[Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT

[Thrillho]

listening to people complain about net decking/being cheap/being unoriginal/my deck would have won if... gives me as much enjoyment during a tournament as winning.

[Thrillho]

that's part of the reason why i support printing tarmogoyf at common. it completely cripples men's casual pants from complaining about how ridiculous it is that one card costs as much as their deck since it simplifies my argument to "stop being stupid" since "stop being poor" is kind of shitty even by gloating about playing the alpha deck standards.

[windstrider]

Windstrider, I found these for you

Aww, I knew you cared.

[Kaitscralt]

my criticism is that you keep spelling Martell wrong

[Kaitscralt]

That was the worst article ever written btw, maybe the second time I've been to SCG.com in 2015

[TubeHunter]

Standard is always gonna have problems. Thats just the nature of it

[windstrider]

Funny that this article came out today amidst our Standard discussion. http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30 ... -Time.html

He never explains why this is a good thing:

Different players will tell you different things, but if we're trying to capture the most common answer, I'd say diversity.

And why this isn't a bad thing:

When the cards in the format are this close together, if you show up and the field is different than you thought, you're probably dead in the water. If your matchups line up with your card choices, you can still make a good run, but I can safely say that to win a lot of matches with any regularity in this format, you have to have your 75 as good as it can possibly be for the decks you're against. This isn't a format with great matchups and bad matchups. This is a format where a single sideboard slot can cost you your entire tournament. The cardpool is that unbelievably tight.

He also doesn't seem to realize that these are completely contradictory:

Play Cards You Like to Play: I'd been playing with Abzan Control for two months, and I could not win a match to save my life. I started using a transformational sideboard with a bunch of aggro cards. I still wasn't winning, but it suddenly occurred to me that throwing down Fleecemane Lion after Fleecemane Lion and just trying to bludgeon people made me happy. So I put down the control deck and started attacking. Now, I'm winning.

Know the Decklists: People innovate (re: Brad), and sideboarding styles will vary, but it's a safe bet, especially at the local or regional level, that the players you'll be up against will be using decks almost card-for-card like the ones you've seen at the previous Open Series event or Pro Tour. How many Crater's Claws does the G/R Dragons deck have? How many Atarkas? How big can a Foundry Street Denizen get if your opponent has three cards in hand and four Mountains? How does them having a Monastery Swiftspear affect this? If you don't know the decklists, it's super easy to make some really bad decisions here. Know these things. If you don't, you're donating advantage to the field, and it's your fault.

The last two aren't contradictory. The first one says play to your personal strengths by playing in a style that suits you. If you try to play something that doesn't suit you, then you won't be comfortable playing it. If you like Aggro and attacking, but then pick up a Control deck, the games are going to play out very differently, and you'll lose. How many times have we heard that playing a deck that you're comfortable with is super important? That's what he's saying here.

The second one basically tells people to know what they're getting into. If you walk into a tournament scene cold, then you're likely to lose because you won't know what to expect. A little bit of preparation beforehand goes a long way. It goes with the first point by reminding people to have a strategy against the more popular decks. If you're bringing Aggro, then have a plan to get around the Midrange and Control decks. If you don't know what the other guy is playing, then you won't know how to maneuver around his deck, and you're putting yourself at a disadvantage.

I won a match on Sunday because my opponent didn't know what I was playing. I dropped a Zurgo, and he commented that this would be the third red Aggro deck he'd faced. He was shocked as hell when I used Self-Inflicted Wound on his Courser one turn, and then his Rhino the next. He over extended at five life thinking that he was safe from anything hasty I could throw at him, and I was dead the next turn to his attack. I dashed in Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury, flew over his ground stuff, and won. He had Hero's Downfall in hand but couldn't cast it. I did something similar to him when I morphed an Ashcloud instead of the Ire Shaman he had been expecting.

I had played the previous day and knew that Kolaghan was good since she had won me two games outright, so I kept her in. I knew the deck was weaker to big green creatures that not even Roast could handle, so I put in another Self-Inflicted Wound in the sideboard, moved Roast to the side since it sucked to have two Roast in hand while getting beat by flying things, and put two Murderous Cut in the main deck and another in the side. I also added Stoke for the direct damage, and it payed off. That black splash helped me deal with opposing creatures, and it took people by surprise. I knew my deck, and I recognized where it was weak, so I adapted.

Call me a filthy casual all you like , but I try to plan out strategies beforehand, and I usually learn from my mistakes.

[Kaitscralt]

filthy kolaghan casual

[Kaitscralt]

men's kolaghan pants

[Kaitscralt]

I don't know why the black took people by surprise considering Atarka Red maindecks a swamp for sideboarded Self-Inflicted Wounds

[windstrider]

Thanks, kait. I was expecting that.

The black surprised that guy because up until then, they hadn't seen anything but red from me. I also went Zurgo into Ire Shaman, which almost no one there had seen yet. If I had played Zurgo into Fodder or Denizen, then he would have known what I was playing. I kept doing things he wasn't expecting, like Ashcloud instead of Stormbreath, which almost everyone had prepared for in some way. I figured that Ashcloud was better than Stormbreath with Ultimate Price floating around, so I chose resiliency over haste. It paid off for me.

