Good luck, and don't forget to join us tonight at 9:00 PM EST for playing Magic Online and carrying on!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Et tu, Planeswalker?
We've got a new giveaway posted on Steamgifts, and this one should be right up your alley. This time around, you can win Deck Pack 2 for Magic 2012.
Good luck, and don't forget to join us tonight at 9:00 PM EST for playing Magic Online and carrying on!
Good luck, and don't forget to join us tonight at 9:00 PM EST for playing Magic Online and carrying on!
Friday, November 23, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Thanks-giveaway!
At this time of year, it's important to give thanks for the things we have. But it's also important to give thanks for the things we don't have yet, but might win if we're lucky. Go check out our giveaway on Steamgifts.com if you haven't already. We're offering a free copy of Ghost Master to anybody who wishes to join the giveaway!
Since probably a lot of you haven't heard of Ghost Master, I'll be streaming it either late tonight or early tomorrow (Thanksgiving), so you can get a look at it, and so James gets off my back about streaming more often.
Since probably a lot of you haven't heard of Ghost Master, I'll be streaming it either late tonight or early tomorrow (Thanksgiving), so you can get a look at it, and so James gets off my back about streaming more often.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Return to Ravnica Draft Toss-Up: Corpsejack Menace vs. Wayfaring Temple
It took me a while, but I found two rare cards that are similar enough in both draft position and function that they qualify as a "toss-up" topic. Are you guys jacked? Hope we fare well.
God, that was awful.
vs. 
First, I wanted to point out how they're similar, and how I justified comparing them. Draft position was the easiest: Bestiaire has them back-to-back at #32 and #33 overall, with Corpsejack holding the slight edge. They're both creatures, they're both multicolored, and most importantly, they both offer a bonus to particular deck archetypes.
Wayfaring Temple fits squarely into a Selesnya deck. Selesnya lives on amassing an army of creatures, and Temple helps with both creating creatures and benefiting from them. Corpsejack meanwhile is a pure fit into a Golgari guild because of his mana, but also gives a bump to the Rakdos keyword of Unleash, adding a second +1/+1 counter on unleashed creatures.
Corpsejack's bonus is easier to proc. There are dozens of easy ways to stack counters on your creatures, from Dead Reveler to Slitherhead to Sewer Shambler. And if you're splashing some white, Common Bond turns into a titan of a card. By the same token, though, the immense value of Corpsejack's passive ability makes it risky to swing or block with him. That means a 4/4 creature is going to be sitting on the sidelines for part of the time. Rough deal.
Populate is a stronger mechanic than dropping an extra +1/+1 counter, but the method for getting it to hit is considerably more difficult. Obviously if the opponent has no blockers, that would help, but that's not a likely scenario for a 2-color 3-drop. So you're stuck with a couple situations. First, that you can make your guy bigger than your opponent's creatures, and that he'd rather keep his guys and let you populate rather than block your guy (not super common).
The other option would be to use other cards to create ways to get damage in. Detain helps, so you'd definitely want Azorius Arrester and Azorius Justiciar in your draft. You can also use trample to get in, using Selesnya Charm or Chorus of Might. But truthfully, you can't really count on those cards coming through. So, more likely, you're looking at Wayfaring Temple as just being a */* creature who can use some of those populate cards as combat tricks (like Eyes in the Skies turns into a +2/+2 instant bump). Definitely has value, but the secondary function of populating on combat damage isn't likely to come into play very often.
In the end, I'm taking Corpsejack. While Wayfaring Temple creates some interesting possibilities, it seems like the kind of card that seems really good, but comes up short when you're playing against an actual person with his own plans and cards and removal. Corpsejack helps a lot of cards get better, and as a 4-drop, it's not the kind of card you'll find yourself waiting forever to play. I can see Wayfaring Temple being a great treat for a deck already firmly in Selesnya, but I can't see moving into Selesnya for it. Corpsejack, I could see moving into Golgari for.
Joe's pick: Corpsejack Menace
God, that was awful.
vs. First, I wanted to point out how they're similar, and how I justified comparing them. Draft position was the easiest: Bestiaire has them back-to-back at #32 and #33 overall, with Corpsejack holding the slight edge. They're both creatures, they're both multicolored, and most importantly, they both offer a bonus to particular deck archetypes.
Wayfaring Temple fits squarely into a Selesnya deck. Selesnya lives on amassing an army of creatures, and Temple helps with both creating creatures and benefiting from them. Corpsejack meanwhile is a pure fit into a Golgari guild because of his mana, but also gives a bump to the Rakdos keyword of Unleash, adding a second +1/+1 counter on unleashed creatures.
