Magic the Gathering Arena

[Dawkinsfan69]

I can feel the soul crushing

 

[new fucking guy]

I like all the new dimir tools like enter the god eternals, but don't like how they make the deck tap out all the time, so I thought I'd run them in sultai shell with wilderness reclamation. I took the Shaheen Soorani's list from the MC and added the good shit:

3 Wilderness Reclamation (RNA) 149
1 Swamp (RIX) 194
1 Island (RIX) 193
4 Woodland Cemetery (DAR) 248
4 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
2 Biogenic Ooze (RNA) 122
1 Hostage Taker (XLN) 223
2 Commence the Endgame (WAR) 45
2 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
4 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
2 Assassin's Trophy (GRN) 152
2 Search for Azcanta (XLN) 74
4 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
2 Ritual of Soot (GRN) 84
1 Cast Down (DAR) 81
4 Chemister's Insight (GRN) 32
4 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253
3 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246
3 Hinterland Harbor (DAR) 240
4 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253
2 Memorial to Genius (DAR) 243
2 Enter the God-Eternals (WAR) 196
3 Tyrant's Scorn (WAR) 225

4 Thief of Sanity (GRN) 205
2 Duress (M19) 94
2 Cry of the Carnarium (RNA) 70
1 Ritual of Soot (GRN) 84
2 Negate (RIX) 44
2 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker (XLN) 232
1 Narset, Parter of Veils (WAR) 61

It's good but needs tuning! I took out the 4x Krasis to make space. He's still a great card and certainly a consideration as zombie armies can't fly.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Jason Liang]

joined dark side and made mono red deck - calamity one. Trying to convince myself that its not brain dead one but who am i kidding, all i do is tap everything each turn.

Need to over complicate it by splashing some color so that i can feel better about myself

splash green for collision//colossus!

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

joined dark side and made mono red deck - calamity one. Trying to convince myself that its not brain dead one but who am i kidding, all i do is tap everything each turn.

Need to over complicate it by splashing some color so that i can feel better about myself

Calamity's definitely on the memey side of things rather than the gud gittin' side, you try slipping the WAR Jaya into it? Haven't dicked around with it since WAR hit but she'd likely be good as another way to get your calamity death laser online rather than exclusively waiting for the final Keld activation. Not to mention Krenko might be alright, though the warbosses are probably still better just because you can hold the warboss back and still poop out a token every turn to get a ping in.

And if you've got a burning desire to splash you could take some blue for the guy that lets 1 power/toughness critters become unblockable. Sticking red just so you can leverage the miner-gobbos to sac other gobbos to rush out frenzy/Jaya/siege master/whatever is probably still better though.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Wew. Started a ranked WAR draft to get my gimme pack from bronze limited ranked (Since you don't get a bronze reward if you don't even have any pips/don't play limited) and drafted a so-so looking deck. WU, leaning on fliers/evasion, and a few combat tricks. No real bombs to speak of but I did snag a blast zone, mainly because I wanted to pick it up for constructed. But every game it's been saving me from degenerate shit snowballing out of control. Opponent growing a zombie cat to obscene size? Blast zone. Opponent playing an iron bully and then proliferating it to ridiculous proportions? Blast zone. Probably going to bite the dust hard once I hit someone with some bomb planeswalkers or they drafted one of the gods or something, but I'm glad I scrabbled together a few wins at least. Did help that I drafted 2 of those 4cmc WU 2/3 fliers that heal for 3 and draw a card when they enter the battlefield too, those fuckers are what completely sold me on gearing the rest of the draft toward those colors.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

you try slipping the WAR Jaya into it?

i did. too expensive.

Not to mention Krenko might be alright,

got two, i have yet to use it in meaningful way. Pair with haste+power instant

Too expensive? You absolute madman, that's why you're shitting out a bunch of tokens and running those skirk prospectors!

Also finished up my draft. I should've taken a picture of the deck itself since you can't look at your deck once you complete your run, but AS IT TURNS OUT things went well despite 0 bombs. That whole CABS draft-theory thing may have something to it.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Also finished up my draft. I should've taken a picture of the deck itself since you can't look at your deck once you complete your run, but AS IT TURNS OUT things went well despite 0 bombs. That whole CABS draft-theory thing may have something to it.

