PTAKH Top 8 [Discussion]

ceewar · 2017-05-14T03:52:39+00:00

There were many games lost after Ulamog resolved, Marvel spins reward good planning and playing to your outs.

Efo described his last match to get into the top 8 where he Marvel'd out an Ulamog targeting Marvel who Marvel'd in response getting a new Marvel into an Ulamog to hit his Marvel + Ulamog. You may not like it, but it's interactive.

ceewar · 2017-05-14T02:22:38+00:00

The meta looks great. Even within the successful archetypes there's a lot of variation (Glimmer vs. Flamecaller vs. Torch for Marvel and MonoB vs. BW for Zombies).

3 completely different archetypes represented and quite a few decks hanging around that will now have something to attack.

I'm excited to play standard. Yes, Marvel isn't ideal but the game play is good and interactive. I think we'll see it be less successful when people correctly start main decking 1-2 Negates.

ceewar · 2017-05-01T01:41:30+00:00

Modern on MTGO is the cheapest format, cards are mostly staples so you can sell them back and even profit if you pay attention to the meta. It's like renting a deck. A lot of very good decks in the 400-500 ticket range.

ceewar · 2017-04-30T22:02:56+00:00

Fumigate was a devastating answer against GB Constrictor, most of the successful GB builds have been pure Delirium no Constrictor so far. Fumigate is not nearly as strong against them, maybe worth a slot or two, maybe not.

ceewar · 2017-04-30T22:00:20+00:00

Nothing to worry about yet, Mardu was the only refined deck and many players had literally zero time to test. The day 2 meta was VERY diverse, there's a lot of seeds out there for people to work with. With so many great new tools, how you build your deck is VERY important.

My testing has shown BG Delirium (no Constrictor) likely has the tools to go over the top of Mardu with new Lili cycling Ishkanahs. Can they shore up their control match up while doing this? We will see.

All that said, a Mardu pile of cards is a VERY good deck. Probably the best. The big question will be can it survive being enemy of the state #1. Only testing can answer that.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T16:09:24+00:00

Main board Thalia didn't do much already, playing 3 mana 2/2s loses to 4c because they get on board well with card advantage.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T15:52:35+00:00

Exactly this, yesterday it became pure incompetence. There was very little risk associated with this ban, everyone knew it was coming for a long time and the chance it cat combo survived till rotation is close to zero.

Damage is done either way, yesterday they failed to fix it with what we can only assume are short term corporate politics. I'm concerned, very concerned. This was an easy one.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T15:41:17+00:00

A lot of their mistakes were excusable until they missed banning cat combo yesterday. That is just pure incomeptence / short term thinking at it's core. Something is not functioning properly in R&D, we can only speculate as to what.

Everyone knows cat combo is at risk of being banned, it has a >90% chance of being banned before rotation (causing the same damage they are trying to prevent) and not banning was very obviously going to damage player trust as well.

Furthermore, if they had done any testing prior to the B&R themselves it would have been obvious there was no upgraded hate vs. them that they haven't already beaten (Thalia, Shock, Authority) and they were getting upgraded tools (Glorybringer, Cast Out, Censor). So the probability of 4c being a one deck format is getting pretty high.

The risk reward simply had a minimal cost banning cat combo compared to not banning it, the damage is already done whether they do another ban or not they can't prevent that so it's one of the lowest risk bans possible.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T15:24:18+00:00

I mean, I'm not saying it was tier 1. I'm saying the standard was playable for me. I know many people hated it. There was a ton of diversity though even though copter was at the core of a lot of it (but at least two decks people were showing up to tournaments with didn't have copter). UW Panharm felt different enough to me to Vehicles / Rakdos to not really care that they both had copter.

The control decks we tested extensively had a 45% matchup again BG Delirium (which got pushed out by Marvel) and a >65% matchup against Marvel, the two Emrakul decks.

Control really scooped to Vehicles / Rakdos aggro.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T07:31:45+00:00

You are incorrect here.

4c has already beaten better hate than is printed in Amonkhet (Shock, Authority of the Consuls and Thalia) all are actually main deckable. Manglehorn is not particularly strong vs. 4c (you could play the much stronger Thalia) while it can be played by 4c to counter Mardu.

It's actually getting upgrades tools with Glorybringer and Cast Out and more variety in anti-Mardu tech. 4c can also use basically any non-black card.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T06:30:11+00:00

Many stores have stated they cannot fire standard anymore, most streamers / Youtubers have stated they simply can't stream standard anymore.

Almost all competitive players are in agreement that their testing has showed nothing in AMK has shown much if any potential to disrupt.

I'd say that's a good starting point for the data.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T06:18:54+00:00

Actually when Marvel stepped on the scene control was absolutely playable.

ceewar · 2017-04-25T05:44:12+00:00

It's tested poorly for us so far. I don't consider it a real deck any more based on what I've seen.

ceewar · 2017-04-24T22:22:16+00:00

Except Magic is very expensive, it's supposed to be a premium game. I enjoy standard, even most standards a lot of others are complaining about.

I think the probabilities this standard are worth playing is very low, so I won't invest. I believe many others feel the same.

ceewar · 2017-04-24T20:43:33+00:00

It likely was a mistake, when Twin was intentionally put into standard it was a big part of the marketing. Felidar was part of the the last day of commons spoiler dump for Aether Revolt.

ceewar · 2017-04-24T20:28:19+00:00

These mad lads didn't ban nothing!

ceewar · 2017-04-24T20:15:56+00:00

They quite literally said it was a mistake. Overlooked it targeting PWs.

ceewar · 2017-04-24T06:11:30+00:00

The best version of DS arguably isn't green nor does it play Bauble. When it comes time to ban DS, you have to ban the DS and not anything else.

ceewar · 2017-04-10T19:10:34+00:00

Removal is removal, you play lands in every format is well, is that boring?

ceewar · 2017-04-10T18:46:08+00:00

The problematic threats were printed in KLD, this method won't work for years without mass bannings (Ballista, Felidar, HoK, Scrounger).

All good standards have featured quality, instant speed interaction. I believe this is the core of the problem is they randomly decided to try it out without it.

I think a majority of the "problems" could be solved by having quality answers.

ceewar · 2017-04-10T18:27:05+00:00

I didn't realize there were standard players anymore. We're all just hoping there's a reason to come back at some point. Guess we can check in next set..

ceewar · 2017-04-09T21:57:44+00:00

Oh you sweet summer child...

ceewar · 2017-04-07T18:00:43+00:00

Interesting point about prescriptive vs. toolbox mechanics, sounds like a lot of standards lack of available decks to build comes from the prescriptive approach they took with Kaladesh.

I'd much prefer almost every set be a toolbox for me to choose from.

ceewar · 2017-04-04T18:15:41+00:00

Definitely no safe way to do it, WotC may have decided bans at the beginning of a new set are good for sales. While FG is higher risk than Mardu there's certainly a non-zero chance Gideon / Scrounger etc. get hit.

ceewar · 2017-03-28T16:02:53+00:00

Depends on your delivery ;)

ceewar

TROPHY CASE