Anyone here play Magic? A friend got into the game a couple months ago. The last time I really spent time playing a TCG was Yu-Gi-Oh! back when I was 12, so I was skeptical, but now have to admit I'm hooked. Wizards of the Coast has built a rather rewarding game and competition system to draw older players in. It certainly doesn't hurt that I jumped in during what seems like a very flavorful and thematic block, Innistrad. I love a good fantasy setting, and while gothic horror isn't a personal favorite of mine, Innistrad just seems to get it right. I also like that they threw in some clever subversions of fantasy tropes -- ie Avacyn is the guardian archangel of the land, but she was actually created by the vampire Sorin Markov with the utilitarian goal of preventing his kin from totally wiping out mankind and thus dying out themselves. I'm actually looking forward to the conclusion of the story arc when the "Avacyn Restored" set releases. Anyways, what are some of your favorite cards/combos/strategies? My favorite card has to be Geist of Saint Traft. Got a foil card of him out of the fourth or fifth booster pack I bought (this game will kill your wallet if you're not careful). Turns out he was one of the top 5 cards in the set. I got a blue/white spirits starter deck to build around him and that's become my main deck, with my other main deck being a white/green token human weenie deck. I prefer to play the hero rather than the villain, so I'm chomping at the bit to see what cards Avacyn Restored holds.
I bought the blue/red precon deck, and it's got an uncommon in it called 'Curse of the bloody tome' two of them actually. Curse is an enchant player that makes the enchanted player put the top two cards in their library into the graveyard at the beginning of their upkeep. both of them on the same person results in their loss in ten turns or less.
I'm a fan of the mill deck setup in the block, as well as the werewolves and even the new version of Sorin, who costs a pretty penny, but I've gotten lucky to get a couple. Currently working on two or three decks (I've completed a blue mill innistrade block pure deck, and have an in progress werewolf and black/white humans deck)
Currently I am doing black/red control for standard, too many token decks where I play, used to do blue/white spirit/humans since I have 4 Geists of St. Traft. My favorite trick with that deck was to cheat out Skaab Ruinators with a Sun Titan, other then enchanting Geist with Angelic Destiny and swinging for 10 on 4th turn, or Mirran Crusaders for the lulz.
Black/Red Sligh is fun here, werewolves are just too cool. Green has some great stuff. Parallel Lives. Gutter Grime. Predator Ooze. So. Much. Fun. Been having bad luck with my draws. Been trying (and failing) to get some decent captains. No luck there. Naturally, my friend who has brought one dark ascencion pack is rocking Grimgrin. Also: Grimgrin plus some of the zombies in here is fucking hilarious.
I'm not sure what you guys are talking about. There is only one faction in MTG that SB should pay heed to: Phyrexians are true SBers. They look at a kitchen sink fantasy setting and said, you know what this needs? Zombie cyborg dreadnoughts with laser cannons. And then there were. And it was good. Monoblack Infect Control all the way. You seriously expect some ghosts going "ooga booga" are a match for zombie cyborgs? More seriously and on topic, I do find Innistrad to be a good handling of a Gothic Horror hodge-podge setting, but with some twists thrown in. Though several things have me curious: 1. The 3rd set of the block is going to be like Rise of the Eldrazi, IE a big set that reboots the mechanics, rather than another small set expanding on the existing big and small sets. I knew that Avacyn being restored is a big deal, but given that the last block to have a reboot in the 3rd set had budget cthulhus bursting out, it raises some questions. Ominous questions at that. Avacyn looks like she might be white-black. 2. Reboot means flashback and transform mechanics are gone. I'll miss the transform mechanic . Wonder what new mechanics will come to replace it? Angel and Demon focused mechanics? 3. Speaking of, what the fuck is going to happen with werewolves given that the transform mechanic is gone? Based on the trailers, it looks like they are gonna get bound, which doesn't really make them fit in with the other werewolves. 4. What are they going to do with planeswalkers? Scars block had 3-1-1 distribution, Zendikar had 3-1-2, Shards of Alara had 4-1-0, and Loryn-Shadowmoor had 5-0-0-0. All sets have had at least 5 planeswalkers, including the base sets for that matter, and the last block to feature two big sets had 6 planeswalkers. So far Innistrad has gone 2-1-?, which indicates there should be 2 to 3 planeswalkers in Avacyn Restored. First off, there really isn't much reason for other planeswalkers to be on Innistrad. Second off, planeswalkers tend to be roughly color balanced in a set, which means it'd need to be someone like Chandra, but someone like Chandra does not fit in with a Gothic Horror setting at all. Which makes me suspect they're gonna have new planeswalkers...