The look on his face when I unmorphed the Ashcloud to fly over his Rhino was priceless. That two damage from the morph also helped.

The splash surprised someone else because he thought I was using the Bloodstained Mire to thin the deck out. I was careful to not give away that black splash until I needed it, so I usually fetched more mountains to fuel my Lightning Berserkers and Dragon Whisperers. I then fetched a swamp, cast Cut, and killed his Savage Knuckleblade, which allowed my two Shamans to swing right by his Caryatid.

There's an advantage to playing rogue decks.

[Lightning_Dolt]

It does Kait? News to me.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I think Levy's list could be a good meta choice. Concerned with how it deals with Silumgar / Ojutai though.

I replied to your decklist, but I did it in the Red Sledgehammer thread in the Developing section. Wouldn't want to garbage up the clan thread with filthy casual talk about RB.

Levy's deck does some good things; it just needs a bit of tweaking.

As for Ojutai/Silumgar, we have access to discard (Thoughtseize/Despise) and sacrifice effects (Self-inflicted Wound, Foul-tongue Invocation, and even Merciless Executioner).

I'd be more concerned with getting around their removal and sweepers.

Things the Phoenixes excell at?

[windstrider]

Except Silumgar is going to block the Phoenixes all day while killing them, and with both Ojutai and Silumgar attacking, the Phoenixes die. Sure, they come back, but that's going to suck after a while.

[Thrillho]

my criticism is that you keep spelling Martell wrong

That sounds suspiciously like something Tom Martell would say.

[Kaitscralt]

I am him

I've always been him

[Kaitscralt]

I think Levy's list could be a good meta choice. Concerned with how it deals with Silumgar / Ojutai though.

I replied to your decklist, but I did it in the Red Sledgehammer thread in the Developing section. Wouldn't want to garbage up the clan thread with filthy casual talk about RB.

Levy's deck does some good things; it just needs a bit of tweaking.

As for Ojutai/Silumgar, we have access to discard (Thoughtseize/Despise) and sacrifice effects (Self-inflicted Wound, Foul-tongue Invocation, and even Merciless Executioner).

I'd be more concerned with getting around their removal and sweepers.

Things the Phoenixes excell at?

spreadsheets

[RedNihilist]

I just died a little.

[Kaitscralt]

forgive me

[LP, of the Fires]

Diversity Sucks.

Legacy Sucks.

I agree with Kait on actual everything he said about standard(I also started during Kamigawa/Rav standard).

[LP, of the Fires]

New Clique art is fine, though they're using a selfie-stick which I can't get over.

[LP, of the Fires]

Also, had a dream where I basically played a final fantasy type game with street fighter characters. Would be one of the few games to get me back into video games if it where real.

[windstrider]

I just died a little.

You'll go blind that way.

[Valdarith]

I personally enjoy using my ability to calculate odds, predict what my opponent can or will do, and using a superior knowledge of card interactions vis a vis the rules and game mechanics to win games of Magic.

But you guys are free to enjoy playing Oops I Chose the Wrong Deck This Weekend: the Gathering.

This was a long-winded way of dodging my question completely.

[Kaitscralt]

When did Valdarith become the biggest buzzkill on this site

[Kaitscralt]

Khaos why is cardboard crack showing up in my Facebook feed

You're a fucking traitor

[hamfactorial]

I just died a little.

You'll go blind that way.

It's just little deaths all the way down

[hamfactorial]

Khaos why is cardboard crack showing up in my Facebook feed

You're a fucking traitor

I imagine Kait's face melting off like the Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[Thrillho]

wow for a bunch of guys who hate tom martell so much, you guys certainly love his outlook on magic formats.

[Thrillho]

betrayal after betrayal today.

[Kaitscralt]

You don't get to judge until you participate in a Magic format

[windstrider]

I just died a little.

You'll go blind that way.

It's just little deaths all the way down

I guess he failed the Ham Challenge.

[Thrillho]

You don't get to judge until you participate in a Magic format

Magic is the one with the plastic Hulk toy on it, right?

[Kaitscralt]

I haven't actually played Standard in a hogs moon

[Thrillho]

For your information, I've won a Modern tournament, a DTK draft, and 2-1nd a DTK draft in the 3 events I've played in since January. It takes a lot of work to grind as hard as I do.

[Thrillho]

I even traded Magic cards yesterday before the draft.

[Kaitscralt]

I have a Smaug sized mountain of store credit just sitting around growing dusty from The Days With Rev

[Kaitscralt]

By Smaug I mean his mountain, not him. Or maybe I mean his treasure horde. Or maybe I do mean him.

[Self Medicated]

Happy birthday redthirst! I know you're out there somewhere, lurking.

[Thrillho]

If you a agree with one thing a person believes, you automatically agree with everything they believe. That's just common sense.

Hi, I'm jokes. I was here earlier but you must have been on a different schedule since you missed me entirely.