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1 year ago ::
Jan 27, 2012 - 12:42PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Jun 24, 2008
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This thread is for discussion of this weeks's Feature Article, which goes live Monday morning on magicthegathering.com.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 29, 2012 - 9:46PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Mar 27, 2011
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Playing with Undying creature was fun for me at the Prerelease. I had the luck to not play against too many across the table, except for the Vorapede  that knocked me out of the Top 16, but it seems powerful. I love Young Wolf  in Sealed, and I hope I have him (and Feed the Pack  !) in my Launch Party pool. The store I went to didn't mention the mini-game at all, though, and never assigned anyone to be anything. Some other players and I were discussing how we thought the game would be while waiting for things to get started, but it then slipped my mind to ask until much later that night. I wish I'd gotten the chance to protect my humanity/convert my opponents/obtain previously-alluded-to spoils. 
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1 year ago ::
Jan 29, 2012 - 11:41PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Feb 13, 2011
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I went to the prerelease, and I can ensure you I didn't like Dark Ascension's limited as much as Innistrad : what thrilled me in Innistrad was that also there were strong rares (/mythics) in limited, which is normal, they could be outraced, they didn't win on their own.
But in DA, we have stuff like vault of the archangel. Just play a few tokens with it, and it's a straight win. You can't race a vault. The only thing you can hope is to attrition your opponent, but how can you when you're trading actual cards for tokens ? (hint : you can't) . And in the mean while, all your opponent has to do is to bash in every turn, meaning you also have to deal with the threat of hordes of tokens.
But vault is not the only one, also, I think, the most backbreaking. There are also Vorapede ... Vigilance, and trample really ? One ability was enough.
What about increasing confusion ? You know what I saw at the prerelease ? Someone tryng hard to mill her opponent, only to see he had increasing confusion. He flashbacked, that was game. Great. Personnaly, I wonder if I wouldn't just concede game 2.
And requiem angel, eh ? Tell how you can win when your opponent has a 5/5 flyer and a whole bunch of flying blockers ?
So please, please, stop making game-winning rares like this. I like that big rares matter, and that there is an actual battle with them. A battle, not just an onslaught as soon as they hit the table.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 29, 2012 - 11:49PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2008
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Well, I beat a player with Sorin out 2 out of 3. so...
anyway, really the reason rares are rares is because of limited. most cards that are in the 4+ mana area should be capable of winning the game.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 30, 2012 - 12:26AM
#5
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Date Joined:
Feb 13, 2011
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Obviously, you didn't read my post.
I NEVER mentionned Sorin.
And I didn't say rares shouldn't help you winning, just that they shouldn't win the game on their own.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 30, 2012 - 1:09AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2008
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My point was that Sorin, on its own, is more powerful than any of the 4 cards you mentioned. And also, the two creatures you mentioned cost more than 4, and Increasing Confusion typically will be cast with an X greater than 4, and I'm saying at that expense, yes, these spells should win the game. Thats why they are rares, because they are stronger, and so you dont see them often. Blood Feud  helps. Alpha Brawl  should win. Russet Wolf  and Afflicted Deserter  help. Mondronen Shaman  and Moonveil Dragon  should win. Briarpack Alpha  , Village Survivors  and Hollowhenge Beast  help. Gravetiller Wurm  and Ghoultree  should win. Vorapede should definitely win. Silverclaw Griffin  and Hollowhenge Spirit  help. Requiem Angel  and Increasing Devotion  should win.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 30, 2012 - 5:13AM
#7
