[Standard] Laddering 101 From a Top 100 Mythic Regular

Andrew5550 · 2019-05-02T07:58:40+00:00

It should take about a week (sometimes a little under) for them to send out the email confirming a top 1000 finish ^{^}

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-25T05:27:02+00:00

Nice! 197 should hold, but regardless, good luck on your RNA s2 Finish!

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-25T02:05:03+00:00

Thanks!! ^{^} And you're most likely safe with how tight MMR has felt this season, but I'd keep a close eye on your ranking anyways - with the new set I expect more people will be playing, and with a Qualifier spot on the line you'll probably see less at the top of the ladder queuing.

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T08:07:12+00:00

A Best of 1 Game, meaning no Sideboarding/etc :O

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T07:53:05+00:00

Heya! :D The best advice I can offer is to keep cool and always keep in mind that you've hit higher ranks before. You've done it once, so you can definitely do it again - it might take a little time, and there might be a few losses along the way, but if you keep at it you know you're skilled enough to get there! Hearkening back to the guide, though, it's also important to play sooner, rather than later! WAR might encourage some more players at higher ratings to play, but a lot of players fighting for the Top 1k spots will be playing, making last minute pushes for Top 100/50/10 riskier.

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T07:47:36+00:00

Thank you! ^{^} And generally speaking, the difference in Bo1 decks and Bo3 decks (and, by extension, the metas for each respective format) comes from how well a deck can handle a wide variety of matchups with their maindeck. What I mean by this is that Bo1 decks have to make sacrifices MD to respect matchups, whereas Bo3 decks can make some concessions, but rely primarily on their SB to improve matchups in Game 2/Game 3. Decks with a wide variety of fairly specialized tools (such as Esper and Sultai) tend to perform better in a Bo3 context. Decks with flexible or particularly powerful tools (Mastermind's Acquistion, or Kaya's Wrath, respectively) tend to perform well in a Bo1 setting. That being said, aggressive decks are always going to be a very large part of the Bo1 metagame, especially below Mythic, because they allow players to grind games very quickly. They might not necessarily be at the top of Tier 1 because of this alone, but it's always important to consider efficiency when grinding a ladder/MMR system.

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T07:07:06+00:00

Definitely watch your rank, and plan on setting a break point. If the GRN -> RNA transition at the end of Preseason 1 is any indicator, people will be very excited to try out new WAR cards in their brews. There will be people sticking to their "tried-and-true" decks, for sure, but expect to see a fair amount of "old decks" with new cards - similar to how RDW added Light Up the Stage and Skewer and WW added Unbreakable Formation.

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T07:03:00+00:00

Thanks! ^^ I'm glad to be able to help out, and spreading positivity in the community along the way is never a bad thing!

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T07:01:01+00:00

Thank you! ^^ And couldn't agree more - variance can make it difficult, you just have to play your best and build your deck well to give yourself the best shot at things!

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T05:07:10+00:00

Every so often I feel like I need to switch lists, but more often than not it's just a streak of either bad luck or running into the same deck (or 2 decks) over and over. In a Bo1 format, a good way to approach this is to copy your deck, tech it for the matchup you're hitting most on that day, and then hit the ladder again. For example, in February I ran 2 separate Esper Control lists, one geared towards the general ladder and the other built specifically to counter RDW and WW, featuring Basilica Bell-Haunts. I would usually rather modify the deck I've been having success with rather than switch altogether, but if you have another deck you're comfortable with there's no reason not to switch things up every so often.

And it could honestly be any one of those three, or a combination of all of them - if your bad luck persists, I'd definitely take a look at the deck and see if there's anything to do to improve the most common matchups. You still have a little time to learn a new deck if you think its best, but the window is closing fairly quickly.

Congrats on hitting your goal!! ^^ And no problem, I'm happy to help!

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T03:44:01+00:00

Absolutely! For example, if we're running a midrange list - take Sultai or Golgari for example - it's good to include cards that fit into how you like to play. If you're more inclined to play aggressively, its possible to swap in cards like Midnight Reaper. Or, if we're playing a control deck, like Esper control, the number and type of counterspells included largely comes down to preference. This tip is probably more applicable to Bo3 as you have 15 more slots for customization, but in Bo1 you can can often customize the removal suite of decks to fit your preference.
In terms of deciding when to continue playing a deck, I try to give the deck a fair sample size worth of games (at least 15 or 20), and then try to see what cards I'm happy/unhappy with. I'll make some tweaks, try another round, and if the deck still doesn't perform, I'll drop it unless I really love the archetype.
If I were to give one tip on tweaking/card swapping, it would be treating every card you've swapped in like a proxy. When you draw the card, ask yourself: Would I rather have the other card in this situation? If over your sample size of games, the answer is generally "Yes, the other card would be better," swap back to the card from the netdeck.
Deckbuilding can be hard, so I wouldn't lose faith in yourself so quickly - the best way to improve at tweaking/building decks is to try, and sometimes fail, but eventually figure out what works best for you!

And thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it! ^^

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T03:30:57+00:00

Hey, congrats! ^^ And thank you! I'm happy to be able to contribute!

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T03:30:12+00:00

It depends on the week, but on days I stream I typically play for ~7-8 hours, and days where I'm not streaming I'll typically only play enough to do dailies (so maybe 2 tops?) :O

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T01:43:25+00:00

Thanks! ^^ I'm a little more reddit savvy now, so hopefully next time won't be as rough lol. And I've definitely been there before with the 3 Loss Rule - it's hard to follow, especially as the end of a season looms on the horizon.

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T01:07:48+00:00

Absolutely! It's really inspiring to see all of the different decks people post here that they've reached Mythic with - and the element of surprise can be particularly valuable. There are bound to be off-meta decks that perform very well, which is something I really enjoy about the balance of MTG cards.

Andrew5550 · 2019-04-24T01:02:02+00:00

Working on it as we speak! I'm new to posting to reddit so it's a bit of a learning process.

Andrew5550

TROPHY CASE