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4 years ago ::
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:21PM
#31
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Date Joined:
Jul 27, 2009
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I really don't understand some of you ignorant people. Blue was absolutely terrible during Onslaught block, in fact no one ever ran islands during those few years. It has been at the bottom of the barrel plenty of times, just like it is right now...and thanks to I'm sure all of you complainers tournament magic is a bunch of fast aggro creatures with no true control decks or relevant countermagic at all. This is a terrible thing.
If I recall, during Standard when Onslaught block came out, the dominant decks were Mirari's Wake and Psychatog, which were heavily blue. Maybe you meant Standard when Mirrodin came out, because that was when Affinity took over the meta-game.
In all seriousness, I'm surprised that you say that Standard is a bunch of fast aggro decks with no true control decks. I've seen the exact opposite. Standard has been dominated these past two years by Faeries (most definitely a control deck featuring blue) and 5-color control--also most definitely a control deck featuring blue. THAT is a terrible thing.
What about red? Do you know how long it's been since a good red deck has been tournament viable? Not since Time Spiral rotated out and took Greater Gargadon with it.
I am talking about the block of Onslaught itself. And Green was the most powerful color in Odyssey block, anyone with any decent memory knows that. The block of Onslaught was the absolute pits for blue. I am also referring to current m10 and Zendikar standard. You are referring to standard of the past where Faeries was a midrange deck which only existed because of Bitterblossom, which is a black card. 5 color control was a control deck featuring all 5 colors, and you called that a terrible thing. That makes no sense. Should all control decks die? And red? Jund is a red based deck, the best deck in standard featuring ridiculous red cards like Bloodbraid Elf, Volcanic Fallout, Bituminous Blast, and Broodmate Dragon. Mono red is a deck now. RW aggro just made the finals of a huge standard tournament. You just picked up a whole batch of new goblins. Oh yeah, how about lightning bolt? I heard that card isn't that bad.
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4 years ago ::
Oct 16, 2009 - 10:34PM
#32
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Date Joined:
Jun 23, 2009
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I really don't understand some of you ignorant people. Blue was absolutely terrible during Onslaught block, in fact no one ever ran islands during those few years. It has been at the bottom of the barrel plenty of times, just like it is right now...and thanks to I'm sure all of you complainers tournament magic is a bunch of fast aggro creatures with no true control decks or relevant countermagic at all. This is a terrible thing.
So you think because blue wasn't up to par SIX to SEVEN YEARS ago that it's balanced? By the way, blue might not have been too hot in Onslaught block, but it was certainly strong in Standard at the time. If you're talking about Odyssey/Onslaught, Wake and UG Madness (and UR Madness to a lesser extent) were at the top.
Afterwards, when Mirrodin came onto the scene, Broodstar Affinity was one of the best decks out there. Of course Ravager came out in Darksteel and the metagame died soon after. I hope we can both agree that was a low point for tournament Magic. After the bannings and Kamigawa, Tooth and Nail and Gifts Ungiven became the top decks. I think Meloku was also pretty strong at the time. Unfortunately, by that time, I was sick of blue and combo being the only viable decks. So I wasn't playing during Ravnica block, but from what I've heard, it was one of the most balanced blocks and Standard season ever. I'm kind of sad I missed it. Then of course, Faeries were the top deck in Lorwyn Standard for a while, until 5CC control seemed to take over. All-in-all, blue has been at the top pretty consistantly for quite some time. It's not just NEAR the top, it's generally been at the very top for most of that time. Now that's changed and I don't think it is a terrible thing at all. But this article gave me hope. Thank you Tom for realizing your entire Spike readerbase loves control decks and counterspells and you made it seem like there will be a powerful UW control deck in the future with real counterspells (Go away Cancel). Thank you and you have given me hope. Lets hope blue rises to playability again.
I'm a Spike that doesn't love counterspells. I started playing 14 years ago and I very much enjoy playing in tournaments with the best decks I can. I have my Mana Drains and Force of Wills and Negates and Essence Scatters and generally whatever else a blue player needs to win. But I hate playing in a permission heavy format. I just don't think it is very fun at all, even when I win. Keep in mind, I am not against control decks in general. I just abhor permission with a passion. Countermagic is the most annoying thing in Magic and I'm glad it is weak at the moment. I'm sure most of you who can't stand blue are casual players, which is fine. But complaining about blue because you're not good enough to play around counters ruins the tournament experience for the rest of us. So either learn to play around hopefully better blue decks in the future or play people who don't use counters. It's simple. We have to put up with crap like Slivers and Elves and milling cards because of you people, so let us have our real counters. No one will get hurt.
First of all, that's a huge generalization to make. Second, last I heard, there are more casual players than tournament players, and casual players buy more cards en masse. Thus, it only makes sense from a business stand point to cater to casual players by making the environment as fun as possible. If this means having fewer counterspells, so be it. And like I said before, there are definitely other Spikes such as myself that really don't enjoy a permission heavy environment. I like aggro. I like Jund. I like Vampires. I like R/W Bushwhacker. I like this new Standard environment. And I really, really hope it stays pretty similar for at least a year. We sure could use the refreshing change. And to the people making comparisons to Nazis: REALLY? This is a freakin' card game. It's competitive. By it's very nature, various colors are going to rise to the top. I just wish it wasn't the same one most of the time.
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4 years ago ::
Oct 17, 2009 - 3:34AM
#33
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Date Joined:
Oct 28, 2006
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Either they are really bad at testing, or Tom just confirmed that Jace and Baneslayer are in M11.
