Latest posts of: mulder

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I've played a lot of tyrant oath and gush in my day. Its simply out classed by other options right now for raw power reasons. The same goes for witness x 10. For every Xmas land scenario with tyrant into 2/1 you can be pretty unhappy if the reverse happens. Most of the time your just going to get more options from RSD than witness anyways. If you insist on playing tyrant, RSD gets you walk completing your combo and then is replayed to find brain-freeze when complete. RSD has a direct line to winning whereas witness gets you random card from yard in some scenarios, and can get bolted in response to tyrant trigger. That doesn't seem bad to me.

Assuming you have a mox you can tutor up jet and then tutor up every card in your deck. That sounds much better than witness. it's better in many scenarios, if not all.
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Am I the only one who has no clue what RSD is?

Nice report! Where can we find the top 8 decklists?

Always nice to see you Carl. Nice report!

How about Skeletal Scrying? End of turn, refill your hand can't be bad. It cannot be misdirected either.

Imagine my suprise when he opens with Fetch into volcanic, Lotus, Sac lotus announcing Arcane lab...... I counter he Reb's... Ugh this is going to get ugly I didn't expect him to be playing Maindeck Arcane lab he did telegraph his REB a bit but I thought it could also be a bluff so I decided to try it. He plays a turn 2 painter followed by a turn 3 trinket mage for Grindstone. I'm trying to get a tutor or draw into Chain of Vapor my only answer to the Lab. My hand is pretty nuts and I'll likely win if I can just get rid of the lab. I fail at grabbing the Chain and he gets Grindstone to stick for the win."

I don't play Arcane Lab Maindeck, who in his right mind would do that? Smile

. I do play 4 in the SB, however. I think I lost the first game fairly quickly and I guess that's why you forgot about it.

Quote from: Odd mutation on October 17, 2008, 04:12:13 am

Hi Maarten,

Congratulations with the win Maarten. You did play really well.

Ilja got a bit unlucky in the finals though (I was watching his hand all the time). Just to give an example, in the first game you resolved a Null Rod and he went on to draw Lotus and Mox while he needed just one mana for his deck to start going (he had no artifact mana on the board at this point, only two lands). Of course that's exactly the reason why Null Rod is there in the first place... I've played it too (in UR Landstill) and it's simply amazing. People often don't even realize that they just lost to the Rod.
In the second game, at the end of one of your turns, he shuffled Darksteel Colossus in his deck with Thirst for Knowledge and with Tinker in hand, only to draw it again the following turn! Smile

I don't want to take anything away from your performance though, it was just 'funny' to watch this going on. I could imagine Ilja's frustration a little bit. Smile

You played well, so you deserved the win!

You can read my report here.

See you next time!

Robrecht.

Well I wasn't frustrated just a bit disappointed that my deck wasn't doing what it is capable of Smile

. That time with the Colossus takes the top though... I thought I was going to fall from my chair when I drew it again the turn after Very Happy

.
Credits to my opponent though for playing very tight, making the right calls all the time and not making a single mistake. And being a nice guy all around. He deserved the win, I never really got into the game.

Nice report Robrecht, I always like reading well-written reports and yours always happen to be of high quality. Too bad you just missed out on top 8, but better luck next time.
Tournaments in Breda are always nice and I'll try to be there too next time, hopefully to win another Library or better Wink

Ilja

Yup, very nice tournament indeed. And nice report too, I enjoyed our game too

.
I was very happy to see lots of new people taking their first steps in vintage, that shows that it still has a future!

Too bad I missed top 8 on tiebreakers but then again I still got some very nice cards for ending on 10th place. Props to the organisers and i'll be sure to come again another time.

