I played in a few 1 v. 1 Extended queues with Masashi Oiso’s Wargate deck and filmed (x-1) of them; obviously the HyperCam exploded during the one match I lost (a mirror where I was savagely out-drawn)… So I am just going to add to this same blog post over the course of the day as the videos finish exporting and uploading to YouTube.
In case you haven’t seen it, Oiso’s Wargate deck goes a little something like this:
So check back over the course of the day or so (or wait until tomorrow at TCGPlayer). Quote of the week (so far), from YouTube side:
“… I use Clarion Ultimatum instead in this deck. it’s pretty much the same except it costs 3 more mana and can get easily countered.”
Love it!
Wargate Two – Vivid Control:
Wargate Three – Destiny:
On the one hand, this one is guest starring Bella Flores; on the other hand, the YouTube army pointed out one millisecond after I posted it that I missed an on-table kill. Doh!
Phyrexian Crusader :: Phyrexian Crusader? :: Um… that’s about it
This is a follow up from the Mirran Crusader post earlier this week. If you have seen that card, you’ve probably also seen the bad guy opposite number, Phyrexian Crusader:
Phyrexian Crusader
What can we say about this cat Zombie Knight?
Aesthetics:
Just as with Mirran Crusader, Phyrexian Crusader seems very close to a strict upgrade to onetime staple Paladin en-Vec. It is not a true strict upgrade because Paladin en-Vec is a different color (it would be like comparing Fresh Volunteers with Wild Mongrel or something)… But for practical purposes, Phyrexian Crusader is just better.
They have very parallel if not identical mana costs (1BB to the original’s 1WW), and both have the same “Protection from Lightning Bolt ” to go along with “Protection from Doom Blade Guy” … But in addition to first strike, Phyrexian Crusader also dodges Oust and has Infect.
Infect is neither better nor worse than not-Infect in the abstract, but for the most part creatures with Infect have been smaller than regular creatures for the same cost. It’s really not better. Wither is better, but Infect is just different. While Infect kind of deals double damage to players, it can be less effective against creatures. For example take Infect creature Cystbearer. Against a player it is kind of a 4/3 but it doesn’t even really trade with a comparably costed Silt Crawler (which you would never play in Standard). Keep in mind in the heads up race, Mirran Crusader also does double damage
My main concern about the size (specifically power) of Infect creatures is that they are much less effective — given comparable costs — against Planeswalkers. Mirran Crusader will whack the average Jace, the Mind Sculptor with one swing; not so Phyrexian Crusader.
… Just something to think about when evaluating the abilities on a creature like this one.
That said, as was pointed out by Propagandist in the previous blog post comments, Phyrexian Crusader is basically un-killable. Not only does this creature dodge all the same removal as Paladin en-Vec did (and make for more practical protection from Journey to Nowhere than Mirran Crusader’s “Protection from Aspect of Wolf (or whatever)” Phyrexian Crusader might be a fine combattler. Context will determine much of this as the format unfolds, but I can see him first striking down the power of larger animals, and walking away even when he doesn’t win.
Where Can I See This Fitting In?
Right now I would guess Phyrexian Crusader will be limited to an Infect linear deck. The problem with this creature relative to Mirran Crusader is that he doesn’t add much to “regular” strategies. I mean you can throw him in next to Black Knight and the opponent will just let Phyrexian Crusader hit four times before thinking about dealing with the new guy. The damage [plus Poison Counters] just don’t add up. Maybe he will get some good teammates, or maybe he will make for some kind of a stop sign / sideboard switcheroo (say holding back an entire White army or buying 100 turns against a Red Deck), but I don’t see the same potentially widespread adoption that the opposite number might have.
Even on the Infect team he isn’t the All-Star, but it is certainly the case that he helps upgrade the team (and with some help, potentially to Constructed legitimacy) by providing a much more legitimate option at a lower point in the curve.
I have been hot and cold over Paladin en-Vec over the years. Generally I am not on the same side as the little White creatures, and I am basically never on the side of playing two power combat creatures for three mana… But back when Paladin en-Vec + Umezawa’s Jitte was “the best combo in Standard” (credit: Tsuyoshi Fujita) I did make Budget Boros, which was an influential and successful deck in its day.
Anyway, enough about me…
Mirran Crusader is almost a strict upgrade to Paladin en-Vec.
Both creatures have the same mana costs (1WW), the same brawlin’ stats (2/2), and Protection from Black. Paladin en-Vec has Protection from Red and Mirran Crusader replaces that with Protection from Green. Let’s table the color difference on those abilities for a moment and move onto the First Strike line.
