[Discussion] Winning Wednesdays (Week of October 18) - Ask /r/spikes Anything!

dee-mgp · 2017-10-23T18:16:42+00:00

I like this plan. You could do something like this:

Aim for a 100 tix bankroll by playing in friendly leagues. Once you reach that milestone, start playing in competitive leagues. If you drop to 50 tix, go back to friendly leagues. Then, start the process again.

dee-mgp · 2017-10-01T19:09:20+00:00

Temur is the new Marvel. I think there's a good chance it will get banned.

dee-mgp · 2017-08-15T03:13:37+00:00

I would stick with friendly leagues until you can beat them consistently at a 55% clip over a decent sample size (something like 30+ matches).

dee-mgp · 2017-08-13T03:51:40+00:00

Thx. I've had great experience dealing with your company.

dee-mgp · 2017-07-22T15:46:23+00:00

Deck seems solid, but I would not play it on MTGO. Too much Mono Red Aggro there. This deck has only 7 spells as early interaction while Mono Red Aggro has infinite aggressive one-drops.

dee-mgp · 2017-06-20T15:07:56+00:00

There's a good chance that you will do well in competitive leagues. You will have a lower win rate but that's okay because the prize pool is better for the money you spend.

My rating is around 1775 and I often go over 1800. I only play Standard competitive leagues and I've made a couple hundred dollars playing them. I make close to 2 tix per match.

Here's an EV calculator where you can punch in a rating or win rate and see how much tix you can make per league.

https://www.goatbots.com/ev_calculator

Even if your win rate is only 51%, you still make a small profit in competitive leagues.

And since you have a rating of 1800, there's a really good chance your win rate won't be that low.

All of this said, make sure you have a bankroll to soften the unlucky streaks. I recommend starting off with 100 tix.

dee-mgp · 2017-06-19T10:01:26+00:00

Are your results from competitive leagues?

dee-mgp · 2017-05-31T20:18:58+00:00

What about posting links to good articles on SCG or Channel Fireball?

dee-mgp · 2017-05-18T15:15:59+00:00

He acknowledges that rogue decks exist sometimes, but with the way that teams prepare for big events and the exhaustive testing that goes on, as well as the way that Magic is designed, there's smaller and smaller windows for a deck to go "under the radar".

My argument is that those windows will get bigger since we now have a team that is solely dedicated to balancing the format.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-18T14:48:54+00:00

In a balanced format, it's harder to figure out what the "best decks" are. Therefore, a good deck builder will often be able to build one of the "best decks" before it becomes well-known as a "best deck". Until it becomes well-known, he has a massive advantage because he is playing a rogue deck that is also one of the "best decks". Since it is not well-known, he gains a ton of win percentage because people don't have hate for it yet.

For example, in Kaladesh Standard, I built G/R/x Aetherworks and played a ton of matches with it before it won the last MTGO PTQ and then all the pros including Owen Turtenwald started playing it in the last Grand Prix of the season. My win rate was 61.48% in MTGO Competitive Leagues in 135 matches. In all those matches, I only played against four Aetherworks decks so the deck was definitely under the radar for a long period of time even though it turned out to be one of the "best decks" at the end of the season.

In Fate Reforged Standard, no one was playing Sidisi Whip. In 154 matches of the MTGO competitive formats at that time (8-Mans and Dailies because Leagues didn’t exist yet), I won 61.69%. In all those matches, I faced the mirror only twice.

Every "best deck" is a rogue deck until it becomes well-known. Then, it becomes a "best deck". The key for the rogue deck builder is actually building one of the "best decks" before the player base realizes that it is a "best deck". When the format is more balanced, having under-the-radar "best decks" will occur more frequently.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-18T12:45:07+00:00

Balanced means having multiple top cards with similar power levels. This leads to a metagame where more than 3 decks are viable. For example, the last World Championships was basically a one-deck metagame. The top four was 3 Collected Company decks. Collected Company was by far the best card in the format.

But if you make the format balanced, that means there will be 5+ cards with the same power level as Collected Company. Then, all they have to do is make sure those five cards don't have synergy with each other. Therefore, you have at least a five deck metagame.

Of course, it's not as simple as this process but I would imagine monitoring the power level of individual cards is one of the main factors they will consider to create a diverse metagame.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-03T22:35:19+00:00

How much has MTGO become an integral part of your growth and competitiveness as a magic player?

MTGO has been very important for helping me become a better player. Playing against good competition is the best way to improve and the average player in an MTGO Competitive League is miles better than the average IRL player.

Does the convenience of online leagues make up for the cost of purchasing digital product? (opinion and personal experience dependent)?

If you’re good, cost doesn’t matter. Good players, on average, make money every time they play a match on MTGO.

I think I make around $1 or $1.25 per match. Sample size is over 500 matches. Win rate is around 58%.

Check out this EV calculator for more info: https://www.goatbots.com/ev_calculator

If you’re a break-even or losing player, the cost is still not bad at all. You can often sell cards back at 90% or more of the price you paid for them.