I noticed that as well.
You're wrong:
twitter.com/tomlapille
Someone should tell the fine people on the Magic internet that the Alara block and Magic 2010 are still in the FFL.
Ohhhhhhh. After scratching my head for a minute, I finally figured it out. Tom was so set on being all cryptic here that even the stuff he could explain wasn't clear. The only way this makes a lick of sense is if he was doing draft testing for Lights, but doing FFL testing for Prosper. If that's true, then yes both his twitter and his column make sense. But seriously, did any of you pick that up from the article? Anyone at all? The only set he mentioned by name was Lights, and apparently we were to just know that most of the testing he talked about was for a completely different set. Prosper (and M11 and Camera for that matter) weren't mentioned at all. In light of this revelation, I would like to update my vote in the poll. This article was terrible not because it's a bad idea - it isn't - but because the only thing it really told us is that MaRo is sneaky. And we already knew that. To expand on another poster's idea, here's what you should do Mr. LaPille: Print out this article, grab a red pen, and write down detailed notes on anything you referenced here even slightly but couldn't tell us about. Cardnames, decklists, mechanics, etc. One year from now, reprint this column with that addendum. Kelly will love you because you're ahead of deadline, and us readers will find it to be incredibly informative.
Free MTGO Tournaments you should be playing: Pauper (all commons) - Tuesday Nights, prizes by MTGOTraders Peasant (Pauper + 5 uncommons, with paper rarity) - Sunday Nights, prizes by MTGOTraders Silverblack (Modern-era Commons and Uncommons - Most Wednesday nights, prizes by MTGO Bazaar Heirloom ("Cheap" cards only, e.g. rares under 20 cents) - Sunday afternoons, sponsored by MTGOTraders Check the superbly-made Gatherling site for more. Other games you should try: Spectromancer - Online card game by Richard Garfield, available cheap on Steam. DC Universe Online - action-based MMO. Free to play. Surprised me how well designed it is. Simunomics - Free-to-play economy simulation game.
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4 years ago ::
Oct 17, 2009 - 9:43AM
#34
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4 years ago ::
Oct 18, 2009 - 3:40PM
#35
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Date Joined:
Aug 13, 2007
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And to the people making comparisons to Nazis: REALLY? This is a freakin' card game. It's competitive. By it's very nature, various colors are going to rise to the top. I just wish it wasn't the same one most of the time.
But I wasn't talking about the card game; I was talking about the philosophy that was being proposed, and applying it to other things. I have nothing against weakening blue a bit, or making sure that it isn't the top color. But that doesn't mean 'SCREW BLUE!!!!11!!1!!!!' is a good idea either.
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4 years ago ::
Oct 18, 2009 - 4:43PM
#36
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i was actually going to make a similar point but you made it first. i agree 100% with what you're saying and i don't think it was out of line (perhaps a bit overdramatic though  ). balance is best.
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4 years ago ::
Oct 19, 2009 - 12:12AM
#37
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Date Joined:
Aug 14, 2003
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Like I always suspected, working at Wizards isn't much different from my own job: bumming around all day and putting a lot of things away for "later". Must be nice. 
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4 years ago ::
Oct 20, 2009 - 7:53AM
#38
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Date Joined:
Jun 14, 2006
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I really didn't want to give Tom a "bad" for this article, but he left out so much information I felt I had to in order to let him know not to do this again. If he could have named all the cards in his FFL games and said what the issues were in the meetings he attended, I'd have given him a "pretty good" or "awesome".
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4 years ago ::
Oct 20, 2009 - 4:38PM
#39
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Date Joined:
Apr 18, 2004
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I am talking about the block of Onslaught itself. And Green was the most powerful color in Odyssey block, anyone with any decent memory knows that. The block of Onslaught was the absolute pits for blue.
I am also referring to current m10 and Zendikar standard. You are referring to standard of the past where Faeries was a midrange deck which only existed because of Bitterblossom, which is a black card. 5 color control was a control deck featuring all 5 colors, and you called that a terrible thing. That makes no sense. Should all control decks die?
And red? Jund is a red based deck, the best deck in standard featuring ridiculous red cards like Bloodbraid Elf, Volcanic Fallout, Bituminous Blast, and Broodmate Dragon. Mono red is a deck now. RW aggro just made the finals of a huge standard tournament. You just picked up a whole batch of new goblins. Oh yeah, how about lightning bolt? I heard that card isn't that bad.
I think you completely missed my point. My color and my archetype of choice have been completely unviable for the past two years, while blue decks and control decks dominated. (Faeries is definitely a blue deck even if they played a few black cards in their mix. And 5cc is definitely a control deck, and it even used counterspells--which are characteristically blue--to great effect.) You have absolutely no pity from me whatsoever when you complain about how blue is bottom of the barrel right now. And yes, red became totally awesome just *less than a month ago* (right when Lorwyn rotated out and Zendikar rotated in, in fact). And yes, that makes me happy. But who knows how long this'll last? For all I know, now that we have decklists floating around, the control players will learn how to beat them all and I'll be sad again. And yes, I do believe that all control decks should die (if the alternative is that all aggro decks must die).
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4 years ago ::
Oct 21, 2009 - 2:07PM
#40
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And yes, I do believe that all control decks should die (if the alternative is that all aggro decks must die).
what about a healthy format where there is control, combo, and aggro competing on equal ground? no? just black and white ONE MUST DIE? ok.
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