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2 years ago ::
Apr 06, 2011 - 5:55PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jun 24, 2008
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This thread is for discussion of this week's Top Decks article, which goes live Thursday morning on magicthegathering.com.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 06, 2011 - 9:50PM
#2
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"I've always been a proponent of variety and new ideas in top-level Magic. In that vein, let's look at several slight variations on the current leading deck."
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2 years ago ::
Apr 07, 2011 - 4:18AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Dec 16, 2005
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It's the pro's idea of a balanced metagame: you can play U/w or U/b! (Or maybe, if you really want to come from left field and surprise your opponents, U/r!)
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2 years ago ::
Apr 07, 2011 - 4:40AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2007
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It's the pro's idea of a balanced metagame: you can play U/w or U/b! (Or maybe, if you really want to come from left field and surprise your opponents, U/r!)
Don't forget    !
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2 years ago ::
Apr 07, 2011 - 5:51AM
#5
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"I have mostly used this column to celebrate the diversity of decks and strategies that people can play..."
Really??
I think you and I have different views as to what constitutes 'diversity'. And it isn't whether you run 3 or 4 copies of Jace, or splash black.
Put it another way, if you celebrate diversity, then a part of you should lament a lack of diversity. Month on month the criticism grows that the constructed formats are all about a handful of chase cards which, increasingly, seem to be designed as such (I promised myself I wouldn't go into an M-rant and I won't). Added to which this year we have seen the 'new' extended formats which look an awful lot like standard from two years ago.
Maybe my expectations are set too high. I realise that you are insulated from the economic and social consequences of a format dominated by a handful of chase cards, but I can't believe that you have let the constant reappearance of the same cards escape your notice. I have never seen you utter a word of regret, let alone condemn, this state of affairs.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 07, 2011 - 7:30AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jul 12, 2010
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Mr. Flores, I have a great deal of respect for you. As a long-time player of this game (harkening back to 1995), your name is one that I have followed for well over a decade. Having said that, please realize that there is a logical disconnect in your column this week -- one that speaks to an essential problem with the current Standard and Extended environment: every single deck you listed is running Jace, the Mind Sculptor  . Every single one. The environment is completely defined by this one card. It's almost as bad as Black Summer, except that there are a handful of different deck designs that ultimately do the exact same thing: play a Jace TMS as quickly as possible then defend it while it generates incredible card advantage and board control. I simply do not believe the card is a mistake anymore. There seems to be something more sinister at work there, and I don't like the direction that it has guided Magic. If it is indeed a mistake it is one of epic proportions -- a dramatic failure of multiple teams ranging from design to QA and everything in between. There is a simple solution here: ban the card. Ban it in all formats. Allow us to go forward pretending that this incredibly poorly-designed card never existed. Let us never again speak its name. The leaden chains of Jace weigh heavily upon my deck construction decisions. Allow me to breathe again!
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2 years ago ::
Apr 07, 2011 - 11:22AM
#7
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Wow. Apparently I'm not the only one who noticed that all of those decks play 3-4 Jace, the Mindsculptors. The current standard control variations can be summed up as "play 4 Jace, the Mindsculptors and 56 other assorted cards."
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2 years ago ::
Apr 07, 2011 - 6:25PM
#8
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I just noticed your name is Tiresias. That sounds like an interesting story.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 08, 2011 - 8:37AM
#9
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Slightly off-topic, but might I suggest Celestial Colonnade  (and friends) be put into the core sets alongside the regular dual lands (or perhaps even down to uncommon since they always enter the battlefield tapped) ?
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2 years ago ::
Apr 08, 2011 - 10:02AM
#10
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Date Joined:
Apr 16, 2007
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Slightly off-topic, but might I suggest Celestial Colonnade (and friends) be put into the core sets alongside the regular dual lands (or perhaps even down to uncommon since they always enter the battlefield tapped) ?
This would require land-destruction effects to be more common for limited play to not be absolutely RULED by said lands. In Worldwake the lands were rare...with a colorless, free to play answer in Tectonic Edge.
Make them uncommon and Tec Edge needs to be common and have friends...or each color needs their own answers elsewhere.
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