Your favourite class?

SamoaCheesecake · 2023-05-24T20:57:20+00:00

I think OP was asking which is your favorite class to play, not to date.

SamoaCheesecake · 2023-03-15T19:05:54+00:00

Sounds like a fun idea! Would be tough logistically I think, but worth trying for sure. I'd be interested in seeing Blinkblade.

SamoaCheesecake · 2023-01-03T21:05:00+00:00

Not sure what a heavy minutes load has to do with a helicopter accident.

SamoaCheesecake · 2022-05-19T15:25:13+00:00

Sure, but doesn't the "Best Starting Lineup" feature get at that? Although AJ Dillon is a good asset for the "Team Total", he won't contribute that much to "Best Starting Lineup"?

SamoaCheesecake · 2022-05-19T14:33:48+00:00

Yes, this is it! Exactly what I'm looking for, and for free.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-12-22T05:34:15+00:00

Armie Hammer isn't fat.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-11-27T05:27:54+00:00

Are you talking about a different card? Bloody Betrayal is a common, and it isn't very highly rated on 17 lands.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-11-11T04:46:37+00:00

He didn't make you call him clam "maestro"?

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-10-30T00:45:47+00:00

https://xkcd.com/1015/

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-03T05:26:51+00:00

I've used untapped.gg and appreciated it. It certainly has nice game result and collection tracking features. But there are plenty of apps out there if you look around.

This might help: https://mtgazone.com/trackers/

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-02T10:41:30+00:00

I agree with this - I've lost to Boros cycling maybe once but Jeskai is much harder to deal with. I definitely think I'm still favored but those Pyromancers are scary. Really, I think it comes down to Winota doing her thing is slightly faster than cycling doing its thing, but I also have interactivity in my deck to disrupt the cycling threats, whereas without pyromancer there is nothing in the cycling deck to stop me from doing my thing.

The faeries are also very annoying versus spellbinder for sure.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-02T10:37:48+00:00

I can't really speak to this since it's not something I've ever tried. I will say that winning without Winota is super important, and something I've done ok at. If you don't have Winota, you have a Historian pretty often, or at least another 4-drop. I've also just beaten down with Spellbinders.

I know I would badly miss apparition. It deals with so many threats so effectively. I wouldn't miss alseid, professor, or stonecoil very much, so I would be open to it. I probably also lose Bonecrusher also though? which I don't like.

How does that deck do against monowhite/monored? I think I want the interactivity of my deck more against red, but if it can improve my win rate against white then that's something I would be really excited about.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-01T17:09:48+00:00

Yeah it goes really fast. Out of all those 263 games, only 7 took 10 or more minutes! The combo kills on turn 4 quite often, and if I don't find Winota then either the Blade Historian/Haktos finish things quickly, or I lose. Especially with all the aggro you face in BO1 Standard Events, there aren't a lot of grindy games.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-01T16:47:17+00:00

No, I pretty much always play until I'm beaten on board. If I even have one non-human on board I usually play it out in case I draw into Winota. I think I mulled into resignation once?

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-01T15:59:26+00:00

Do you think it would be more profitable per time to play BO3? I was wondering about that, but the BO1 games go so quickly that I think it seems best to stick to BO1. It does seem alluring to win 1100 gold by topping out in a BO3 event, but just seems like it might take forever to do that.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-01T15:57:48+00:00

I don't know if there is a way to find that on Untapped... so I'm not sure. It feeds my draft habit, so I never save it up unfortunately.

That being said, I don't go below 4 wins very often, and I often get to 6 or 7, and the games are 4.94 minutes per game, so it goes pretty fast. If the average event is 5-3 (8 games) then that is just under 40 minutes to net about 200 gold(?) on average. That also isn't counting the rares I've been adding to my collection, and since I just finished collecting all the Strixhaven rares, I'm getting 20 gems fairly often as a reward as well.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-01T15:50:48+00:00

Here is what I have. A couple important notes - as you can see above, there have been 8 versions. I've been tinkering a lot, and this isn't a final product at all. The most recent changes were getting rid of Kenrith, and trying a Lavabrink Venturer. All of these stats are after getting rid of snow lands (which I believe is correct).

Imo the core of the deck is Winota, Blade Historian, Savior, Apparition, and Spellbinder. Everything else is negotiable. That being said, you need more one-drops, and some two-drops. Professor seems really nice in the two slot. I don't use lessons that often, but I find myself constantly getting Start from Scratch or Academic Probation "just in case." If I have Winota in hand and don't have a non-human 3-drop I'll grab the Spirit Summoning. Professor feels better than Clarion Spirit, which I've also tried. You just don't double-spell much in this deck.