Corpsejack's bonus is easier to proc. There are dozens of easy ways to stack counters on your creatures, from Dead Reveler to Slitherhead to Sewer Shambler. And if you're splashing some white, Common Bond turns into a titan of a card. By the same token, though, the immense value of Corpsejack's passive ability makes it risky to swing or block with him. That means a 4/4 creature is going to be sitting on the sidelines for part of the time. Rough deal.
Populate is a stronger mechanic than dropping an extra +1/+1 counter, but the method for getting it to hit is considerably more difficult. Obviously if the opponent has no blockers, that would help, but that's not a likely scenario for a 2-color 3-drop. So you're stuck with a couple situations. First, that you can make your guy bigger than your opponent's creatures, and that he'd rather keep his guys and let you populate rather than block your guy (not super common).
The other option would be to use other cards to create ways to get damage in. Detain helps, so you'd definitely want Azorius Arrester and Azorius Justiciar in your draft. You can also use trample to get in, using Selesnya Charm or Chorus of Might. But truthfully, you can't really count on those cards coming through. So, more likely, you're looking at Wayfaring Temple as just being a */* creature who can use some of those populate cards as combat tricks (like Eyes in the Skies turns into a +2/+2 instant bump). Definitely has value, but the secondary function of populating on combat damage isn't likely to come into play very often.
In the end, I'm taking Corpsejack. While Wayfaring Temple creates some interesting possibilities, it seems like the kind of card that seems really good, but comes up short when you're playing against an actual person with his own plans and cards and removal. Corpsejack helps a lot of cards get better, and as a 4-drop, it's not the kind of card you'll find yourself waiting forever to play. I can see Wayfaring Temple being a great treat for a deck already firmly in Selesnya, but I can't see moving into Selesnya for it. Corpsejack, I could see moving into Golgari for.
Joe's pick: Corpsejack Menace
Friday, November 16, 2012
Return to Ravnica Draft Toss-Up: Vassal Soul vs. Sunspire Griffin
Enough tooling around with the middling cards of Return to Ravnica. Let's dance with a couple of the most highly draft cards in the set.
vs. 
As usual, start out with the samesies (ratings from draft.bestiaire.org):
Vassal Soul is rated #110 overall (#8 among commons); Sunspire Griffin is almost right behind it at #115 (#13 among commons). They're both 2-power, three-drop flyers, with creature types that, in draft, don't matter.
Vassal Soul comes in at a mana cost that is functionally a little bit lower, because those hybrid mana fit into a few more decks, and fit perfectly into an Azorius deck. But it also has the flexibility to fit decently well into Izzet- or Selesnya-heavy decks, especially if you find you can reasonably splash white or blue (respectively). Sunspire, meanwhile, really can't slide into as many decks, and in a draft scenario (where you're always going to play more than one color), double-white is a pretty tall order; you'll just as often find yourself able to play it on turn three as turn seven, or later.
The other advantage Vassal Soul has is with regards to removal. Obviously both cards are susceptible to Annihilating Fire or Launch Party. However, Sunspire Griffin can be eliminated by Ultimate Price (though that's probably an unwise use of such a strong kill spell). Additionally, Sunspire Griffin survives Stab Wound (our pick for the best removal spell in RtR). This means that when stabbed, you have an 0/1 flyer who deals 2 damage to you every turn. It's completely negated outside of chump-blocking, and it becomes a considerable liability if you can't get rid of it.
If we were talking about the two cards in general, I might lean towards Sunspire Griffin with its extra toughness. But in a Return to Ravnica draft format, I think Vassal Soul's flexibility and its ability to be slightly less of a liability with RtR removal puts it a tick above Griffin in this set.
Joe's pick: Vassal Soul
vs. As usual, start out with the samesies (ratings from draft.bestiaire.org):
Vassal Soul is rated #110 overall (#8 among commons); Sunspire Griffin is almost right behind it at #115 (#13 among commons). They're both 2-power, three-drop flyers, with creature types that, in draft, don't matter.
Vassal Soul comes in at a mana cost that is functionally a little bit lower, because those hybrid mana fit into a few more decks, and fit perfectly into an Azorius deck. But it also has the flexibility to fit decently well into Izzet- or Selesnya-heavy decks, especially if you find you can reasonably splash white or blue (respectively). Sunspire, meanwhile, really can't slide into as many decks, and in a draft scenario (where you're always going to play more than one color), double-white is a pretty tall order; you'll just as often find yourself able to play it on turn three as turn seven, or later.