The original has First Strike; Mirran Crusader matches with Double Strike… Which is like First Strike stapled onto regular-strike… Making Mirran Crusader a highly efficient four power attacker, especially when left unblocked.
Mirran Crusader may very well make for the most aggressive Double Strike creature ever (or at least since Boros Swiftblade)… If Paladin en-Vec + Umezawa’s Jitte was supposed to be the best combo in Standard back a few years ago, what does that mean for Mirran Crusader? This is a cat (err… Human Knight) who can tussle with a Primeval Titan and walk away. What happens when you slap Adventuring Gear on it? Does Mirran Crusader singlehandedly blank the entire Vampires deck?
I mean probably.
I think we can all agree that Mirran Crusader is a near-strict upgrade to an old favorite, and is even more wicked once you start making him bigger, especially up front.
Now let’s get back to the issue of Protection from Red versus Protection from Green. Protection from Green is not as good as Protection from Red. As in part of what made Paladin en-Vec so super duper is that you could put Umezawa’s Jitte on him and no one was going to Doom Blade or Lightning Bolt (or shall we say Terror or Shock) in response. When it comes to instant speed Red removal, Mirran Crusader is so wide open he might as well be that new Mel Gibson movie.
Don’t get me wrong; this should still be an excellent drop… It is just not a strict upgrade, and Red Decks will actually be happy to face it a lot of the time, despite the absurd number of high quality abilities.
Did you see what that guy did with three mana? Shock you! … I mean it. I MEANT THE MIRRAN CRUSADER. Die, Knight, die!
So the previous blog post lined up scoring based on Swiss points.
However the scoring criteria for #WorldsDraft is individual PT points. So like I said it is deceptive. The standings based on projected PT points is not close at all.
The reason?
Only two drafters have a Top 16 player — YT and Osyp. And Osyp is way out of contention. The other player with a Top 16 player is YT… And I also have a Top 8 player.
So Jamie being tied with me and Patrick at present is highly deceptive. His Shuuhei Nakamura at 18 is worth a PT point less than my Joshua Utter-Leyton at 16. Huzzah!
If Worlds ended right now, I would win by a huge margin of over 10%; I counted all Top 8 players as 12 PT points (5-8) rather than their Swiss positions (despite his position in the Swiss, PV hasn’t won the PT yet).
Here are my numbers, with projected PT points based on last year’s Worlds numbers:
As you can see, the current standings are much less close…
Osyp – 18
Jamie – 24
YT – 31
Phil – 26
Patrick – 27
Therefore I would be overjoyed if Efro ran the tables and won, with all of our current Top 8 horses losing in the quarterfinals. Remember, PV is a very serious threat to Brad Nelson’s once seemingly insurmountable Player of the Year lead.
Interestingly there is one other threat.
According to Twitter…
Should Efro fail to win his quarterfinal match to my horse Guillaume Matignon [please don't lose, Efro], I would like to see Matignon win it all. Why? In addition to locking YT as the winner of #WorldsDraft, that would put Matignon in a tie for Player of the Year with Brad! It would go to a playoff (which in this amazing fantasy Brad would win); I think that there would be awesome drama around Brad falling so far, but being given a chance to retain his Player of the Year title on the field of battle.
Very Maher v. Finkel 2000 if you get the reference
To the loser? He is forced to write an in-depth strategy article on the format Momir Vig.
Pick order was [somehow] determined by Star City Somebody Ted Knutson; it went a little something like this:
Osyp Lebedowicz
Jamie Parke
YT
Phil Napoli
Patrick Chapin
The format was a traditional Rochester wheel for the first four rounds of picks; but Patrick (before he was assigned #5, mind you), asked that pick orders be identical for rounds four and five. That is, 1-5, 5-1, 1-5, 5-1, 5-1. The theory being that in the last round most of the prime picks would be gone anyway, and it would be unfair to give Osyp another first crack. With that out of the way, this is how things shook out:
Round One:
Osyp – Brad Nelson
Jamie – Luis Scott-Vargas
YT – Martin Juza
Phil – Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
Patrick – Gerry Thompson
Osyp’s first pick here was hella obvious. All five of us would have made the same first pick. I would have second picked LSV, as Jamie did as well. This left YT with an interesting decision. I went with Juza, though there are a number of reasonable options… for example Phil’s pick of PV. Patrick set up his wheel with Gerry Thompson, a nod to his friend and collaborator… Who coming off a number of strong domestic fishes — err finishes — recently, might have been hotter than the PoY standings indicated.