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Garruk Relentless  was the big player in my deck. I won all three games that I got him out. Sadly most of the other games that I played I lost because of uber mana flood and one of them to mana screw. I had one game where I had 13 of my 17 lands on the field or in my hand and the others were within 8 cards of the top at the end of the game. All of the games that I got mana flooded on I had Clinging Mists  but couldn't do anything with the free turn it bought me. The other good contenders in my deck were Kessig Recluse  , Diregraf Captain  , and Wolfhunter's Quiver  . The combination of deathtouch and the quiver really helped in a lot of games. One other notable card in my deck was Havengul Lich  . Sadly, it was never able to survive long enough to provide any real effect on the board. The only time that he stuck around long enough to do anything was in one of the games that Garruk was out and I was able to bring back an opponent's Young Wolf (which actually managed to keep them from playing Ghoultree ). However, after my first round where the lich was killed, I stuck my Undying Evil  in my deck for the rest of the time as that would have saved the day if I had it in that first round.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 30, 2012 - 5:35AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Jun 29, 2011
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I really like the set, but being forced to do Sealed made what could have been a great experience merely a good one. Sealed, more than any other format, is all about luck. I only had a great pool one time out of four ( Mentor of the Meek  , Thraben Doomsayer  , Bloodline Keeper  , Lingering Souls  , Gather the Townsfolk  ) and even that got slaughtered by two players that were luckier than me. Sealed is all fine and good, but it shouldn't be mandatory. Also, I can't remember a time when WotC pushed for something in Standard so obviously. Cards like Lingering Souls , Vault of the Archangel  and of course, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad  practically beat you over the head and demand you play some kind of BW token variant. Despite my complaining, I did want to share that I lost two games because I was killed by my own Archdemon of Greed  . My opponents managed to kill all of my humans in a single turn. It was funny, but then again...it wasn't.
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1 year ago ::
Jan 30, 2012 - 7:33AM
#9
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Date Joined:
Jan 30, 2012
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I had quite a bit of fun this last pre-release. I ended up being randomly selected as the starting Werewolf player for the store and quickly set to work bolstering my pack's ranks. By the end of the 5th round there were ten of us, which wasn't half bad for only having twentyone people at the event. The other monsters didn't fare so well and I think only ended up making a second or third for their cause. The set itself had some pretty fun cards, and getting a few doubles due to the nature of the smaller card pool was rather helpful. I ended up taking first with a G/U deck that focused on smaller agile creatures that I then pumped like crazy with my multiple coppies of Hunger of the Howlpack  , Wild Hunger  , and Briarpack Alpha s, backed up with two Travel Preparations  from my Innistrad packs. My only major complaint was the monster stickers. I was kinda hoping that Wizards would spring for buttons again like they did durring the Phyrexian/Mirran fight a while back. I'm a sucker for fun collectable trinketry and was somewhat dissapointed that while my pack and I could wear our werewolf stickers with pride during the tourney, afterwards they had to come off and we really didn't have any fun lasting token of our time like we did before. We still have our Phyrexian/Mirran buttons.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in an thread with GM_Champion" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Never go in against AzureShade when card design is on the line!
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1 year ago ::
Jan 30, 2012 - 10:50AM
#10
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I had a blast at my pre-release. We did in fact use the monster stickers. I was randomly selected to be one of the two progenitors of team swayzee. Unfortunately, all of team swayzee was paired against team fright night round 1, which put us impossibly behind team zed and team teen wolf in getting converts. It seemed like everyone enjoyed it a lot.
As for the format, I have to disagree that it seemed very bomb centric. The only two rares in my deck were Dungeon Geists and Snapcaster. Both very solid cards but I don't think either could be reasonably described as bombs. I was able to make top 8 with that deck, beating a guy with Garruk, double Bloodline Keeper, and the 6/6 demon that morbids to kill things every turn. In each game he played at least 2 of the above. Additionally, most games that I watched were largely decided by the overall quality of the deck (which itself is defined mostly by commons and uncommons) and the play rather than who drew the most bombs. There is a lot of removal in this format and the vast majority of the bombs are vulnerable to most of it.
I'm looking forward to drafting this set more in the future. It's already reminding me of Ravnica draft as 3 color decks seem very powerful due to all of the varying flashback costs. And, the mana is there to make it work with Evolving Wilds in pack 1 and Traveller's Amulet plus Shimmering Grotto in packs 2 and 3.
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