The other advantage Vassal Soul has is with regards to removal. Obviously both cards are susceptible to Annihilating Fire or Launch Party. However, Sunspire Griffin can be eliminated by Ultimate Price (though that's probably an unwise use of such a strong kill spell). Additionally, Sunspire Griffin survives Stab Wound (our pick for the best removal spell in RtR). This means that when stabbed, you have an 0/1 flyer who deals 2 damage to you every turn. It's completely negated outside of chump-blocking, and it becomes a considerable liability if you can't get rid of it.
If we were talking about the two cards in general, I might lean towards Sunspire Griffin with its extra toughness. But in a Return to Ravnica draft format, I think Vassal Soul's flexibility and its ability to be slightly less of a liability with RtR removal puts it a tick above Griffin in this set.
Joe's pick: Vassal Soul
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Return to Ravnica Draft Toss-Up: Towering Indrik vs. Trestle Troll
After dabbling in comparing a couple of unexciting cards, let's bring it back to cards that make their ways into a lot of decks. And deservedly so; they're good cards.
vs. 
Towering Indrik rates 160th overall, and Trestle Troll is just behind it at 166th. They rate 45th and 50th among commons, respectively. Obviously Towering Indrik is just a clone of Giant Spider, which I think tricks some people into thinking it's not very good. Trestle Troll is new, and noticeably different, so it intrigues drafters. But which one is actually better?
First, let's say what's not different. They're both 4-toughness creatures with reach. They're essentially the same mana cost, with Trestle Troll rolling a little bit cheaper because mana-fixing is pretty prominent in RtR (Guildgates, Keyrunes, Axebane, etc).
Now, how are they different? Well, Indrik has that extra point of power, which kills Runewing, Vassal Soul, and an unleashed Chainwalker. It also kills any Guildmage that attacks, which reduces them to basically artifacts. And those are all cards you're going to see in opposing decks in drafts.
Trestle Troll has a different appeal. It's more suited to sitting around taking beats. The regeneration option is fairly reasonably priced, which means he can block over and over again if you need him to. He's well-suited to green decks (Golgari and Selesnya) where you need some time for your plans to come together.
There's one more feature of Trestle Troll that complicates matters slightly: Defender. In most sets, this would be a flat negative, as Indrik can serve a more versatile purpose if the board allows; the Troll has to stay back. But, in Return to Ravnica, there are two common cards that specifically benefit from having a large number of defenders, most importantly the aforementioned Axebane Guardian. Trestle Troll helps you speed up your ramping as well as providing a sturdy blocker to hold off your opponent while you work towards that eleven-drop Worldspine Wurm.
This decision is razor thin. As with some other potential discussions, a lot of it is going to come down to the rest of your deck. But in a vacuum, I think that extra power and the ability to attack is better than the regeneration. The possibility of the card working with other cards isn't enough to overtake Indrik.
Joe's Pick: Towering Indrik
vs. Towering Indrik rates 160th overall, and Trestle Troll is just behind it at 166th. They rate 45th and 50th among commons, respectively. Obviously Towering Indrik is just a clone of Giant Spider, which I think tricks some people into thinking it's not very good. Trestle Troll is new, and noticeably different, so it intrigues drafters. But which one is actually better?
First, let's say what's not different. They're both 4-toughness creatures with reach. They're essentially the same mana cost, with Trestle Troll rolling a little bit cheaper because mana-fixing is pretty prominent in RtR (Guildgates, Keyrunes, Axebane, etc).
Now, how are they different? Well, Indrik has that extra point of power, which kills Runewing, Vassal Soul, and an unleashed Chainwalker. It also kills any Guildmage that attacks, which reduces them to basically artifacts. And those are all cards you're going to see in opposing decks in drafts.
Trestle Troll has a different appeal. It's more suited to sitting around taking beats. The regeneration option is fairly reasonably priced, which means he can block over and over again if you need him to. He's well-suited to green decks (Golgari and Selesnya) where you need some time for your plans to come together.
There's one more feature of Trestle Troll that complicates matters slightly: Defender. In most sets, this would be a flat negative, as Indrik can serve a more versatile purpose if the board allows; the Troll has to stay back. But, in Return to Ravnica, there are two common cards that specifically benefit from having a large number of defenders, most importantly the aforementioned Axebane Guardian. Trestle Troll helps you speed up your ramping as well as providing a sturdy blocker to hold off your opponent while you work towards that eleven-drop Worldspine Wurm.