Ilja

What I think is wrong with the list is the following:
1 Darksteel Colossus
2 Mindslaver
1 Triskelion

I've been playing Slaver for several years and put up good results with it so I think I know whan I'm talking about... I always tried to limit the number of big artifact to a bare minimum since, barring a quick TFK they are virtually dead draws.
Why would you want to play 2 Mindslavers?
Colossus has become worse now that Brainstorm is restricted and you'll have a hard time shuffling it back in your deck.
And Triskelavus >>> Triskelion imo, since :
- it creates extra permanants which poses a problem for Stax
- It flies (the tokens too)
- can do nice Welder tricks
- better at chump blocking multiple creatures

My bots include only a Mindslaver and a Triskelavus.
And btw, Gorilla Shaman is kinda good too. Not only can it destroy annoying artifacts like Chilices and Null Rods, it can also kill an opponent's mana base AND makes a nice combo with Welder.

Wow. Brainstorm, I will miss you Sad

Wizard restricted a card that everyone loved playing and nobody thought of as being overpowered. Shows how much they know.

Will this imply that Sensei's Divining Top will become a t1 staple?

Grinning Totem. Stealing an opponent's bomb (Will, Ancestral,...) is never a bad thing. If your opponent plays only 1 win condition it's even gg. Getting a Drain or Fow from an opponent's deck when he plays a spell is not that bad either. It becomes even more fun with Welders ... .

Everybody claims that Gifts >>> Fof. So why do you still play Fof and no Gifts?

It doesn't trample and can be chumped till eternity :-/ . Warrens tokens are more difficult to block. Besides, this card dies to every creature removal card available. Duplicant, Swords, Chain of Vapor, Edict, ...

What happened to: "if it ain't broke then don't fix it"?
I think Library is perfectly balanced in decks as a one-of, but I'm very reluctant to say that unrestricting it would be a good idea, because it's just too good. Drawing one more card each turn than your opponent is quite good I've heared... .

And Library being too slow is nonsense. I don't mind giving up a bit of tempo to gain a load of cardadvantage, but perhaps that's just me. As a control player, I can say that when my opponent plays a first turn library I'm pretty scared. I know then that I have to win in the next few turns because otherwise his Library will have given him too much advantage.
And if you don't use it as a carddrawer, you can still use it to get mana...

I vote against unrestriction.

Quote from: Phele on January 05, 2007, 07:34:38 pm

Hola, this seems promising to me, Black producing Wastelands, Workshops and Bazaars should find some lovers!

Tomb of Yawgmoth
Legendary Land R
Each land is a Swamp in addition to its other land types.

I'm not sure where to use this at all in the moment, but there must be some great options. Maybe in some B/R Aggro Workshop or in any slower Tendrils variant or in almos any Ichorid hybride ...

Does that also count for lands in your library? Can I sac a Polluted Delta to find a Tolarian Academy?

Lands that aren't in play are referred to as 'land cards' in Magic, so no. The term 'land' only refers to cards that are in play.
-Godder

Quote from: Blue_Nightmare on December 09, 2006, 06:34:50 am

4 FoW
4 Misdirection
4 Mana Drain
4 Counterspell

4 Impulse
3 Braingeyser
1 Fact or Fiction

2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Control Magic

4 Ophidian
2 Morphling

1 Lotus Petal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Chrome Mox
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
15 Island
1 Strip Mine
3 Wasteland

Hey all. I posted my deck here awhile ago and your advice helped. This is what I am currently running. I know the use of braingeyser is going to be criticized, but I find it effective to use after a mana drain when I have a FoW or Misdirection to back me up. Also I have experimented with running fetchlands, but am currently torn about them since I am not currently running brainstorm. Also, do you think phids are a must? I am open to any advice but please try to explain your reasoning. Thanks.

Not running Brainstorm (with fetchlands) is a mistake, why not replace them with the Impulses?
Why no B2B?
If you're gonna play Brainsgeyser, why no Stroke of Genius?
Isn't 4 Control Magic and 2 Veldaken Shackles a bit too much?
Perhaps a few Cunning Wishes might not be a bad idea. You can wish for Hurkyl's Recall (Stax and Colossus), Stifle, Echoing Truth, a Counterspell, Stroke of Genius,...
Perhaps you could find some room to fit in the AK/Intuition engine.

All in all I think the deck is too slow to be competitive, you run too little acceleration and too little draw... But it might be able to sneak in a few wins.

