG ban.

I don't see Infect breaking the turn 4 rule regularly, it does happen sometimes though. And I can't recall seeing any games where it won on turn 2.

It does make you play a little different than you might be used to though. It usually is best to play removal on your turn so they have to waste a pump. And Glistner Elf really isn't even that good, it does to Doom Blade.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Have infect been putting up dominating results? I hear people wanting bans all the time but I look at the results and modern is all over the place. Like I would understand if it is ahead of the pack, but right now it's simply up there with several others.

You could say the same about Twin, but they still banned that.

 

[ultron87]

Dark Salvation x 2 and a From Under the Floorboards led to all the zombies for me.

 

[Ashodin]

4-0 FIRST PLACE PRERELEASE WOOOOOOOOOOO

Pulled Thalia Thalia Thalia Thalia

(just one thalia)

I was Naya (Boros with splash green). If you can run the burn in this set, DO IT. It's LEGIT. Incendiary Flow is that FIYAH

I'm running all the burn, both escalate spells, with a sub humans theme (I got duskwatch recruiter, two of those "look for humans" coco type guys and the CENSER alwwwwww yeah)

Round 1:

Vs. Grixis

Game one he just stabilized and I couldn't blow through his huge ass creatures and flying. This guy I don't like that much at our FNM: he always plays with the intent to kill me in EDH so I wanted to make sure he didn't get that victory over me here. It was a grudge match to be sure.

Game two: I went flat-out cold calculating on his ass. I withdrew all emotion I normally put into my matches and just stared him down and unnerved him. Every single decision he made I put my most stoic face on and totally stonewalled him on responses. I wanted him to know he made me mad and I was on the intent to kill. In Magic, anyway. If this was Bleach or some shit, he would have felt my spiritual pressure pushing him down in combat. I was cold rage all the way to the end, and I won.

Game three: We only had four minutes left to play, so we hurried up and I slaughtered him. I was finally done with him and I didn't want to deal with his shenanigans the rest of the night.

Record: 2-1

Match 2: Against one of our regulars, this guy went to states with me. He's probably one of the absolute top competitive and is very good at magic types.

Game 1: We open up to tons of trades and back and forths. It ends up I stabilize and win the game by stomping him down.

Game 2: HOO boy. The nail-biter was here. After tons of trades, and sideboarded in some more good tricks to match his trades, I eventually get him down to 3, and I'm at 2. He has to sacrifice his Aurora of Emrakul to emerge out some more creatures to block (otherwise he would have died on the crackback from his Emrakul being tapped). I draw into my first strike +1/+0 trick, and lay down the trick in some good blocks. After that, he draws, seeing nothing, and I have it. WOOH.

Record: 2-0

Match 3: Hilarious match against WU something or other that the guy got a bye and I matched up against him after his only win. I smoked him so fast he didn't even know what happened.

Record: 2-0

Match 4: MIRROR MATCH WAT

Yep, basically, the mirror match was up, and this guy had some great tricks and beaters, but my deck had the superior Humans setup so I synergized like all fuck and beat him down quick and easy. First game was kinda hairy but I ran away with it. Second game was over and done with just as easy as the first. No sweat Clyde.

Got my packs, and BOOM I opened another Thalia. Got a Sigarda's Aid from a friend, and I'm excited for later today's next prerelease flight. See if I can smash up some good sheeeit

 

[WhereAreMahDragonz]

Pulled a foil promo Gisela, Bruna, Avacyn, foil Tree of Perdition, and Emrakul

Everyone hates me

 

[Santiako]

My pool is terrible. I'm just playing one rare (Emrakul Evangel), the rest is trash.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Had a pretty sweet pool tonight. Opened Olivia, Gisela and Tree of Perdition and had the fixing to play all through. I also got to meld the common melders several games; though one game it actually screwed me over; I needed the extra blocker more than the big creature.

Yout could have played them post combat they flip on your beginning of combat phase.

 

[Ozigizo]

Here's my report after doing a midnight:

Get bombs
Play said bombs
Laugh at the fact that their removal options are incredibly limited. Out of 16 players, there was only a single murder pulled. The -13 spell's cost is usually way too steep to cast. Everything outside of countering or mythics just seems like garbage.

Also, dropping out the 5/5 black emerge creature on turn 4 will kill any opponents tempo when you make them drop something like a combat trick and their next creature. Every time I hit it turn 4-5, it was GG.