This decision is razor thin. As with some other potential discussions, a lot of it is going to come down to the rest of your deck. But in a vacuum, I think that extra power and the ability to attack is better than the regeneration. The possibility of the card working with other cards isn't enough to overtake Indrik.
Joe's Pick: Towering Indrik
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Return to Ravnica Draft Toss-Up: Pyroconvergence vs. Sphere of Safety
Last time, we addressed a couple of well-appreciated common Rakdos creatures. This time around, we're going to look at a couple of less lauded cards. Like, a lot less lauded. As in, people mostly hate these cards. Once again, I'm using draft.bestiaire.org to judge the various cards' appeal to the general drafting public.
vs. 
That's right, this is the battle of the underwhelming 5-drop enchantments.
Pyroconvergence comes in at #69 among uncommons in Return to Ravnica, while Sphere of Safety rates as the 63rd uncommon in the set (out of 80). So, neither one is getting anybody hot and bothered. And really, that's appropriate. Neither of these cards is the kind of card that fits well into a drafted deck. I could see them helping in certain constructed decks, but that's not what we do. So which card is stronger in a draft scenario?
For me, the way to judge these cards is to look at what their effect would be at the point in which they'd be on the battlefield. Most likely, you wouldn't see either card before turn 4 even if they're in your opening hand. And since they're expensive cards, you'd probably be weighing them against other, strong cards that might be more effective. So, in general, I think you'd expect to play these cards on turn 5, with probably 3-4 cards in hand.
With Pyroconvergence, at that point you've got at most two multicolored spells in hand. If you had Rakdos Shred-Freak or Frostburn Weird, you've already played them. You're more likely to be sitting on Explosive Impact or Street Spasm. Pyroconvergence could potentially be useful if you're a strongly Izzet deck with lots of tricks and higher cost spells, but that kind of deck can get you in trouble.
Now let's look at Sphere of Safety. If you drop it in turn 5, you may have already had a chance to put down an enchantment or two. Security Blockade and Arrest are two particularly useful enchantments that help make Sphere of Safety much more useful, (in addition to themselves being vastly superior to either of these enchantments). Additionally, most draft decks you play against put their enchantment removal in their sideboard. So at least in most game 1s, once the Sphere is out there, it's out there.
Between Axebane Guardian and the various keyrunes, there's enough mana-fixing and mana-ramping that Sphere of Safety loses its mustard, particularly as the game progresses and mana becomes easier to find. But if you find yourself in a Selesnya deck without many ways to get to the late game, where you own, Sphere of Safety becomes a fairly useful card.
In the end, neither of these cards are cards you really want to play. They rely so heavily on the makeup of the rest of your deck that there are precious few circumstances when you'll want to employ them. But in a vacuum, assuming all things equal, give me the one that I can actually see working to my advantage.
Joe's Pick: Sphere of Safety
vs. That's right, this is the battle of the underwhelming 5-drop enchantments.
Pyroconvergence comes in at #69 among uncommons in Return to Ravnica, while Sphere of Safety rates as the 63rd uncommon in the set (out of 80). So, neither one is getting anybody hot and bothered. And really, that's appropriate. Neither of these cards is the kind of card that fits well into a drafted deck. I could see them helping in certain constructed decks, but that's not what we do. So which card is stronger in a draft scenario?
For me, the way to judge these cards is to look at what their effect would be at the point in which they'd be on the battlefield. Most likely, you wouldn't see either card before turn 4 even if they're in your opening hand. And since they're expensive cards, you'd probably be weighing them against other, strong cards that might be more effective. So, in general, I think you'd expect to play these cards on turn 5, with probably 3-4 cards in hand.
With Pyroconvergence, at that point you've got at most two multicolored spells in hand. If you had Rakdos Shred-Freak or Frostburn Weird, you've already played them. You're more likely to be sitting on Explosive Impact or Street Spasm. Pyroconvergence could potentially be useful if you're a strongly Izzet deck with lots of tricks and higher cost spells, but that kind of deck can get you in trouble.
Now let's look at Sphere of Safety. If you drop it in turn 5, you may have already had a chance to put down an enchantment or two. Security Blockade and Arrest are two particularly useful enchantments that help make Sphere of Safety much more useful, (in addition to themselves being vastly superior to either of these enchantments). Additionally, most draft decks you play against put their enchantment removal in their sideboard. So at least in most game 1s, once the Sphere is out there, it's out there.
