Dies to Removal

If it weren't for Burning-Tree Emissary decks being in the format, Junk reanimator would stop being so god damned strong. As it stands right now, you have to try and board super sporadically because of the "stupid fast" deck and the "slow and steady" deck both being abundant.

That being said, I'm all for BTE getting shit on. I'm tired of playing games where looped Angel of Serenity is the win condition.

Very good point...the spectrum of action in playable decks right now is pretty much impossible to cover consistently, and the balance in the meta
is kinda precarious. I'm more concerned with UWx getting overpowered again...I really don't want to play under aggro/control lockdown again a la Delver Standard. I'm not saying by any means that this card does that--a 3CMC counter is too expensive to drive a meta shift alone. I'm just expressing my selfish wants for the format without any factual point here.

Well from the MTGO side I will say that my experience from the past couple of nights has really made me consider trying out the all-in RDW. It seems like everyone and their mother is playing either UWR control, Saito Gruul, or Experiment Jund. I think all-in red would be a good answer to these decks.

That being said, I'm all for BTE getting shit on. I'm tired of playing games where looped Angel of Serenity is the win condition.

SO much this.

Ah, so, what's Thundermaw Hellkite going for nowadays? I was thinking of picking up a pair. Is it still worth it?

If anyone has a pair they'd like to let go, I'll be happy to arrange something. I've never actually bought/traded online, but, i'll give it a shot.

tcgplayer.com has them at $19 low. I have three on me and they are currently on eBay for $20 a piece. I'd be
willing to trade or sell two of them to you for less if you're interested.

I think it's still a good card. It's seeing play as a one- or two-of in a few decks like UWR midrange, R/g non-sligh aggro, and Dega midrange.

Happy to hear of your recent happenings, Z.

I'm streaming again tonight. Standard Premier Event. Come watch me be bad at this game.

http://www.twitch.tv/valdarith

I've tried to, but twitch just kept freezing on me :

I'll watch the video tomorrow, for now I'm gonna get some sleep.

Thanks. I could use all the advice I can get.

I will say UWR control players can go fuck themselves.

Well, it's not like an advice from me would do any good, but I've got a question on your first video: you attack with a Cackler and a Hound, he Azorius Charms and you end up drawing him again - I would have probably answered the charm by using Searing Spear on my own Hound, triggering its Undying but
letting him stay on the field rather than getting bounced on my library.
He would have probably played Overloaded Mortars then, but at least I would have drawn something else - too bad I don't know what you drawed after that, as I see twitch freezed in the video

Seriously though, I would like to know if my choice would have been viable.

Based on my hand, it would have been. If I didn't have the second Hound in my hand, no. Spearing my own might have gotten him Verdicted or Speared the next turn which would have been bad. Since I had the second Hound though, it would not have been a big loss.

After that, I played the other Hound in my hand, passed turn. He cast Mizzium Mortars on my Cackler and passed. I attacked with Hound next turn. He flashed in Resto Angel and I had to decide whether to Spear the Angel and keep my Hound at 2/2 (first strike damage) or let them both die and risk the Hound getting
Verdicted. I end up Spearing the Angel and passing. He Revelates next turn and I lose to card advantage.

It doesn't help when you have to mulligan to 4 and 5 against UWR. I did not have a lot of luck last night to say the least. I DID beat another UWR control deck two matches later though.

Well, I just felt like it would have been my "compulsive play" in that situation - re-drawing 4CMC hounds while still having another copy in my hand was feeling really "slow", and with the mulligan-driven slow start you were already experiencing I thought that "filtering the draw" while forcing him to answer a 3/3 double strike creature could have helped a bit (which wouldn't have mattered anyway, since he would just have overloaded Mortars).

The fact that he was just 2 turns away from a Sphincter Revelation makes me feel that said game was just plainly unwinnable from the start, as the one before.

I'll go see the other game

If you want to see an unwinnable game go to my last matchup against Gruul sligh. That was depressing.

[quote="[url=viewtopic.php?p=49910#p49910:2q1lh4hz]RedNihilist » Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:07 am[/url:2q1lh4hz]":2q1lh4hz][quote="[url=viewtopic.php?p=49854#p49854:2q1lh4hz]Valdarith » Sun Apr 07, 2013 4:55 am[/url:2q1lh4hz]":2q1lh4hz][quote="[url=viewtopic.php?p=49842#p49842:2q1lh4hz]RedNihilist » Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:18 pm[/url:2q1lh4hz]":2q1lh4hz][quote="[url=viewtopic.php?p=49835#p49835:2q1lh4hz]Valdarith » Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:54 am[/url:2q1lh4hz]":2q1lh4hz]Happy to hear of your recent happenings, Z.