Nice! My first WAR draft was some dumbass 4 color pile of firewood that went 1-3, maybe I need to look into this. Was too used to RNA draft where you could force any number of colors because of all the gates

Drunk drafting is no good

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Was too used to RNA draft where you could force any number of colors because of all the gates

That's definitely true, color fixing isn't really as readily available here. Can still potentially get the 5 color gate, or interplanar beacon (If you've got enough walkers to warrant it) and then there are a few oddballs like that artifact critter and the BG basilisk or whatever it is. Also kind of a hot mess because of all the planeswalkers, my final game was against an opponent that was playing 5 or 6 of them, blast zone saved my ass there by nuking his Dovin so he couldn't cockblock me completely, then slowly and painfully grinding him down while he was pushing around 30 life and he was swinging in with the 9/9 land I had to keep chump blocking. Finally got in with the last 3 damage with the unblockable Ashiok's whatever, the 5cmc blue 3/5 that can be made unblockable for 4 mana or whatever it is.

CABS is basically just taking a lot of creatures and a light amount of removal/combat tricks and tending to lean on the earlier side of things, just so you can keep putting shit on the board. WAR's a little weird for that since there aren't as many general-purpose solid beaters but I got a decent amount of fliers and even some other chumps, like the 2/2 for 2 white dude that proliferates when he dies, and the 3/2 for 3 white dude that gets +1/+1 if he attacks with 2 or more other things. The 3/2 I thought was going to end up being sorta trashy but he was surprisingly valuable, especially when the other attackers were in the sky, and if I had a combat trick to crank him up so he couldn't just get killed off. I under appreciated him for sure.

Edit: Grabbed the link rather than just talking some bullshit myself.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/limited-information/cabs-theory-2015-08-19

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[flushfire]

It's disappointing how slow the development of the client is going. 1 year in and there's still no way to know if players got disconnected. The concede = disconnect bug is still present. Still no way to change basic land art in-game. Community features not even bare-bones. I take a break for 2 months and almost nothing has changed. It's like just 1 guy is doing the client. Dota 2 releases more updates in a day than MTGA does in a month lol I mean I understand Valve isn't even comparable to WotC but still, it's a lot of wasted potential.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Neat. Not super surprising, but neat.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...g-is-officially-the-worlds-most-complex-game/

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Just got the god draft:

Liliana + Ugin

I'll find some way to fuck it up, for sure

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Wew, good luck! The bright side is even if the shuffler frowns on you you're still walking off with a couple of great cards.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

ok 2 games in and this deck feels like i'm cheating

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

I'll find some way to fuck it up, for sure

i thought i had super strong draft deck yesterday. then lands showed me who is the boss

I always feel really bad when I'm playing against someone and just roll over them because they're on 2 lands on turn 6, especially in draft

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Put together this self mill deck to win with the new Jace.. Uses enhanced surveillance and a ton of surveil cards to basically self mill a dickload of cards per turn.

It's SUPER awkward to start but once it gets steam (wilderness rec + a few enhanced surveils) it's really hard to stop

list

4 Enhanced Surveillance (GRN) 40
1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries (WAR) 54
3 Settle the Wreckage (XLN) 34
4 Discovery // Dispersal (GRN) 223
1 Island (RIX) 193
2 Sunpetal Grove (XLN) 257
3 Temple Garden (GRN) 258
4 Mission Briefing (GRN) 44
4 Dazzling Lights (GRN) 34
4 Chemister's Insight (GRN) 32
4 Revitalize (M19) 35
4 Growth Spiral (RNA) 178
1 Hinterland Harbor (DAR) 240
2 Prying Eyes (RNA) 46
4 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246
4 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
3 Wilderness Reclamation (RNA) 149
4 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
4 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255

I think my other mill deck is better but this is pretty fun

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

LOL INSTANT concede when Jace drops

 

[Jason Liang]

So I threw together Esper (mostly Orzhov) Hero to do a daily. Deck is strangely effective at burning out opponents, making token creatures, killing creatures and gaining liife. Feels good to play with black kill spells again ~

I guess Recover/ Recuperate is built for memes?

No, don't salute me Kaya. I salute YOU. And your Wrath. And Despark.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

The mill dream in draft:

 

[Alpan]

How viable is it to play MTG Arena without paying anything? I'm not looking for anything competitive (my only experience with the game is the PC adaptations starting with the 1997 Microprose game and some Magic Duels), just looking to have the occasional fun.

 

[spectre]

"Having fun" is debatable in this one. The game is strictly competitive - to progress you need to play vs. people and win. There's no casual modes (and nobody knows if or when there'll be any) so you're stuck playing practice matches or direct challenging other people.

When it comes to F2P viability, if you are any good with the game and willing to put in the hours, you can reasonably get a good bunch of top tier decks (and a lot of crappy brews) without spending a dime.

 

[Jason Liang]

Threw Saheeli in a standard red deck, actually a lot of fun. She can turn servos into Ghitu Lavanrunners, steamkins or electrostatic walls, all pretty useful. Also wildcarded a Karn creator and threw him in there, pretty sick when they are both out, great synergy with eachother.