Between Axebane Guardian and the various keyrunes, there's enough mana-fixing and mana-ramping that Sphere of Safety loses its mustard, particularly as the game progresses and mana becomes easier to find. But if you find yourself in a Selesnya deck without many ways to get to the late game, where you own, Sphere of Safety becomes a fairly useful card.
In the end, neither of these cards are cards you really want to play. They rely so heavily on the makeup of the rest of your deck that there are precious few circumstances when you'll want to employ them. But in a vacuum, assuming all things equal, give me the one that I can actually see working to my advantage.
Joe's Pick: Sphere of Safety
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Return to Ravnica Draft Toss-Up: Gore-House Chainwalker vs. Rakdos Shred-Freak
Here's a new feature for you guys. I'm going to name a couple cards that have some similarity in a set, and declare which card I think is better and why. Presumably, I'll have input from the other bros in the comments section; all of you are welcome to chime in as well.
Here we go.
vs. 
So here are a couple of cards that are rated back-to-back at Bestiaire.org, a favorite low-tech draft simulator site of mine. Gore-House Chainwalker is the 15th overall common, and Rakdos Shred-Freak is 16th overall. Both cards are 2/1 creatures, and both have a converted mana cost of 2. And, really, they're both cards that fit into the same mentality: aggressive, Rakdos decks. So is there really that big a difference between them?
Yup.
First, let's dispense with the differences in mana cost. Two hybrid black/red manas is roughly the same as the 1R cost as far as mana availability. They're both very red cards and belong in red decks, so you're most likely going to have the mana you need for either of them. So neither one is noticeably more or less of a mana problem than the other.
So, this really comes down to a battle between Haste and Unleash, two keywords that again fit into aggressive decks. But Unleash is miles more useful here. The way I like to think of it is this: either way, you're creating what amounts to a repeatable burn spell. You're going to attack most turns with these two guys. Either your opponent will decline to block and you'll get in for beats, or they'll block and try to defray the damage, or destroy your creature, or both.
So, you can either have a 3/2 creature bashing away, dealing 3 damage to the face, or challenging a defending player to trade his centaur token, or his Guildmage, or his Vassal Soul. Or, you have a 2/1 that gets to attack a round earlier, but can be disposed of by all of those 3/3 centaur tokens without a second thought, or blocked without repercussion by Axebane Guardian, Concordia Pegasus, or a leashed Dead Reveler.
In most red decks, and in Rakdos decks in particular, the goal is to put pressure on your opponent early and often. I feel like nine times out of ten, you put a lot more pressure on your opponent with a 3/2 attacker than with a 2/1 hasty guy.
Joe's pick: Gore-House Chainwalker
Here we go.
vs. So here are a couple of cards that are rated back-to-back at Bestiaire.org, a favorite low-tech draft simulator site of mine. Gore-House Chainwalker is the 15th overall common, and Rakdos Shred-Freak is 16th overall. Both cards are 2/1 creatures, and both have a converted mana cost of 2. And, really, they're both cards that fit into the same mentality: aggressive, Rakdos decks. So is there really that big a difference between them?
Yup.
First, let's dispense with the differences in mana cost. Two hybrid black/red manas is roughly the same as the 1R cost as far as mana availability. They're both very red cards and belong in red decks, so you're most likely going to have the mana you need for either of them. So neither one is noticeably more or less of a mana problem than the other.
So, this really comes down to a battle between Haste and Unleash, two keywords that again fit into aggressive decks. But Unleash is miles more useful here. The way I like to think of it is this: either way, you're creating what amounts to a repeatable burn spell. You're going to attack most turns with these two guys. Either your opponent will decline to block and you'll get in for beats, or they'll block and try to defray the damage, or destroy your creature, or both.
So, you can either have a 3/2 creature bashing away, dealing 3 damage to the face, or challenging a defending player to trade his centaur token, or his Guildmage, or his Vassal Soul. Or, you have a 2/1 that gets to attack a round earlier, but can be disposed of by all of those 3/3 centaur tokens without a second thought, or blocked without repercussion by Axebane Guardian, Concordia Pegasus, or a leashed Dead Reveler.
In most red decks, and in Rakdos decks in particular, the goal is to put pressure on your opponent early and often. I feel like nine times out of ten, you put a lot more pressure on your opponent with a 3/2 attacker than with a 2/1 hasty guy.
Joe's pick: Gore-House Chainwalker
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