I'm streaming again tonight. Standard Premier Event. Come watch me be bad at this game.

http://www.twitch.tv/valdarith[/
quote:2q1lh4hz]

I've tried to, but twitch just kept freezing on me :

I'll watch the video tomorrow, for now I'm gonna get some sleep.[/quote:2q1lh4hz]

Thanks. I could use all the advice I can get.

I will say UWR control players can go fuck themselves. [/quote:2q1lh4hz]

Well, it's not like an advice from me would do any good, but I've got a question on your first video: you attack with a Cackler and a Hound, he Azorius Charms and you end up drawing him again - I would have probably answered the charm by using Searing Spear on my own Hound, triggering its Undying but letting him stay on the field rather than getting bounced on my library.
He would have probably played Overloaded Mortars then, but at least I would have drawn something else - too bad I don't know what you drawed after that, as I see twitch freezed in the video

nSeriously though, I would like to know if my choice would have been viable.[/quote:2q1lh4hz]

Based on my hand, it would have been. If I didn't have the second Hound in my hand, no. Spearing my own might have gotten him Verdicted or Speared the next turn which would have been bad. Since I had the second Hound though, it would not have been a big loss.

After that, I played the other Hound in my hand, passed turn. He cast Mizzium Mortars on my Cackler and passed. I attacked with Hound next turn. He flashed in Resto Angel and I had to decide whether to Spear the Angel and keep my Hound at 2/2 (first strike damage) or let them both die and risk the Hound getting Verdicted. I end up Spearing the Angel and passing. He Revelates next turn and I lose to card advantage.

It doesn't help when you have to mulligan to 4 and 5 against UWR. I did not have a lot of luck last night to say the least. I DID beat another UWR control deck two matches later though.

Ever have one of those nights where everyone nut draws on you and you flood out all the time and mulligan over half your games?

Yeah, that's me tonight. 2-3 drop.

Happy to hear of your recent happenings, Z.

I'm streaming again tonight. Standard Premier Event. Come watch me be bad at this game.

http://www.twitch.tv/valdarith

I've tried to, but twitch just kept freezing on me :

I'll watch the video tomorrow, for now I'm gonna get some sleep.

Thanks. I could use all the advice I can get.

I will say UWR control players can go fuck themselves.

Happy to hear of your recent happenings, Z.

I'm streaming again tonight. Standard Premier Event. Come watch me be bad at this game.

http://www.twitch.tv/valdarith

Hay guise I'm streaming. Come watch me be bad at this game:

http://www.twitch.tv/valdarith

"Oh... I win... WTF am I thinking?"
I love it when things like this happen

Yeah, I was literally facepalming myself after that. I blame tiredness and a tendency to overthink at times. It's like there are times that I'm so scared to make the wrong decision that I miss the obvious play,
but that will go away with time.

Morning/afternoon/whatever, red ones. I'm thinking of switching back to RDW for a while.

[deck]RDW[/deck]

It's been a while since I piloted RDW. Any changes to be made? Feel free to mock me for any stupid choices. I'm off my game.

After a lot of testing from me I've come to the conclusion that you cannot go without Pyreheart Wolf. I've been having success running a 3/3 split of Wolf to Reckoner. I actually side my Reckoners out against decks heavy in black removal or even control decks where I need to speed up my deck.

I
like siding in with a midrange/control setup postboard. It's been a lot of fun steamrolling aggro mirrors and midrange decks that think they have an easy win against me.

Here's my deck:

[deck=Valdarith's RDW]
Creatures (28)
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Rakdos Cackler
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
3 Boros Reckoner
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider

Spells (10)
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley

Lands (22)
21 Mountain
1 Hellion Crucible

Sideboard (15)
1 Hellion Crucible
4 Mizzium Mortars
3 Hound of Griselbrand
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Frostburn Weird
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Stonewright
[/deck]

2-0 after going 2-0 against UWR midrange. Hooray!

Why is my stream not showing up under MTGO on Twitch?

Hay guise I'm streaming. Come watch me be bad at this game:

http://www.twitch.tv/valdarith

Since I couldn't go to FNM tonight (both LGSs hosting Modern) I am on MTGO. Valdarith is the name, winning is my game. Just joined my first ever 8-man and won the first match with ease. Wish me luck!

