With all the new cards available in the New Phyrexia Magic the Gathering series, many block players are finally finding the missing pieces to many promising decks that have emerged since Scars of Mirrodin was first released.
On MTGO, the tournament practice rooms are now brimming with exciting new decks and even the casual room seems to have a lot less players running vampire decks even though they still seem to be the dependable beat down if you can't afford a decent caw-blade deck.
Since Scars of Mirrodin first came out I have been trying to develop a decent block deck around Venser, the Sojourner, obviously hunting down every card that I could find that had a halfway interesting enter the battlefield ability.
Now that New Phyrexia has come out I suddenly have too many cards that work well with this fellow. The most exciting of which, in my humble opinion, would have to be the "splicers" of which there are several spanning multiple colors. Splicers hit the battlefield and spit out a 3/3 golem and also provide one of several different golem-friendly buffs such as "golems have flying", "golems have first strike", etc. Needless to say, these cards actually give you a pretty legitimate reason to think about running Precursor Golems, and provide you with many Venser targets.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
EDH and the Commander Format on MTGO Tips
Recently I've started playing EDH on Magic Online and have been having a lot of fun play testing random decks and talking with other members of this growing online community. For those of you new to this format I wanted to write a little bit about my experience so far so that you can learn from my mistakes.
During my searching among the army of bots that makes up the marketplace, I've come across what seems to be a very common pitfall for new players when deciding on a general; choosing one that is too good - let me explain:
The vast majority of my collection is artifacts so naturally I'm looking for an esper general like Sharuum who will provide the dexterity I need to keep returning my destroyed tools to the battlefield. Sharuum happens to be a very hated general (I find this out after play testing several games on MTGO where I was immediately targeted by all players).
My next try was with Sen Triplets - cool ability right? Good luck trying to play it. It only took a couple of games of 3v1 to realize this general is even more hated that Sharuum. The triplets were also immediately targeted with Volition Reins, Mind Control, etc. and honestly, were more often used against me. Even though I was running a powerful control deck myself I just couldn't compete with three players at once.
After that I tried Zur the Enchanter and let's just say it was the most clearly defining experience yet of this point that I'm trying to make - It's no fun playing when everyone is focusing on you.
Since then, I've played Vorosh, the Hunted, Wrexial, and several other generals that do not provoke such a unanimous negative response from other players and I have realized that there is a bigger point to make here about general deck building and play style in this format.
EDH (Commander) on MTGO is usually 1v1v1v1 or just 1v1v1. The first player that provokes attention is the most vulnerable. There WILL be board wipes. Everyone sees everyone's general, so players will be thinking about how they are going to counter attack whatever ability your general may have. These are three good reasons not to have a "hated" general, lead with your general, and generally provoke attention by playing cards that will cause players to view you as a common enemy.
The "poker aspect" of MTG plays bigger in this format than in Standard both because there are more players and because you can only carry one copy of each spell. The smart EDH player is the one that is more or less ignored during the first few turns while his is spending time finding weaknesses in each opponent's strategy and putting together the cards he needs to create his win conditions.
Furthermore, I've been generally trying to avoid cards that have "global" effects like Grand Arbiter and Mana Vortex that target all three opposing players. Board wipes like Day of Judgment are cool, and if timed correctly can even win you an ally or two if you use it when it benefits more than just your own board.
Overall, this is a very interesting format for players that may be getting bored with the endless Caw-Blade and Valakut decks appearing in every other game in Standard. This format provides players with an incredible variety of opposing play styles that will be sure to keep even the most veteran players entertained for years to come.
During my searching among the army of bots that makes up the marketplace, I've come across what seems to be a very common pitfall for new players when deciding on a general; choosing one that is too good - let me explain:
The vast majority of my collection is artifacts so naturally I'm looking for an esper general like Sharuum who will provide the dexterity I need to keep returning my destroyed tools to the battlefield. Sharuum happens to be a very hated general (I find this out after play testing several games on MTGO where I was immediately targeted by all players).
My next try was with Sen Triplets - cool ability right? Good luck trying to play it. It only took a couple of games of 3v1 to realize this general is even more hated that Sharuum. The triplets were also immediately targeted with Volition Reins, Mind Control, etc. and honestly, were more often used against me. Even though I was running a powerful control deck myself I just couldn't compete with three players at once.
After that I tried Zur the Enchanter and let's just say it was the most clearly defining experience yet of this point that I'm trying to make - It's no fun playing when everyone is focusing on you.
Since then, I've played Vorosh, the Hunted, Wrexial, and several other generals that do not provoke such a unanimous negative response from other players and I have realized that there is a bigger point to make here about general deck building and play style in this format.
EDH (Commander) on MTGO is usually 1v1v1v1 or just 1v1v1. The first player that provokes attention is the most vulnerable. There WILL be board wipes. Everyone sees everyone's general, so players will be thinking about how they are going to counter attack whatever ability your general may have. These are three good reasons not to have a "hated" general, lead with your general, and generally provoke attention by playing cards that will cause players to view you as a common enemy.
The "poker aspect" of MTG plays bigger in this format than in Standard both because there are more players and because you can only carry one copy of each spell. The smart EDH player is the one that is more or less ignored during the first few turns while his is spending time finding weaknesses in each opponent's strategy and putting together the cards he needs to create his win conditions.
Furthermore, I've been generally trying to avoid cards that have "global" effects like Grand Arbiter and Mana Vortex that target all three opposing players. Board wipes like Day of Judgment are cool, and if timed correctly can even win you an ally or two if you use it when it benefits more than just your own board.
Overall, this is a very interesting format for players that may be getting bored with the endless Caw-Blade and Valakut decks appearing in every other game in Standard. This format provides players with an incredible variety of opposing play styles that will be sure to keep even the most veteran players entertained for years to come.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Condescend
Altered with Prismacolor markers, I simply extended the magical effect already present in the image. The metallic color is reflective and works better with this image in real light than it does when scanned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)