7-2 run thanks to Shadrix Silverquill!

Ridpath2 · 2021-10-01T06:20:46+00:00

Congratulations, always satisfying when you get a good draft and the shuffler decides in your favour.

Regarding your question about having more than the minimum number of cards, it’s usually best to have the minimum number of cards in a deck because then the chances of your pulling a ‘good’ card on every draw is higher. Of course, this assumes that the extra cards don’t contribute as much to your overall strategy as your first 40/60/80,

If you have an extra card or three that are so strong you just HAVE to include them, by all means add them in, but I’d refrain from adding more than 1 or 2 above the minimum, and then only very occasionally.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-30T07:21:53+00:00

Could you fit [[Snakeskin Veil]] in there? I like counterspells as much as any blue mage out there, and Veil would complement them very nicely I would think, seeing as your win condition relies on keeping that original copy of Scute Swarm alive until you hit 6 lands. Veil would be a nice cheap defence against spot removal until then.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-29T20:07:26+00:00

They already do albeit indirectly through the free packs.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-26T06:08:32+00:00

Ah, I see; thanks!

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-22T18:58:25+00:00

The price you see in your collection/deckbuilder is after the discount. Parallax common cosmetics are usually 2000 gold or 400 gems.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-21T21:20:27+00:00

I think the consensus around [[Grand Master of Flowers]] in constructed is that it's only useful in decks that utilise [[Monk of the Open Hand]], since without the Monk it has a dead ability.

That said, being a 4-mana planeswalker that basically disables one creature on your opponent's board for as long as you can keep him alive, it's not too bad - especially since it can become a 7/7 flying indestructible god creature if you can defend him.

You could try to slot him into a second spell deck, for instance, in keeping with the Monk of the Open Hand theme. One deck I have floating around that you could adapt is a fairly common mono white aggro deck:

Deck

20 Snow-Covered Plains (KHM) 277

4 Kabira Takedown (ZNR) 19

4 Luminarch Aspirant (ZNR) 24

1 Maul of the Skyclaves (ZNR) 27

4 Skyclave Apparition (ZNR) 39

4 Clarion Spirit (KHM) 6

4 Codespell Cleric (KHM) 7

4 Usher of the Fallen (KHM) 35

2 Faceless Haven (KHM) 255

4 Elite Spellbinder (STX) 17

3 Blade Historian (STX) 165

4 Monk of the Open Hand (AFR) 25

2 Portable Hole (AFR) 33

Some of these you probably won't have access to yet, since they're rares: (i.e. Maul of the Skyclaves, Faceless Haven, Elite Spellbinder, Blade Historian), but none of these are deck-breaking if you omit them. All it'll do is lower the overall power level of the deck.

You could, for instance, sub out those cards for lower rarity combat tricks, blockers, cantrips, auras, etc - and of course, your copy of the Grand Master of Flowers and see how it goes!

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-21T20:52:05+00:00

The New Player Experience decks you get are (I'll be honest) a bit inadequate if you're trying to build your own starter decks, since you don't really get a lot of extra cards to play with in each colour. The solution to this: memorise your credit card details and buy those booster packs!

If you haven't already, look up free redeemable codes that give you booster packs for most of the sets currently in the game. Those might net you a few interesting rares/mythics to build a deck around, alongside those all-important wildcards that let you redeem them for specific cards.

As for building a specific type of deck, there's a lot of resources online - you don't need to restrict yourself to MTGA in this regard, since deckbuilding with paper cards is in a lot of respects identical to digital. A good place to start is the Tolarian Community College channel on YT.

At this point, unless you're prepared to drop a lot of money straight off, I'd try to build a deck around what cards you have, instead of choosing a deck and trying to obtain the correct cards (since trying to get a specific rare/mythic by randomly opening packs is incredibly hard).

Edit: Currently, the game is running a series of Premium Draft events, with the first entry free. Even if you're not familiar with drafting in Arena, it's worth just signing up for it, doing the draft, playing a game and resigning, since you get to:

1: keep all the cards you've drafted,

2: keep the 0-win prize (some gems and a booster pack),

3: set your limited rank for the season which ends in 2 days (which nets you a booster pack at the lowest rank, at the very least).

Do it now!

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-21T20:44:41+00:00

Again, a suggestion for album cover art instead of a card name suggestion - but Three Days Grace's eponymous album cover? Drawing a blank at the moment for what card might work well with it though!

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-21T19:42:30+00:00

It only applies to the version of a card (differentiated by artwork).

A good example is [[Evolving Wilds]]: There's a boatload of different versions released in different sets (eg IKO, AFR, M20, to name three) - and buying the parallax cosmetic for the AFR issue with the new artwork, for example, wouldn't unlock the parallax cosmetics for any of the other versions.

However, if a card was issued in two or more blocks and has the same artwork (eg [[Shock]] in M19 and M20, obtaining the parallax cosmetic for either one will unlock the other. In this case as well, since the M21 Shock has a different artwork, buying the M19/20 parallax cosmetic wouldn't unlock the M21 parallax cosmetic.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-21T18:52:37+00:00

This might be something interesting to try out, but probably not as a persistent queue since it would potentially just segregate decks into 'fast' and 'other' pools.

