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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 1:29PM
#1
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Date Joined:
Oct 20, 2010
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www.thecgrealm.com/events2.php?id=733Enjoy! Discuss! Feedback is greatly appreciated.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 2:50PM
#2
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Date Joined:
Jun 15, 2006
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I do believe this is the best article you've written so far. While I will disagree on several points, overall standup job! Sidenote: hyperlinks do not work. Let's get to the discussion... Sensei's Divining Top  I will catch flak for this but, this card serves it's best purpose in red or green decks. Generally with blue, or black just tutors or draws the cards it needs. Drawing several cards is nearly always more powerful than stacking your draws. Still I believe it's worth picking up. Demonic Tutor  I think this guy is worth it. He's not that expensive and he's still arguably the best. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth  Great card, but I really don't believe it's the most tutored for land. I'm pretty sure the biggest offender for Land Tutoring was a giant by the name of Primeval Titan  and I know from first hand experience that he always gets Gaea's Cradle  first. Doubling Season  While I think this card is insanely powerful, I don't think it's even close to call it a staple. It goes into a handful of decks. Whereas the above cards get played in nearly every conceivable deck. I personally think that Parallel Lives  is just as good unless you literally need both effects. Wheel of Fortune  This card is worth every penny you spend. I've only made 1 red commander deck that didn't make ample use of it and all of it's ilk. Consider also Wheel of Fate  and Incendiary Command  . Maze of Ith  Excellent card. Excellent point about old guard and the young turks. I still don't think it's power is that great. It does well against a handful of voltrons and a few like Kaalia. Overall I'd say don't bother buying a copy. Bribery  Is it a bit of a jerk. You betcha! Should you buy one...probably. Especially if you're playing mono blue. Mirari's Wake  I think this is my least favorite card on your list. Not because I don't like the card. Heck, I have 2 decks that make use of this gravy train. But I don't think it's worth picking up unless you have a specific deck for it. It certainly doesn't go into every g/w deck. Gaddock Teeg  anyone? Cryptic Command  The best counterspell in magic. Yes I know that Counterspell  is cheaper. Yes I'm aware that Force of Will  is the counter-standard bearer. But for raw power in a counterspell, this has all the bells and whistles. Unless they reprint it, it's going to continue to go up in value. Legacy and Modern decks are still playing it and it's scarcity is only going to continue, even with the textless version printed. Tooth and Nail  TNN needs no introduction. The most powerful creature tutor in the game. The only argument I have is that alot of the decks that play TNN can benefit just as much from also playing Defense of the Heart  in addition to TNN. Damnation  This is the card on the list I most wish I had. I just keep putting it off thinking it'll drop a few bucks...but it just keeps going up. Karn Liberated  Amazing card. Must be dealt with. But I just don't think he fits into every deck. Maybe I'm wrong...but I feel like he just wants to go into certain decks. He seems to just go into certain "good stuffs" deck. Well that's my 2 cents...but I think it's worth a nickel.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 3:14PM
#3
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Date Joined:
Jun 26, 2010
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Crystal Ball  isn't tagged right. I like this article's format. Including cheaper alternatives for people who don't quite have the money to plop down on some cards is a great way to show that 'money doesn't rule' in this format. Explanations were solid as well, and the verdicts reasonable. One minor nitpick I would point out is for Karn Liberated . While the -3 ability is powerful(having been on the receiving end more than once myself), even if you're not planning to ult, his +4 is its own merit, making him EXTREMELY tough to kill, even if you do deal with him right away. Unless you're playing R/B and drop a Dreadbore  , it's gonna be hard to deal with a guy who can ramp himself so effectively. And I'm just wondering...you mentioned Karn going best in R, B, or U decks...and any combination thereof. So why not mention Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker  as another cheap alternative if one's playing Grixis colors? He provides a similar overlap with destroying non-creature permanents, and has considerable survivability, plus the nifty perk of plucking creatures away from your opponents. I can see the differences, but since you mentioned all three colors, I figured Bolas should have been at least mentioned as well.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 3:30PM
#4
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Date Joined:
Oct 20, 2010
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Crystal Ball isn't tagged right.
I like this article's format. Including cheaper alternatives for people who don't quite have the money to plop down on some cards is a great way to show that 'money doesn't rule' in this format. Explanations were solid as well, and the verdicts reasonable.
One minor nitpick I would point out is for Karn Liberated . While the -3 ability is powerful(having been on the receiving end more than once myself), even if you're not planning to ult, his +4 is its own merit, making him EXTREMELY tough to kill, even if you do deal with him right away. Unless you're playing R/B and drop a Dreadbore , it's gonna be hard to deal with a guy who can ramp himself so effectively. And I'm just wondering...you mentioned Karn going best in R, B, or U decks...and any combination thereof. So why not mention Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker as another cheap alternative if one's playing Grixis colors? He provides a similar overlap with destroying non-creature permanents, and has considerable survivability, plus the nifty perk of plucking creatures away from your opponents. I can see the differences, but since you mentioned all three colors, I figured Bolas should have been at least mentioned as well.
Thanks to you both for the kind words.
About Karn, in my previous article, I had plced Karn as my number 1 Planeswalker for EDH, so i didn't want to go too deeply into an explanation about him (not wanting to repeat myself - I probably wrote 400+ words on him the week prior). I didn't include Nicol Bolas because 1) he only fits in Grixis or 5-colour, and 2) Karn's versatility is the fact tht he's colourless removal (something fairly unique and needed in certain colours/combinations).