Round Two:
Patrick – Gabriel Nassif
Phil – Brian Kibler
YT – Joshua Utter-Leyton
Jamie – Shuuhei Nakamura
Osyp – Tsuyoshi Ikeda
Patrick made another wild pick; his theory (and it is a good one) was just that Nassif is the 3d best player of all time, and still a heck of a performer. I mean how long ago was his PT win? Exactly. I mean what would the PoY race have looked like if Nassif, LSV — or heck, Brad — decided to travel to as many GPs as the Japanese?
Phil’s slam of Brian Kibler looked prophetic through the first two days… and who wouldn’t want to root for a Kibler?
I took what would be a controversial pick in Joshua Utter-Beatings. I took some flak from Teddy after the draft, but I had a clear idea of who I wanted on my team, and I didn’t want to risk Josh being taken by one of the other drafters. As Osyp would later point out, National Team members are “more motivated” due to higher EV… But that isn’t why I took Josh. He had hands-down the best deck at US Nationals (even though his collaborators played everything from Pyromancer Ascension to DredgeVine), and Worlds has two Constructed events.
Jamie stole Shuuhei, and Osyp made basically the worst pick of the draft in Ikeda. Nothing against Ikeda — he has 300+ PT points and not-distant PT finals appearance, but he could have gone way later… I guess I am making the same argument against “the other Tsuyoshi” that Teddy made against my Utter-Leyton pick.
Round Three:
Osyp – Antoine Ruel
Jamie – Paul Rietzl
YT – Andre Coimbra
Phil – Michael Jacob
Patrick Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
This round was 80% sentimental picks and 20% “Phil trying to put Patrick on tilt.” Phil was successful. I know I could have gotten Coimbra later in the draft but was afraid that Osyp would try to do to me what Phil did to Patrick this round so I pulled the trigger.
Round Four:
Patrick – Katsuhiro Mori
Phil – Ben Stark
YT – David Williams
Jamie – Conley Woods
Osyp – Yuuya Watanabe
This round was my only real dilemma. I wanted Katsu Mori — one of the most successful players ever at making Top 8 at Worlds and reigning Japanese National Champion — was going to be my Round Four pick. Patrick had the same information I did and made a superb fourth pick there. I decided to go with my planned fifth pick. Osyp rounded out the round with what looked like the best pick of the draft, Watanabe at motherloving on zillionth or whatever.
Final Round:
Patrick – David Ochoa
Phil – Kyle Boggemes
YT – Guillaume Matignon
Jamie – Matt Sperling
Osyp – Christian Calcano
This round didn’t seem particularly strategic to me as an observer or a participant. I mean I was planning to take Dave this round. Osyp said he was so satisfied with his first four picks that he almost took Jonny Magic here out of respect; who would have known his highest finisher would be Calcano?
The players I had left on my list of people I was willing to pick were Guillaume Matignon and Efro; the first three days of play tell us that they are now paired against each other in the Top 8. I was actually pretty surprised that no one took Efro!
I was always going to take Andre and Dave — I knew they would have the best Standard deck — plus who doesn’t root for the home team? Incidentally, how great is the Wave deck? It beats all five of the five most popular decks in Standard, and has a 75/25 edge over Valakut! The Extended deck (which to my knowledge no one played) was even better. [sad face]
Anyway, this is where we stand right now:
Nominally I am tied with Jamie and Patrick for first place, but the only players who can likely win — based on Top 8 — are YT, Patrick, and Phil. Jamie can’t improve; whereas Phil is nominally 9 points out of the lead, but that is deceptive. The Swiss numbers are misleading to begin with. For example My Utter-Leyton and Jamie’s Shuuhei are both “37 points” but IRL Utter-Leyton made Top 16 and Shuuhei finished 18th; Josh will probably be worth more points when PT points are announced.
And #WorldsDraft is ultimately going to be tallied by individual PT Points.
I hope you will all join me in cheering for Lukas Jaklovsky — but more importantly Jonathan Randle — as we go into Day Three. I can’t really cheer against EFro for something as silly as #WorldsDraft, but if PV wins… It’s not just the pall of Phil coming back from his initial lead thanks to having Kibler on his squad (incidentally Phil was the only drafter with two premium players on his squad, and only then because Patrick made two unusual ones to start)… But Brad will lose the PoY title!
Main deck Luminarch Ascension is quite powerful against other control decks.
It turns out that that is true as you will see below (spoilers!)… But Kurt’s deck deserved more attention than the one line I gave it, probably. I actually caught more better notice of the deck listening to the Yo MTG Taps podcast care of Joey and Joe last week… and even though I noticed the main deck Luminarch Ascension, I managed to miss the entire Proliferate sub-theme provided by Contagion Clasp.