I fail to see why this would be better than Time Vault. It essentially does the same thing, but only Time Vault costs one less, and you can get the turn you skipped back later on if you want.

Here is a link where you can find all of the top 8 Decklists. I myself won the tournament with Control Slaver, unfortunately I didn't take any notes just because I can't take notes while I'm playing and also because after a match I'm usually too lazy Razz

. And it's been too long now. Next time, I'll try to make an effort however...

About 40 people showed up, so first price was an unlimited Sapphire. No proxies were allowed. Top 8 after 6 rounds of Swiss.

http://www.magicclubmol.be/files/results/20060806.pdf

Any remarks/questions regarding my deck I'll be happy to answer.

Quote from: Whatever Works on August 02, 2006, 08:31:16 pm

First off doesnt electrolyze cost 3?

Also, how is this better then lava dart, or even fire/ice.

Yup, sorry, i copy/pasted it and it didn't copy the mana symbols :-/.

Why is this better than Fire/Ice or Lava Dart? It generates more CA than both of those cards. When there are two critters on the board, Fire/Ice gives an adantage of +1, Electrolyze gives +2, the equivalent of an Ancstral. And Lava Dart... there are times you can't or can't afford to sac one of your mountains. And Lava Dart doesn't cycle, Electrolyze does.

Electrolyze:
Card type: Instant

Casting cost: 1RU

Card text: Electrolyze deals 2 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or players.
Draw a card.

I've been thinking of putting this card in my Slaver deck. Why?

1) Card advantage. When your opponent has two x/1 creatures on the board, this card gives as much card advantage as an Ancestral. And in the worst case, you can shoot two at your opponent and the card replaces itself.

2) This card can kill some of the most troublesome creatures in type 1: Welder, Confidant, Shaman, Lackey, Erayo, Meddling Mage, Cutpurse, Kataki,... .

3) It's an instant with a not-too-expensive manacost.

4) Since it's blue, it pitches to FOW.

I dunno, perhaps it's just me, but I really think that this card has potential. I haven't tested it yet due to time constraints, but I'm considering playing it as a two-off in a tournament this weekend.
Unless you can convince me otherwise of course, I'd like to hear other people's opinion on this matter...

Quote from: UR on July 12, 2006, 10:32:29 am

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You say you'd rather stop slaver's card drawing than their moxen, but I don't see how you do either? You sided in defense grids and one abeyance, and sided OUT your protection card (which can stop thirsts if need be)?

That was an 'all or nothing'-call. One of those things you don't plan in advance. Remember I'm 1-1 at this point and 0-1 down. But if I have a decent sideboard, I'd focus on stopping their draws rather than their moxen.

Quote

Also, running more Read the Runes and Deep Anaylsis will allow you to play out more mana, because you can recoup that card advantage to reactivate bazaar (by saccing extra moxes to RtR, and just drawing a lot of cards with Deep). It seems your major complaints are basically the result of the cuts you made, like saying you couldnt both lay mana and use bazaar, after you cut the cards which enable that very thing.

You are probably right, but I'm still sick over the loss of Squee (I love that card because it enables 'mindless' activations of Bazaar). Right now I'm considering just going back to my old list which has already proven itself to be good (I'll still cut green in favor of white though).

You know, Null Rod stops more than just Moxen... It also stops Mindslavers, Triskelions, Pentavi (?), Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt,... . If one Null Rod negates the effect of three cards then that's more card advantage than one uncountered Thirst... .

Quote from: 13NoVa on May 31, 2006, 10:11:47 am

Some questions with the CS List:
2 Thirst for knowledgeÂ
Why only two?

I played 4, it was a typo.

4 Goblin Welder
Why not 3?Â You play will, which puts them back into play if they die.Â 4 is heavy.

You're correct, I found myself siding one out most of the time, 3 is probably the way to go.

1 Pentavus
Nobody has played a real lock component in ages.

Does that mean it's bad? Pentavus can block forever, create an infinite slaver lock, improve the Stax matchup (Stax doesn't like it when you have lots of permanents I hear) and hit hard. This would probably the last fattie I'd consider cutting.