I've been refining my writing style based on feedback I've received here and on other forums, and this is one of the first articles where you've seen some of those changes implemented. Thank you all for making me a better and more informative writer!
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 6:52PM
#5
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Date Joined:
Jun 29, 2011
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Now here's a good idea. I really dig the article. An interesting idea and the perfect length. Good stuff. Also, when did Karn Liberated get so expensive?
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 6:58PM
#6
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Date Joined:
Jan 23, 2013
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I actually really enjoyed this. I've read a couple articles of yours in the past and this was the best. I'm holding off on building an artifact EDH deck, my only EDH deck, before I take a break from buying magic cards, until I'm confident in a deck list and this helped. However, i will probably be buying Karn.
But the alternatives worked. Thanks you.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 7:32PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Feb 11, 2007
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I actually don't think top is staple-caliber as an addition to most budget/new player decks. It's still helpful, but in the wrong home its value barely exceeds the card/mana investment. It really needs shuffle effects to shine - eg: tutors, fetchlands, land-fetching ramp, etc - things that budget decks tend to be short on. Decks that would use it to typically see only 1 card more than they saw last turn aren't getting much value from it. And since you mentioned it, I consider sylvan library to be a better card than top due to the ability to pay life for extra draws. If you never use that function, you're not fully utilizing sylvan library. Demonic tutor is also miles better than diabolic. Think of the tutor's cost as its flexibility-cost. Sort of like how cryptic command 'costs' an extra color requirement over dismiss for the other modes, demonic tutor is worth paying the extra 1B for the flexibility of it being anything in your library. At 2BB though...the efficiency hit becomes really high. I'm happy to pay 5 mana for eternal witness  if I really need it right now, but am I happy to pay 7 for it? That's stretching things....as a value-play, it's just too much mana. You'd need to be getting something really special (aka, a game-winning combo) for any card to still be appealing with an extra 4 mana tacked onto its mana cost. Also, you kinda forgot to mention mana drain  . It's so expensive that I wouldn't tell anyone they *need* to go out and get one, but it is the best counterspell in the format, not cryptic. You could also have mentioned arcane denial  as a budget alternative...it's pretty close to being as good as dismiss in terms of effect in a multiplayer game where the cards you give the opponent may not be something that affects you too much, and at half the cost I consider it a better card.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 8:00PM
#8
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Date Joined:
Jun 26, 2010
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Now here's a good idea. I really dig the article. An interesting idea and the perfect length. Good stuff. Also, when did Karn Liberated get so expensive?
Shortly after Bloodbraid got banned. Jund players switched to the deck that consistently beat them(Tron), and lo and behold, Karn makes that deck even more sick.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 8:14PM
#9
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Date Joined:
Oct 20, 2010
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How about you actually post something, other than a link? Oh wait, you want the traffic to go to your site so you can get paid for your adspace, right?
Reported for advertising.
That is a fair criticism, and one I've faced elsewhere. I'll tell you what I told them.
I do not get compensated for writing articles. As far as a "hit-count" goes, the most benefit I personally see is bragging rights as a writer. With that in mind, I spend 6+ hours a week on each article, and it's gotten to the point where, in order to make my deadlines, I need to be very conscious to the amount of time I allot for each article. I thankfully work 2-3 weeks ahead, because working full time, as well as being very active in the local (and provincial) Magic Community, I have to be vey strict with how I budget my time. Any time I comment on here or on other forums, I do so during breaks at work.
As far as posting the article itself on these forums, I don't do so for three reasons:
1) Often times my word count exceeds 4000, sometimes 5000, and it's a tough proposition for someone to open a forum post and see a full page post to read it all. Posting the link duplicates this just as effectively, and closing a window takes no extra effort than hitting "back".
2) In an effort to look as professional as possible, I include graphics whenever I can, something that cannot easily be duplicted in the forum medium.
3) Most importantly, the format that the website my articles get posted on to autocard is different than this forum uses. Though some articles have a minimum of cards to make this change, others have dozens. The fact is that I simply cannot afford the time to format the article to be as informative and, frankly, useful if I were to copy/paste it.
I write these articles to help contribute to the EDH community in my own way. If this is a problem for you, I ask you to simply not read. If this is a problem for the moderators, they will inform me, and I sadly will have to cease contributing in this manner. For the rest of you, I hope you can forgive the extra mouse click it takes to reach my contrbutions.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 11, 2013 - 8:55PM
#10
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Date Joined:
Jan 23, 2013
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Well then maybe you should simply rely on the traffic that your site gets, or post it here. Because in my opinion, you are simply exploiting this site to promote yourself and your exmployer/site/whatever, not to contribute to this forum. I for one, probably would have read your article had it been anything but blatant advertising, not discussion/contribution. I did not follow your link however.
I don't know, i feel like this article in particular contributed greatly towards my EDH building, all located in one easy-to-find link. I now know of viable alternatives to overpriced cards that I can use and I have seen what other posters on this forum believe to be valid reasons for the inclusion of these "staples" within their decks. So it's given me something to ponder while I work on my all artifact deck.
You really need to relax. The Magic Community is massive, relying on the insight of its players to grow and develop, which is used by Wizards to continue to develop this card game we all enjoy. If this is the optimal way in which TyGuy42 can contribute to that development, let him be.
This is not blatant advertising as you describe. Before you posted, a small discussion was brewing. And on these forums, where discussions quickly die off regarding any topic other than Standard format, a burgeoning discussion is welcomed.
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