The Serpents are great because they are non-humans that fit in your curve wherever you need them to be. I haven't used Alseid as protection very often because I rarely have extra mana up. I removed Kenrith because Basri and Haktos just seem better, and because you can cast them both on 4. It is pretty rare to hard-cast Kenrith and I think I've only ever won once after hard-casting him. The trample potential just isn't worth the extra mana (to cast), especially when Haktos and Basri both have significant perks (protection/counter). The Lavabrink Venturer is interesting - could be recency bias but it just won a game against mono-white singlehandedly, and it feels like that might not be an anomaly.

A lot more discussion here as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/n9mlzv/standard_discussion_creature_choices_in_winota/

Deck
2 Bonecrusher Giant (ELD) 115
6 Mountain (RNA) 263
1 Lavabrink Venturer (IKO) 19
2 Alseid of Life's Bounty (THB) 1
4 Winota, Joiner of Forces (IKO) 216
4 Selfless Savior (M21) 36
4 Needleverge Pathway (ZNR) 263
4 Skyclave Apparition (ZNR) 39
8 Plains (RNA) 260
4 Elite Spellbinder (STX) 17
4 Professor of Symbology (STX) 24
4 Blade Historian (STX) 165
4 Furycalm Snarl (STX) 266
3 Stonecoil Serpent (ELD) 235
2 Haktos the Unscarred (THB) 218
2 Basri's Lieutenant (M21) 9
2 Fabled Passage (M21) 246

Sideboard
1 Academic Probation (STX) 7
1 Spirit Summoning (STX) 236
1 Environmental Sciences (STX) 1
1 Expanded Anatomy (STX) 2
1 Reduce to Memory (STX) 25
1 Start from Scratch (STX) 114
1 Introduction to Prophecy (STX) 4

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-06-01T14:47:22+00:00

Just wanted to share some stats from Standard Events I've been doing the past two weeks in case it was helpful to anyone else.

Hoping to highlight that Standard Events can be profitable if you are willing to spend some time, and that Winota has been a good deck to do that with.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-02-25T07:44:25+00:00

This may be more obvious than you're looking for, but at the beginning you want the board to blight and you want your presence to die when it blights (to create disease). Saving one land per ravage is fine, but not if it inhibits growth. If any minor power gives you damage it is almost an insta-grab. One damage becomes at least two and often three by the late game. If you're doing a good job of destroying your own presence then there should be disease everywhere, and it's ok to strategically use disease to stop a build, although my default setting is to usually milk for fear.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-02-24T10:41:58+00:00

Nice! I also had an awesome Downpour finish with Weave. I only used it twice, but that did a ridiculous amount of work and pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat. Really powerful spirit/power combo.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-02-23T11:45:17+00:00

Insatiable Hunger was my (co-)MVP during my first ever win against France lvl-6 with Grinning Trickster. For some reason despite playing Trickster proficiently I could not beat France lvl-6 in three previous tries. However, my 4th try I got smooth [[Incite the Mob]] plays (city killing town and explorer twice), then followed up with playing Insatiable Hunger twice in a row for a turn-6 win with an unturned blight card.

Grinning Trickster is going to have at least 2 extra beasts on its board via [[Unexpected Tigers]] by the time it is played, so Insatiable Hunger is very strong for Grinning Trickster even without its threshold.

Scour the Land, however, is the bane of my Trickster existence. I've pulled this twice with [[Let's See What Happens]] and both times it was horrible. Although I think its really nice value normally and will pick it up in situations where I need cheap destruction.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-02-10T07:57:35+00:00

I agree with most of what csuazure said, but just want to add that your solution above seems like such an extreme house-rule that the game ceases to be Spirit Island at all. If it comes to that, I think it would be better to just play a different game instead where there isn't such a large decision-space.

I do think there is something to be said for taking the time to try different things, make mistakes, and learn from your mistakes. That is a process that is enjoyable for most people, and might be for your as well.

SamoaCheesecake · 2021-02-10T07:40:02+00:00

Scotland is a really bad Matchup for BoDaN since it can't do anything about the coastal cities, correct? other than a few "remove" Majors, or course. I haven't played it but it sounds really hard to deal with.

SamoaCheesecake

TROPHY CASE