I was actually able to get it out turn 3 off of a madness vampire.

 

[Camp1nCarl]

Pulled absolutely nothing. My experienced friend asked to see my cards after he saw me complain and literally laughed and said no chance. Didn't pull any mythics or legendary cards. Lost every round, and my best card was the remove up to two -13/-13. Literally felt like flushing money down the drain and I kind of don't feel like playing Magic for awhile now 😕

 

[alternade]

Went 6-0 to take the whole prerelease! I'm actually really proud of myself. A few of the people I play EDH with were super supportive and came to me between rounds for deck help. My pool was nuts though:

Avacyn
Sin prodder
The flying vampire that makes opp sac 3 when flipped
The angel that taps all opp creatures
The 2 drop token maker when it flips
3 tappers
A few flyers
And removal for days.
(Sorry if i can't remember the names, just played for 6 hours).

Having skipped the past few prereleases, I have to day this was really fun!

There was a guy that consistently pulled off melding Brisela and I thank God I didn't have to play him.

 

[Hackworth]

I GOT A TAMIYO!

Also, I'm apparently really bad at building limited because I went 1-3 with my WG(u) deck.

It mana screwed me every game it didn't flood me, except for the bonus game I played to show off how reliably it screwed me (which I won on turn four, against the same deck I'd lost to twice), and the round immediately after that which convinced me not to scrap it.

Prereleases lol

 

[Korgill]

I GOT A TAMIYO!

Also, I'm apparently really bad at building limited because I went 1-3 with my WG(u) deck.

It mana screwed me every game it didn't flood me, except for the bonus game I played to show off how reliably it screwed me (which I won on turn four, against the same deck I'd lost to twice), and the round immediately after that which convinced me not to scrap it.

Prereleases lol

Sounds exactly like my experience, Tamiyo is very fun though if you get it on the field. Couldnt get the ultimate out though.

 

[Voror]

Going to prerelease today at noon. Super nervous actually since this is my first time doing this sort of thing. Hope I get some good cards at least but realize it's pretty much luck.

 

[Yeef]

Yout could have played them post combat they flip on your beginning of combat phase.

Reading cards after midnight is obviously too good a strat for me.

 

[Supast4r]

Don't touch my infect deck. ;_;

Have infect been putting up dominating results? I hear people wanting bans all the time but I look at the results and modern is all over the place. Like I would understand if it is ahead of the pack, but right now it's simply up there with several others.

It's a tier 1 deck that grosely violates the turn 4 rule whenever you start with a glisenor elf in hand usually. Sure it's not dominating the format but it's an issue when modern doesn't have the tools to deal with turn 2/3 kill hands that have a apostles blessing in them.

 

[Supast4r]

Well, as expected my deck was meh. Always Watching helped me not lose super bad, but Emra2l only saw play once. 13 with only a Cryptolith to ramp doesn't make it easy, especially with none of the sac enchantments or lands. It also came out so late that there really wasn't anything to do with his hand. Guess it is nice being able to use any sorceries or enchantment removal before they get a turn, but is definitely a card that a good top deck would keep you from actually finishing after playing. Really think they should have given her something to help you in addition to the mindslaver, either untap your lands or draw some cards, something so if they do top deck you didn't just blow your load and not really have anything to show for it.

The legendary werewolf was good though and made me splashing r seem like the ok thing to do.

I don't see Infect breaking the turn 4 rule regularly, it does happen sometimes though. And I can't recall seeing any games where it won on turn 2.

It does make you play a little different than you might be used to though. It usually is best to play removal on your turn so they have to waste a pump. And Glistner Elf really isn't even that good, it does to Doom Blade.

Infect violates the turn 4 rule the most. If it has glisenor elf plus a pump spell in its hand it's winning fast. If it has a protection spell in hand then you can't interact unless you turn 1 discarded.

 

[Star Falcon]

I didn't do too well (W2 L6) but it was a good experience and i learnt a lot. The first guy i played was super chilled and helped me out loads which was nice. I got 2 mythics from my 7 boosters which is pretty good i think (although one was the Sorcery that summons Planeswalkers which was of no use!)

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Reading cards after midnight is obviously too good a strat for me.

I only just now realized that myself reading your post.