1 Crucible of Worlds
Why play this if you play pentivus?Â extreme overkill

I don't play any basics and this is a nice solution to that problem. On top of that, Crucible/Strip Mine can steal some games, it's good versus Stax and it's also an infinite slaver lock with the artifact land. That and the fact I can reuse fetchlands is good enough reason to include one.

4 Underground Sea
WAY too heavy

Mmmm, I need a lot of blue mana, wat should I replace them with? Basics?

2 Forbidden Orchard
2 Wasteland
WTF!?Â Â Orchard and wasteland are HORRIBLE in CS.Â You don't need wasteland, and orchards arn't the correct way to combat Oath.

Well, I can honestly say that they're not that terrible. Wasting an opponents Bazaar, Workshop or Library can be quite good I hear...
And the Orchards... well I just wanted to test them. They're not that bad, since they produce mana of any color and the tokens don't really matter. They also improve the Oath matchup. But overall I wasn't that impressed and they should probably be replaced with some basic islands or so. They're pretty bad against Stax too.

4 Tormod's Crypt
This is WAAAAAAAAAAY to heavy.Â 2 or 3 max.

Here i don't agree... Crypts are good against Slaver, Friggorid, Dragon, any deck that plays Will... . And they help against that annoying card called Darkblast...

Quote from: Eddie on May 28, 2006, 01:23:36 pm

6) Berukof Ilja - CS

4 Mana Drain
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
1 Time Walk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Tinker
2 Thirst for knowledge Should be 4, of course!
4 Goblin Welder
2 Gorilla Shaman
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Pentavus
1 Duplicant
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Mindslaver
1 Triskelion

1 Black Lotus I didn't play Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
4 Volcanic Island
4 Underground Sea
3 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded strand
1 Strip Mind
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
2 Forbidden Orchard
1 Seat of the Synod
2 Wasteland

Sideboard:

4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Jester's Cap
1 Viashino Heretic
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Arcane Laboratory
2 Darkblast
2 Gilded Drake

Nice tournament, I'll try to make it next time too.

Which creature is better in Slaver, Duplicant or Triskelion?

Triskelion:
- kills multiple Welders, Confidants, Gorilla Shamans
- shoots at the head

-Duplicant:
-Better against Oath
-Kills Colossus

Which one do you prefer? My creature of choice is usually Triskelion since I can usually remove the Colossus with other means (Welder, bounce,... ) and Oath is not that prevalent in our local meta.

And why is Pentavus no longer used? I think it's a great card, since it can block forever, make the Stax matchup easier (free permanents), it hits hard and can create a lock with slaver.

Well, I"ve been testing Tinker-DSC in Control Slaver and I've yet to regret it. A first turn Colossus just says "I win" against lots of decks. I think that every deck that plays Tinker should include DSC (apart from Stax maybe).

I'd like to mention that this card has good synergy with Brainstorm too. In your upkeep, play Brainstorm, put two useless cards back; dredge and draw a new card next turn.
In my eyes, this card is superior to Lava Dart because it has a much bigger chance to kill a Welder, Shaman or Lackey. You can use it every turn if necessary.

I've been wondering which card would be best to play in Control Slaver.
Mox Monkey:
pros
-can eat Moxen, Chalices and other cheap mana artifacts.
-Cheap and efficient, can chump if necessary.

cons:
-can only destroy cheap artifacts.
-can't destroy artifact creatures.
-Chalice for one is easier that Chalice for three

Rack and Ruin:
pros:
- can destroy two big artifacts the same time. Against stax, destroying their Crucible and Smokestack on turn two gives you a significant advantage.

cons:
-needs two targets

Personally, I'm more a fan of Rack and Ruin. Being able to kill two big artifacts for just two mana is more impressive to me. But I haven't tested the Shaman too many times yet, and I'd like to hear your opinions on it. Do you prefer other kinds of artifact destruction, like for example Viashino Heretic? Are there other pros cons to consider for each card? Or do you think that maindeck artifact destruction isn't even necessary?