Is mill actually viable in Innistrad? Most times, mill is a purely casual concept unless your mill is just ridiculously fast or has a combo to get it to REALLY go off. It's funny in casual games, but competitive games tend to involve either enough speed to not let the mill get the job done or have control to prevent the mill from setting up. (Granted, I've been out of competitive Magic for a couple years now and know next to nothing about the Innistrad block aside from werewolves, spirits, awesome and that I wish I had the time/money to play)
I got the red/white preconstructed deck. The problem was that I added more to it, which sort of slammed the deck size from 60 to around 85 since it had some glaring weaknesses. I do like this recent set and the whole Innistrad block, though I'm not fond of their direction for making sets. (STICK WITH A DAMN PLANE FOR A WHILE!) I find the "flip" cards an interesting mechanic. Much better than what they had back in the Kamigawa sets. All in all, love the set so far, it's got its subversions and having angry mobs as a general group is nice. (AK-47's for Everyone!)
I've heard of the Traft/Angelic Destiny combo, but I don't have AD. Instead, I use the poor-man's combo of Traft+Spirit Mantle, which gives him a +1/+1 and protection from creatures so he can't be chump blocked. Hexproof, pro creature 3/3 with a flying 4/4 on turn 4 can be nasty...for my opponent.
Ah yes, Grimgrin was in one of the very first packs I bought; my first mythic rare/legendary. He fits in well with zombies, as they can provide him with plenty of creature tokens to "oh nom nom". He is a removal magnet, but black/blue has no shortage of ways to get things out of your graveyard. On the subject of captains, Drogskol Captain is an absolute must for blue/white spirits. I run four of them .
Yes and no. I milled someone to death in a DA booster draft, but no one uses much mill in standard. Yeah, I spent way too much money when I started playing again. Spirit mantle is good, I usually use spectral flight, same casting cost, +2/+2 and flying, and then I have swords. I was trying to do a straight spirit deck, with Captains and Geists, but there isn't enough good spirit 1 and 2 drops for standard, and the deck was clunky because almost everything was a 3 drop
No. I don't see Mill ever being viable at a competitive level outside of combo decks like Brain Freeze. Self-Milling to fuel card advantage and things like Splinterfright/Skaab Ruinator might work. Anyways, here's the current metagame for Standard: Mage-Blade (249) Haunted Humans (212) Wolf Run Ravager (135) UB Control (104) Naya Pod (103) RG Aggro (96) UB Zombies (88) Lingering Spirits (77) BW Tokens (73) Frites (56) Solar Flare (53) Wolf Run Ramp (53) 4C Birthing Pod (43) BR Zombies (35) Esper Control (31) Red Deck Wins (31) Zombies (29) Township Tokens (28) Get 'er Dungrove (27) Wolf Run Green (26) No Infect makes me sad. Well actually, the Wolf Run decks run Inkmoth Nexus as an Alt-Win condition, but that doesn't really count .
I find Spectral Flight a little redundant, since most spirits aside from Traft already have flying. As far as one drops go, I use Doomed Traveler. He's good for 2 chump blocks, and gets Drogskol Cap's tribal buffs the second time around. Spectral Rider and Invisible Stalker make for good 2 drops, IMO. (Stalker isn't a spirit, but he's a great carrier for Curiosity, granting card advantage).
