[Article] September to April: There and Back Again for T1

[Dr. Sylvan]

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=7373

This one's got a lot of review lessons, so I'll put it in Open. Try not to make me lock it. :)

[defector]

Nice stuff doctor, I was wondering if the mana drain vs fow has less to do wth numbers and more to do with the growth of type 1.  Most type 1 newbs would have 4 fow before they had even one mana drain.  I certainly did.  Anyway, a lot of fun as usual.
defector

edit:spelling

[Dr. Sylvan]

It's mad hard to account for anything like that, but the easiest way to decide that card supply is not a big deal in this case is that a significant majority of the decks which make it to my reports are running boatloads of Power, which most people get after Drains.

[defector]

I agree, the lists are thick enough to indicate a card pool that wouldn't rule out drains.  I run 17 blue spells in my slavery and wonder if I should up to 19 now that I've read that, I have been caught a couple times without a pitchable card.  To Dr. Sylvan:  Do you feel we're moving towards equilibrium here?  I don't see anything in 5th dawn that will make a new archetype/kill an existing one.  My humble opion is that we might have 3 months of stability in front of us.  That would be nice.
defector

[Dr. Sylvan]

Shhh, don't be stealing the buzzword from Part 2! ;)

[Raven Fire]

Nice stuff doctor, I was wondering if the mana drain vs fow has less to do wth numbers and more to do with the growth of type 1.

No, FoW simply fits in more decks.  It goes in the decks that drain goes in and it also goes in decks that can't easily support double blue or (more likely) are more aggo and don't want to hold back the mana (like Fish or Madness).

[Dr. Sylvan]

Raven Fire didn't read the article before posting. :(

My most substantive comment on these cards is about their relation to each other, which could create an article all by itself if I delved into the theory it exposes. For now, though, consider the implications of Force of Will occurring, in a typical month, about twice as much as Mana Drain. This signals that there is an ample supply of decks out there which have the recommended nineteen Blue spells to run FoW, but either lack the requisite sixteen Blue mana sources, or a purpose for running even a card as powerful as Mana Drain. It's not that they have no use for countering... it's that UU is too slow for their game plan. Let that sink in and remember it the next time you're looking at a decklist.

[Raven Fire]

Raven Fire didn't read the article before posting.

I tried, but all the numbers made my head hurt.  
But hey, at least I was already on the right path!

[Dr. Sylvan]

The conclusion is up tonight.

http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=7482

[defector]

Thank you Dr. Sylvan.  The next 3 months will be interesting, as a workshop slavery player looking over your number list has me concerned, we'll see
defector