I countered an opponent's Farseek with Dimir Charm on turn two yesterday just because I could. FEELSGOODMAN.

On another note, there are two LGSs in my area. Both are hosting Modern tonight. This is the one night I'm actually able to attend FNM and I can't even play because I don't have a Modern deck. I am not happy.

I had a thought last night, clansmen (I know, run for your lives!). Zeman mentioned the Dega Midrange deck he had proposed a while back, and I found myself digging through the clan thread looking for the decklist. What do you guys think of having a clearinghouse thread for proposed decks, along the lines of the Rx deck garage but not locked into a given archetype? I'm not trying to recreate the wheel compared to the site discussion areas for decks, but rather am thinking more of a quick reference place for pet ideas, drunken epiphanies and the like which we may want to revisit. My thought is that I could just copy decks into such a thread as they appear; discussion could continue in the clan thread or be jumped over to the deck thread as appropriate.

nJust a thought...feel free to tell me to keep my hands in my pockets.

I'm down with this. I tend to brew a lot of decks in my head that may or may not be effective in a competitive environment and I'd love to have a thread dedicated to some of my non-red brews.

Dodger, did you ever consider that you might just be really really

really really really

really really

really gay?

Checkmate.

...aaaaaand boom goes the dynamite.

I forgot to post this story from last Friday.

Someone was teasing me about playing red and my retort was that red "was the thinking man's color." They snickered and explained that the best way to introduce someone to Magic is to let them play red because it's so easy. I had to explain that while it probably was easy to learn how to play red, it was much harder to be consistently successful with red. I referred to this as red having a high "skill cap" (anyone that's played WoW here will understand this reference). I went on to say that while control decks might have more decision trees than a red deck, control is often more forgiving due to the individual power of their cards, and even with a more succinct decision tree for red, there is really only one correct answer. If we choose the wrong branch, we could end up getting our opponent to two life only to have him stabilize, losing us the game.

They
didn't really have anything to say after that.

Mine also doesn't think it's her business what I spend my money on - which seems like it'd be common sense, but is actually very rare.

Guns? Games? $200 Steampunk boots? The worst I get is rolled eyes and "whatever makes you happy, sweetie."

I may lament the fact that my girl doesn't want to learn M:tG or play paintball with me, or paint game figures, or dress up and go to conventions - but she's legitimately the best person I've ever known.

And also has the cutest face and sexiest little body I could want.

That's probably good enough.

Sounds a lot like my wife. She's not in to ANY of my hobbies (except football) and she ribs me for playing "that geeky card game" from time to time but she really
doesn't care.

My wife doesn't really have a solid hair color. It's predominantly blonde but with a natural brown/red tint. And naturally curly. I've always had a thing for women with curly hair.

So, completely unrelated to everything, but this is where we put our bragposts and successes.

I just got an email from one of my professors telling me he wants me to submit my term paper/abstract to a journal for publishing.

So...I guess this is a notice of potential future success. But even the encouragement from this professor is pretty encouraging.

I suggest you pursue this opportunity. Being published is a huge deal on a resume, especially multiple publications.

So it's redthirst who's Rywads in disguise! I knew it!

They are back up now. I think the forums just crapped on themselves in one specific portion. Perhaps our exodus produced a black hole that swallowed the competitive subforums with it temporarily?

Just read the VD thread. At first I was like "Okay, some people with really good responses on why the card sucks." Then I scrolled down more and started laughing uncontrollably. If it weren't so funny I'd probably cry.

I'm definitely logged in because I actually went to view the recent posts in the R/x sligh thread and was successful. I then went to look at the R/x subforum for posts on this Vexing Devil topic and it said I did not have permission. Then I looked in the Competitive subforum and all of the archetypes are gone.

I can't see any of the competitive subforums on MTGS. What happened? My subscription to R/x sligh, Gruul sligh, etc are all gone.

April Fools or something?

Zem et al: I hope you guys don't mind but I took it upon myself to start a UBx tempo thread in the developing section.

http://community.ist.utl.pt/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=635

I added some of my thoughts and a tuned decklist and would like some opinions on it.

This is what happens when FoS leaves MTGS:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=500112

Vomit.

Lol. I knew this would happen.

@ Khaos & windstrider - Thanks for the props, guys. I figured, new house, time to redecorate!

Good morning, all. The kids are home for the Easter break, so we are being damned lazy so far.

Hamfactorial health challenge going strong...weighed in at 227 this morning, bidding the 230's goodbye forever. Time for bacon & eggs!