I don’t want to do a lot of hardcore analysis of Kurt’s deck, as that is actually the topic of my Top Decks article this week (spoilers!), but I do want to say a bit about Contagion Clasp.
In addition to facilitating the Proliferate mechanic and potentially improving the performance of the deck’s many Planeswalkers, Contagion Clasp is actually an all right card on its own. It kind of fills the same purpose as Oust against creatures like Lotus Cobra or Plated Geopede (or if you’re really lucky, Top 10 card Joraga Treespeaker).
That’s not its job in this deck, not really… But it would be foolish to ignore the fact that Contagion Clasp does have some value as a monster fighter. Little monsters anyway.
Now of course there is the topic of that Luminarch Ascension. If you can get one counter on a Luminarch Ascension, Contagion Clasp can ramp it up to four counters even if you are getting attacked… That really helps to justify the card’s inclusion as a main deck threat, unusual for the often aggressive Standard meta.
Anyway — more spoilers for things to come — you can nab a sneak Peek at this week’s Top Decks, which includes the following videos, both starring Kurt’s U/W deck.
I once put Frost Titan on a sub-Sphinx of Jwar Isle level of playability. Oops.
We now join the continuing adventures of TurboLand, already in progress…
Most of you saw my article RE: TurboLand on TCGPlayer last week. And with it, the most heinous excuse for forum replies… well… ever basically (Patrick Chapin is convinced it is one troll with 76 accounts).
Anyway, despite what the trolls say, I think TurboLand is one of the best decks in Standard, and it has been brilliantly +EV for me in the tournament queues. Fair’s fair: I did make some changes to the deck partly based on the comments from the forums on TCGPlayer, so we have this beauty (for your 5K consideration):
The deck was a bit heavy on acceleration, and Explore is one of the only cards that is not good with Genesis Wave. I used the spots for more finishers.
It is important to note that I added sixes and not sevens. Yes, yes – I considered Avenger of Zendikar but that big seven is not as good as a six in this deck. Why? Consistency, predictability, and curve.
You see, this is a Primeval Titan deck, which the original TurboLand was not, and most current Genesis Wave decks are not. What does that mean?
One of those lands is Halimar Depths, so most of the time you can ensure an untapped land drop the next turn (9).
See where this is going?
Nine mana is GGG + 6 for a Genesis Wave follow up. Every non-Genesis Wave card in this deck is eligible for such an on-curve Wave. As good as Avenger of Zendikar might be… It isn’t that 100% of the time, so in the “explosive Landfall token creatures fatties” category, Rampaging Baloths gets the nod.
It is possible it is just right to play more Frost Titans, though. This deck is an “over the top” aspiring enigma, and doesn’t have an excess of battlefield control. Frost Titan is a Genesis Wave-friendly finisher that does just the right thing.
Two notes before we move on to movies:
Primeval Titan into Halimar Depths is a combo. It is almost like having a mini-Jace, the Mind Sculptor. You can always draw the best card of the next three. In some cases you can toggle and tier your draws to set up Oracle of Mul Daya card advantage simultaneously. This can be invaluable for getting Genesis Wave and avoiding Genesis Wave + Genesis Wave issues.
I am having big problems with the Argentum Armor deck. It is embarassing. It is like losing to ghosts in real life. What did you die of? You know, ghosts. Ghosts aren’t real! I know, embarassing. I was chatting with the guys from The Eh Team podcast and Scotty Mac suggested Ratchet Bomb… Might be the answer! The problem is that they have Sword of Body and Mind, and can run past my Frost Titans and my Khalni Garden tokens and motherloving deck me. Embarassing!
Anyway, the games:
This first set is semi-not exciting.
First game KYT wins mostly because he went first. He talks about maybe not playing his Frost Titan on turn six. If he doesn’t play it there (tapping my land) I will almost certainly win. I have double Primeval Titan and Jace in my hand, so I will play a Primeval Titan if he doesn’t play a Frost Titan; he will Mana Leak. He will then be presented with the same decision. Except if he plays Frost Titan now I can resolve my Primeval Titan and presumably win with my Halimar Depths combo or Jace in hand… But he won.
Second game KYT won because I stopped on two.
I won the third game, which was exciting.
We played another 3-4 games, but KYT lost them. In other news, I won all of them
Anyway, we are hella thankful to KYT for recording and editing these.
Next set:
This one is not unexciting… It is in fact quite exciting. And embarassing. We both basically play awful, awful Magic. But you can at least see the TurboLand deck do some interesting stuff this time around.