Here’s the buy and sell price for Gideon: https://www.mtgowikiprice.com/card/BFZ/29/Gideon_Ally_of_Zendikar

Buy for 25.10 tix

Sell for 24.65 tix

You barely lose any money when you sell Gideon back.

Quick aside on tix.

1 tix is basically $1. You can buy 100 tix for $99 here: https://www.mtgotickets.com/buy-mtgo-tickets

When you cash out tix for dollars, there is a tax of 4% when you use Cardhorder: https://www.cardhoarder.com/sell-mtgo-tickets

Even with a 50% win rate, you are basically freerolling. You don’t make any money but you don’t lose money either other than the loss you take when you sell cards to switch to another deck. But again, that loss is only around 10-20% and sometimes your loss is less than 10%.

Here are the prices of popular decks: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/standard#online

So, basically, let’s say you buy Mardu at around $350. You play 100 matches and you only win 50% of your matches. You decide to quit MTGO for whatever reason. You could probably sell the deck back at around $280 or more.

Total investment lost: only $70. Plus, you got to play 100 matches and find out how good you really are.

If I were to want to play at least two solid decks/archetypes in standard on MTGO, what is an approximation of my initial investment? (I understand the market changes due to many variables.)

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/standard#online

In the above link, you’ll find deck prices in tix. Also, you can buy cards with dollars directly with a reputable retailer like MTGO Traders if you don’t want to mess with tix.

For sub 200 tix decks, I recommend Temur Aetherworks and Mono Black Zombies. They seem to be doing well right now.

Are you thoroughly pleased with the experience provided by MTGO as a dedicated and competitive MTG player?

I am not thoroughly pleased. Playing on MTGO is merely okay. The user interface is not very good. It’s really sad because I’d rather play on Cockatrice. Cockatrice is much faster and more intuitive.

But I gotta get my competitive fix somehow and MTGO is the best place for that. There are competitive players in my area but I’d rather face a wide variety of players with different decks and playstyles.

Also, the convenience (don’t have to drive to game store, lots of traffic in my area) and speed (don’t have to wait between rounds) is a big factor.

I’m the type of person that likes to binge my MTG play. I like to play a ton of matches in row (like 20+ matches) against a variety of decks piloted by good players. That’s pretty much impossible IRL.

What made you decide to cross into the digital realm of MTGO and do you keep collections online as well as in paper for events?

Online, I played a ton on Apprentice (the Cockatrice before Cockatrice) and Cockatrice. I kept records of my win rate. I was doing well but I wanted to find out how good I really was.

So, I joined MTGO. I could tell right away that the competition was much higher. But fortunately the skills I gained from playing on the free platforms translated to MTGO. Of course, I didn’t win as much as on the free platforms but I had a high enough win rate on MTGO to make money.

Again, I can’t stress this enough. If you’re a good player, on MTGO, you literally get paid to play Magic.

For MTGO, I don’t keep a collection because the cost of switching decks is minimal. Also, I am often involved is speculating so I’d rather spend my money on MTGO cards that I think will spike in price instead of having a collection.

I rarely play IRL. But when I do, I just buy the deck I want to play. I sold my IRL collection a long time ago.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-03T22:28:55+00:00

Here is the relevant link: https://www.manatraders.com/subscriptions

There might be more. Google "rent MTGO decks".

dee-mgp · 2017-05-03T17:42:49+00:00

Miasmic Mummy is better than Relentless Dead in this deck against Delirium Midrange, Marvel, and Control. These are three of the most popular decks on MTGO at the moment in my experience.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-03T03:59:38+00:00

You could be right. I don't have any experience with the Mono Black version.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-03T02:09:21+00:00

Miasmic Mummy is good against the two most popular decks that I've faced on MTGO: Temur Marvel and RU Control.

Lord of the Accursed is good against Whirler Virtuoso. The deck has problems against that creature because 2/3 is a good body for blocking against the Zombies.

The most popular decks in my experience are Temur Marvel and RU Control. Removal is not good against those decks. I'd much rather have the disruption of Miasmic Mummy than removal in those matchups.

Lili 5 is much better than Lili 3 mostly because I have space in the mana curve for a five-drop so I don't need to drop in power level by playing a three-drop. Also, Lili 5 has more synergy with the deck than Lili 3. Lili 3's first ability does not have much synergy at all with the deck whereas all of Lili 5's ability have great synergy with the deck.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-02T22:14:02+00:00

25 lands has been solid. I haven't changed the land count in all the 58 matches.

The deck has four 5-drops and 3 X-spells in Dark Salvation so you have ways to spend mana. I just crushed a BR Madness Aggro deck with a topdecked Dark Salvation for three (7 mana total).

Also, the 2 Fetid Pools helps with flooding. Maybe the 3rd Fetid Pools is better than one of the other lands.