:wtf: What? Now, I might be out of the loop (haven't been to any tounements since the Dark Ascension prerelease booster draft) but that is weird as hell. There is no reason for the DCI to ban sections of one of the big creature archetypes of the current block. Now, if you're refering to your casual group, then that's a different matter. One of the groups I run in had to ban Emrakul and the other Eldrazi progenitors because one guy built a deck that dropped him on turn two consistently. Coincidentally, I had the one deck that could stop it consistently. Leyline of Anticipation + Journey to Nowhere is a bitch of a combo. Or counters to stop opposing removal. Yeah. I'm actually a little bit disappointed in the Zombie Captain though, as 1 damage for losing one of your heavy zombies is not worth it, plus it doesn't stop them from popping your support cards (such as Runebineder and the Captains themselves). Not bad cards for the archetype, but not on par with the others. I mean, the vampire on gives your guy's first strike, which is sorely lacking in Innistrad, and the wolf one stops your guys from transforming back, patching one of that types biggest weaknesses. And Drogskol's hexproof is just fucking invaluable. The Diregraf is a bit of a let down is comparison.
Intangible Virtue and Lingering Souls are banned in Innistrad block Constructed. Link. Anyway, I do play, but I've barely touched Innistrad. I hear that Innistrad is a great Limited environment, but as I habitually play casual Constructed, that's not so relevant to me. I just haven't really found any Innistrad or Dark Ascension cards that say to me, "You must get me. I have fantastic flavour and I will make a very fun deck." I think I only own a handful. I have a token deck based on comboing off Emeria Angel for massive landfall, and I did put in some copies of Intangible Virtue, two Gavony Townships, and a Geist-Honored Monk, but for the most part Innistrad has not inspired me. I am quite curious about Avacyn Restored, though. I used to run a dedicated angels deck and insofar as Avacyn Restored seems to have a 'hordes of angels' theme, I have to be interested.
It does however let you get an infinite loss of life combo if you have an ability that is a tap target creature= effect With Rooftop, Grimgrin, and Gravecrawler, you just win at (un)life instantly (I have said combo in my EDH/Commander Deck )
That surprises me quite a bit. I didn't think tokens would exactly be god tier what with things like Ratchet Bomb and the like around. I've only done Innistrad limited once, due to schedules making it difficult to play Friday Night Magic. It was ok. Better than Scars. Infect and Metal Craft make for atrocious mechanics in Limited.
Ah, that explains it. So not banned, just took a bite out of, then. Always thought Intangible Virtue was a bit crazy anyway.
I don't think they have. The last cards to be banned were Stoneforge Mystic and Jace, the Mind-Sculptor. They aren't even Standard eligible without the ban. Speaking of Planeswalkers, anyone know a good way to use Gideon Jura? He's the one Planeswalker I have. That too, that too...actually, I hadn't really thought of that...hmm... Well, let's say you're sacrificing zombie tokens for Grimgrin. Diregraf Captain makes your opponent hurt even more. The wolf captain actually works against the werewolf mythic, Huntmaster of the Fells. Huntmaster spawns wolf tokens for free each time it flips, and Immerwolf prevents that.
The problem is with spirit tokens in particular combined and the lack of good nukes in the last few blocks. Cards like Tempered Steel, Intangible Virtue and Parallel Lives have made token based aggro an actually worth while strategy, especially with the glut of non-permanent based token production in the current metagame. I had this exact problem. I work on Friday nights almost constantly, and combine that with the only place on my end of town that ran Friday Night Magic closing up shop and I've had issues getting an environment more professional than casual. Also, I hated Infect. Any mechanics that make buff cards that ridiculously powerful is probably broken, even by MtGs standards. EDIT: True enough. Eh, one problem with an otherwise excellent card.
Ah. I have an Intangible Virtue, so I'll be sure to remember this if I play block constructed. I usually play drafts or standard, though.