Congrats! Keep up the good work. I lifted weights Wednesday for the first time in three years. Before that I lifted quite a bit in middle and high school as well as on and off during college, so that's the longest I've ever gone without lifting. Two days later and I still hurt badly, and I didn't lift
anywhere near what I'd consider heavy weight. Of course, I expected to be this sore anyway. I remember what it felt like getting back into it after being out of the routine for only a few months.

Put my playset of Falkenrath Aristocrat on eBay last night as I've migrated back to mono red in paper. Sold in 30 minutes. Time to buy that playset of Snapcaster Mage and build UB tempo.

Well, that would be the way to do it. Use them high-value cards to get what you need.

Speaking of which, what happened to Liliana of the Veil's price recently? I put my one copy in my trade binder since I'm not actively using her. I checked her price, and she's up over $40.

What
does anyone think of Beckon Apparition as graveyard hate against Reanimator? I'm liking the idea of instant speed flying token to feed Aristocrat as needed.

Yeah, I wish I had snagged a few Lillys myself. I knew she'd go up as she's such a strong planeswalker. She sees play in every format so it's not hard to see why she's so high even before rotation.

Re: Beckon Apparition. It may be a good alternative to Cremate in decks running Falkenrath Aristocrat, but then again, if you have a lot of bombs in your deck, Cremate allows you to attempt to draw into them.

Put my playset of Falkenrath Aristocrat on eBay last night as I've migrated back to mono red in paper. Sold in 30 minutes. Time to buy that playset of Snapcaster Mage and build UB tempo.

That's a good one, but I'm also very impressed with the Dupo 7:

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread759200/pg1

I know what I'm getting my dad for Christmas now.

My dad bought a Judge a couple months ago. I think it's overkill but it's so awesome regardless.

The judge is a sweet piece. Have you seen any of the .410 defense rounds for it? Some of them are ridiculous.

You mean like this one?

http://www.winchester.com/Products/New- ... 1-410.aspx

Shit yeah! Just got a call from the gun shop and they got a 9mm Shield in for me!

Been waiting on one of those fuckers for 4 months!

Damn rt...that is one sweet, concealable piece of hardware. Very to-the-point with no bullshit...it suits you.

Thanks, my work piece is a 1911. I have a soft spot for simple, efficient, killing hardware.

My dad bought a Judge a
couple months ago. I think it's overkill but it's so awesome regardless.

Brought my little Stonewright thread over here but cannot delete since it's archived.

We all know whats coming. Everything in your vicinity.

I see what you did there...

However, it smells so damn good that it attracts everything. Men. Women. Horses.

Use with caution.

We'll have no bestiality in this clan!

...unless it's with redthirst. He is a sexy beast.























No homo.

What would an FoS smilie look like? An animated gif of bright fires, large penises, and scantily-clad women?

I'm subscribed to this thread, but I'm not getting emails when there are new replies.

Is there a super secret setting that I've missed? I need the constant barrage of new reply notifications to feel alive.

Are you subscribed to the thread? I had to do it manually at the bottom of the page. I see no setting for auto subscribe with post in my settings.

EDIT: Guys have you seen the "New Posts have been made, do you want to review them" feature? Super duper cool. Fax posted while I was composing mine, and it asked if I wanted to revise my post. I'm a fan of that.

I like the sound of that! I always hated typing out this long-winded post and having three others post right before me.

We've been away from MTGO for half a day and already there are talks of Slumbering Dragon in the R/G Gruul Sligh thread.

Just don't be a fag and we'll be good.

Also, hi.

Did no one tell you? It's pretty much accepted that the FoS were the most fabulous clan on Salvation. Like, way more fabulous than the Gaymers.

Like... "burning glitter" fabulous.

One day, when FoS was slow, I looked at the rest of the Clan forums.

The Gaymers made me laugh. SERIOUSLY?

I want to start a Clan about
being support for other MTG players who really, really like porn. We'll be called "The Pervs."

Oh, wait. That's nearly everyone.

FoS was slow one day?

Hello everyone. Nice place we have here.

I see we're a bit more flexibile on the language here. I like it.

Z, I responded to your UB list in the old thread. I really like your list. Have you thought about Devour Flesh instead of or in compliment to Tribute to Hunger? It gains our opponent life but it seems like with the Pikes as our wincon we don't care about that very much. I can imagine the 2cmc cost would be less prohibitive with Snapcaster Mage shenanigans.