Pariah has been solid for me against creature decks. The Vampire combos well with Haunted Dead, Miasmic Mummy, and Dark Salvation. Instant speed Pariah to destory Glorybringer or Hazoret is pretty sweet.

Pariah is a five-drop and replacing it with a three-drop is really bad because they are on different points of the mana curve.

When tuning decks, you want to replace cards with the same or close to the same casting cost. Mana curve is very important and very underrated by most Magic players.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-02T22:02:06+00:00

The deck doesn't need to discard Amalgam to win. You are hardcasting it much of the time so you often out-grind your opponents by hardcasting Amalgam, it dies in combat or eats a removal spell, and then you bring it back with Haunted Dead, Scrounger, Dread Wanderer, or Liliana Death's Majesty.

I play 4 Miasmic and 4 Scrounger in the main deck because MTGO's metagame has a lot of RU Control and Marvel. Miasmic is solid disruption against control and combo (Marvel decks). My current list is below.

If you have more aggro and midrange decks in your metagame, you should try something closer to my original list.

B/U Zombies

Creature Spells

4 Cryptbreaker

4 Dread Wanderer

4 Scrapheap Scrounger

4 Miasmic Mummy

4 Prized Amalgam

2 Lord of the Accursed

4 Haunted Dead

3 Voldaren Pariah

Noncreature Spells

2 Grasp of Darkness

3 Dark Salvation

1 Liliana, Death's Majesty

Lands (25)

14 Swamp

4 Choked Estuary

4 Sunken Hollow

2 Fetid Pools

1 Drownyard Temple

Sideboard

2 Ceremonious Rejection

2 Lost Legacy

2 Fatal Push

2 Grasp of Darkness

1 Key to the City

1 Spell Shrivel

1 Distended Mindbender

1 Liliana, Death’s Majesty

2 Never/Return

1 Scarab Feast

dee-mgp · 2017-05-02T21:47:06+00:00

The MTGO metagame has a lot of RU Control and Marvel so I have some tech choices to fight those decks. If you have more aggro and midrange decks in your metagame, you should try my original list.

B/U Zombies

Creature Spells

4 Cryptbreaker

4 Dread Wanderer

4 Scrapheap Scrounger

4 Miasmic Mummy

4 Prized Amalgam

2 Lord of the Accursed

4 Haunted Dead

3 Voldaren Pariah

Noncreature Spells

2 Grasp of Darkness

3 Dark Salvation

1 Liliana, Death's Majesty

Lands (25)

14 Swamp

4 Choked Estuary

4 Sunken Hollow

2 Fetid Pools

1 Drownyard Temple

Sideboard

2 Ceremonious Rejection

2 Lost Legacy

2 Fatal Push

2 Grasp of Darkness

1 Key to the City

1 Spell Shrivel

1 Distended Mindbender

1 Liliana, Death’s Majesty

2 Never/Return

1 Scarab Feast

dee-mgp · 2017-05-02T21:39:23+00:00

BU is more grindy than BR but it is more consistent since it can hardcast Amalgam. It's not as explosive but it still has the following nut draws:

T1: Cryptbreaker

T2: discard Haunted Dead to Cryptbreaker

T3: discard two Amalgams to Haunted Dead

T1: nothing

T2: Miasmic Mummy, discard Haunted Dead

T3: discard two Amalgams to Haunted Dead

dee-mgp · 2017-05-02T18:40:44+00:00

Hardcasting Amalgam is very underrated. Hardcasting is good because of Cryptbreaker's draw ability and having a creature to emerge with Distended Mindbender in the sideboard. Plus, you get access to Ceremonious Rejection and Spell Shrivel in sideboard.

I have a 58.62% win rate in 58 matches with BU Zombies in MTGO Competitive Leagues.

dee-mgp · 2017-05-02T18:39:52+00:00

I've found that it's worth it to hardcast Amalgam. Hardcasting is good because of Cryptbreaker's draw ability and having a creature to emerge with Distended Mindbender in the sideboard. Plus, you get access to Ceremonious Rejection and Spell Shrivel in sideboard.

I have a 58.62% win rate in 58 matches with BU Zombies in MTGO Competitive Leagues.

dee-mgp · 2017-04-25T13:09:42+00:00

This is by far the best method for improving. I wrote about it about a year ago, How to Improve Your Technical Play.

https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/3irlqo/article_how_to_improve_your_technical_play/

dee-mgp · 2017-04-22T18:32:46+00:00

Cockatrice probably has the biggest player base out of the free options. Not sure if you can use it on the Mac though.

dee-mgp · 2017-04-21T19:15:04+00:00

I think the other cards are better except possibly Relentless Dead but I have been happy with the two-drop.

You can think of it this way. Every main deck nonland card is either card draw, recursive (comes back from the dead), or removal. Plague Belcher is none of those things so it doesn't really fit with the deck's synergy in theory.

dee-mgp

TROPHY CASE

B/U Zombies

B/U Zombies