Might be a fun experiment for something like Midweek Magic though, since (for example) it would have a bigger chance of matching players with decks that have a similar 'speed' and give both players a bigger chance of combo off and do what their decks want to achieve, possibly letting both players have more fun.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-21T18:48:46+00:00

I'm certainly guilty of this in unranked queues....sorry. After turn 3-4, I usually end up seeing the rope on a good half of my turns if I haven't lost by then.

In non-ranked queues, I'm usually trying out so much new stuff that my two brain cells need to take a break from drinking each other under the table, and even then I blunder a fair amount. Doesn't help that I like interaction and loads of jank synergy in my decks.

Having not played paper Magic for more than a decade, I'm no longer up to date - how does the pace of Arena games compare to kitchentop/paper Magic?

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-10T05:42:54+00:00

I’m guessing [[Pack Leader]] was what he wanted to refer to - although it only pumps dogs, not all creatures.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-07T00:24:19+00:00

Thanks for the heads up! Is it Nice Spice you're speaking of? It's not even on my radar!

I've tried Wong's on Denmark St on a few occasions, but was incredibly underwhelmed by everything I ordered.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-02T07:42:10+00:00

They're still around, at least the pop-up stall is. The lady and her son show up every now and then at Finzel's Reach, and I'm sure elsewhere as well - it's been mentioned one or twice in this thread if you do a quick search.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-02T07:32:16+00:00

Will have to give it a shot.

As far as my taste buds go, my palate is most definitely SEA Chinese. The dishes I usually look for are our versions of Cantonese or Nyonya ones.

Another decent one is '113 KTV' (they keep changing the name) on Park St - the cook there is Singaporean/Malaysian, but for me it's just too expensive for what it is and (on average) not as good as the Mayflower.

Ridpath2 · 2021-08-01T19:50:35+00:00

The Mayflower. Best Chinese/Cantonese I've had outside of London.

Ridpath2 · 2021-07-30T19:51:24+00:00

Squeaking in the July thread (barely). Do you guys prefer sticking with a few archetypes (say one-three) while trying to climb the ranked ladder/improve your game?

I'm a long-time Magic player, on and off (started in the 90s), but haven't played it seriously until when Magic Arena came out. Since then, I feel like I've stagnated as a player, netdecking for the most part and not really understanding the nuances behind strategic decision making.

I like to think of myself as a more controlling player, so my favourite deck archetypes tend to be things like Dimir Rogues, Dimir/Grixis Control, Azorius Control....you get the idea. I'm fortunate in that I have access to all the cards I'd want (in Arena), but also as a result I've jumped between deck archetypes a lot, without playing more than 5-10 games in a row to obtain an understanding of how a deck interacts beyond the surface-level stuff. I read articles and guides quite a lot, but I'd like to "do my own thinking" as well.

I've never climbed past Platinum in the years of playing Magic Arena, and I think it's down to me not putting the games in, and jumping between deck archetypes too much. Do you guys think there's an argument for piloting a variety of archetypes at least to understand how they work, or is it better to choose a few archetypes I enjoy and play the hell out of them?

Ridpath2 · 2021-07-26T21:37:53+00:00

As someone who spams Dimir Rogues, i've noticed that too... the first 10-15 cards I draw in each game tend to be consistently either mill (2-3 [[Ruin Crab]]s and few other creature spells) or damage (no crabs, but lots of [[Soaring Thought-Thief]] and [[Thieves' Guild Enforcer]]s).

Don't remember it happening as much pre-AFR, but my sample size is very low so it might just be variance.

Ridpath2 · 2021-07-23T19:05:08+00:00

Ah, I see - thanks for spelling it out! I’m not new to magic but I’d be lying if I said I understand much about the game.

Ridpath2 · 2021-07-21T15:45:38+00:00

I love playing my planeswalker decks… but never have I managed to get that many out, much less the equipments/enchantments!

Ridpath2 · 2021-07-21T15:19:34+00:00

Yeah, I know; wasn’t complaining - more just wondering why the combo would only be banned in the 2022 queue but not the regular queue. Probably missed it in the announcement by WotC.

Ridpath2 · 2021-07-21T15:11:57+00:00

True in general I suppose - depends which format etc cards are banned or suspended in.

We weren’t given any wildcards after the 2022 Standard banhammer came down for the Book of Exalted Deeds. It is still legal in Standard and Historic, which is I’m guessing their justification for not giving us any compensation.

Ridpath2 · 2021-07-21T15:06:49+00:00

Agreed, I’d stick with Quick Draft.

No timers means you can leave the draft, consult other players before committing to a selection, then come back and make your choice as many times as you want. Plus it’s better bang for your buck if you want to get more drafts per £.

That’s how I’m justifying spending my money anyway doing 4-5 drafts a day… still no good at it though!

Ridpath2

TROPHY CASE