 

[bigkrev]

Didn't prerelease last night (and it's looking like I won't be able to at all this weekend), but did play in Modern FNM, where I got to have a wonderful experience I hope everyone gets a chance to have at least once in their life!

I was playing my match, and a late-20s year old guy is next to me playing his match in Round 2. At some point, he looses the match, and lets out a loud scream, and then starts saying "I quit, I can't take this anymore", and goes to the front of the store and sells his Modern Boggles deck, and calls his Grandpa to pick him up. I finally witnessed the true Magic Ragequit!

I'm really sad he wasn't Vaping or anything, but man was that fun to watch!


As for my tournament experience, I went 2-2, beating Mefolk and Naya Burn, and loosing to Tron and Infect. I drew poorly all night, but still had a ton of fun. Also, 2 of my best friends (they aren't gamers in any sense of the word) moved into a new apartment that is across the street from the store I play at, and are at a point in their lives where they aren't ever going out at night, which is a lifehack I highly recommend to people for post-tournament relaxation and hanging out.

 

[OnPoint]

They have printed two Chandra's that are good (pyromaster and oath) both saw standard play, pyromaster has seen modern/legacy play before in Jund and big red. i wouldn't see surprised to see another super pushed Chandra in Kaladesh.

Pyromaster is laughed at because an enchantment from Fate Reforged does it better. And Oath Chandra won't see play outside of standard. She's still looking for her 'Liliana of the Veil' breakout card.

 

[The Technomancer]

Ended up going this R/G werewolves sorta thing based on the three EMN (and one SOI) wolves I opened. It actually worked out okay, with the right density of wolves Waxing Moon is a sick combat trick. It was fun to drop this on turn 2 - turn 3

Didn't pull anything exciting, although for my personal collection I snagged a Sealed in the Moon, Behold the Beyond and Westvale Abbey, so I can't complain too much

 

[SigmasonicX]

Since people are bringing up bad Sealed pools, here's an article offering advice for those less experienced at Sealed.

The thinking goes like this. If your deck is really strong, and likely going to be stronger than your opponent's, then you want to mitigate the ways you can lose. You want to build favoring consistency, playing a firm two colors, a safe curve, and maybe even eighteen lands to ensure you don't run into mana problems. This is generally a pretty "safe" Sealed deck.However, it's the opposite situation that's often more interesting to talk about. After all, when you get handed a great Sealed pool, you can usually build something strong there.

If you end up with a Sealed pool on the weaker end of the spectrum, you need to be willing to take more risks to win. Over the course of a long day, the stronger decks are going to overpower you on individual card quality if you don't take some risks. This means you may want to consider things like playing three colors, a curve than maximizes your game plan, or even sixteen lands in some cases.

This ties directly in with point number two, which I'll move on to next!

If your deck is full of powerful cards and you believe it is going to be stronger than your opponent's, then you are inherently favored in the long game. You're okay stalling things out and playing defensively, because you believe you have the upper hand when the game goes long.

However, once again, it's the opposite case that's the most interesting. If you think your deck sports weaker overall card quality than an average opponent's, that means you often want to win quickly. After all, you can occasionally just steal games with a quick draw that doesn't let their bomb creatures get online. Sometimes, the best way to beat a powerful card is to just kill them before they can cast it!

So how about a real-world example?

Let's say you open your Shadows over Innistrad Sealed pool at this Grand Prix. You look it over, and you believe that it is weaker than average. Now, you can build your Sealed deck like you normally would—a safe two-color midrange green-white deck. But over the course of the day, you are no doubt going to fall to the decks that simply have a better midgame than you do, with more card advantage and better threats.

But let's look at something different. Let's say that instead, you build up an aggressive black-red-green deck, with your cheap Vampires and Werewolves. Your curve practically tops out at five. You're playing creatures, combat tricks, and some removal. And while it may look less conventional, this kind of deck is what many other decks just aren't prepared for.

Granted, maybe your pool just doesn't support aggro well either, but the point is this: if you think your sealed pool is weak, you can't expect to win often playing normally. You have to take big risks. Sure, you'll lose often, but probably less often than if you tried to play normally.

If you want to go really advanced, later on the article suggests creating a completely different deck that you can sideboard in if your initial deck isn't a good match up. Remember, you can do that in Sealed.

EDIT: Final EMN Limited review.