Thanks to KYT, again, for his help and testing these!
You’ve probably read it already. Like I said on a recent Top 8 Magic Podcast, I was pretty nervous putting this one up; it was a stark left-turn for Top Decks, but my Twitter audience demanded it. So mise.
I said in the article…
One last thing before we begin … I’ve written, read, re-read, and re-written this article four times at this point. Only now do I realize—though, I knew at all times, that I wasn’t using all of my notes—that I was only submitting a portion of the totality of how I think about Magic. I didn’t put in all the stuff about how the line between my “Magic” friends and “friends” blurred as I reached adulthood, about how giving and giving leads to more getting. Nor did I write about never settling, constantly striving for self-improvement, or how each of us is, at least partially, driven by a need for significance (and how all those things intersect and even direct my relationship to Magic). Instead, I guess this stuff is mostly about how I think about strategy, card selection, making decks, choosing decks, and advising my bullets and apprentices. Just so you know, while you’re reading.
So I thought it might be interesting to share some of the notes and concepts that I didn’t use (you know, like the ongoing traits of the best deck we look at on this blog); here — in case you were wondering — are all my notes for the article:
It’s fairly likely you can’t read those — and even if they were hella big you wouldn’t be able to read them — so I’ll help you out:
First Page
Drill
Signif –> Naya mana base
Sieze opportunity
Don’t Major in Minor Things
Relentless Self-Improvement
Logic >
Get by GIVING
Second Page
Don’t take yourself too seriously
No allegiances – LIMITING
DO EVERYTHING RIGHT IN YOUR POWER
Basic #s
Long view
Friends blur
Third Page
Ask the best questions
Nobody remembers #2
We build for one goal
Results-oriented
If you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist
All players run in the same –> direction
Fourth Page
All meaning –> difference
Anyway, here is a section that I wrote — and was originally the second bullet — but I chose to cut before sending to the Wizards of the Coast editors. I generally stand behind it, but I try to stay positive, and I felt like the segment came off a little too “Tony Robbins” while at the same time overtly negative (which to be fair is the opposite of Robbins), if that makes sense.
Today I was very glad for my policy of not interacting on Internet forums.
If you haven’t read my article TurboLand Again at TCGPlayer yet… I thought it was pretty good. But apparently the forums didn’t? I tested the deck a fair amount and it seemed stupidly powerful to me. However the forums over at TCGPlayer… Oh well. I don’t want to paint all the responders with the same brush (because tydobbs in particular had some productive technology to share)… But for the most part I feel like today’s responders were shall we say less than logical. For example there were several who said my deck would lose to Memoricide; when I beat Memoricide and even Sadistic Glee 2-3 times in the matches outlined; in addition I talked about how you would approach those cards and beat them in Attrition fights (which I did).
I also said that I wasn’t sure the deck was the best implementation, but that I thought it was about the best idea. Which means its Stage Three in particular can be improved (I even posed some ways that it might). Well, whatever. No reason to dwell on the point. I decided at age 11 that I didn’t care what other people think, and — as much as I relish attention — I’m not really going to start now. Here’s the never-was excerpt:
2. Significance is a Fundamental Human Need
Why do I write Magic: The Gathering articles?
There are lots of reasons, actually.
One of them is that they pay me.
It’s great! I get to do this great thing that touches hundreds of thousands of lives — some lives quite significantly — and they actually pay me to do it! It’s basically the life.
Well, they can pay you to do lots of different things.
What makes writing Magic: The Gathering articles special?
Of course I love Magic. As Aaron Forsythe once said, you can track the course of my entire adult life by watching the Internet sites various I have written for over the years… Usenet, The Dojo, Star City Games, The Sideboard, Neutral Ground, Brainburst, Star City Games again, TCGPlayer.com (formerly Brainburst [again]), Five With Flores, Top 8 Magic, Flores Rewards; even Twitter!
Of course I love Magic!
It is a privilege to be able to write Magic articles, to touch hundreds of thousands of lives, to do so in an intersecting fashion. It is much less commercial than it is an exercise in significance.
Everyone wants to feel significant. You can fill this need with the attention of a lover, a parent, a child; you can get a pat on the head at work; you can change the course of mighty rivers, or murder a president.
Or, you can write articles about something that you love, share the almost tactile love for something that you love with other people who also love it; share your years of experience, spirit of innovation, and copious mistakes.
Or, you can be a gigantic raging butthole.
Bullies, nitpickers, etc. gain a feeling of significance by poking at little things, trying to pull down popular public figures, etc.
Earlier in my writing career I engaged a lot on forums. As I wrote, above, I actually cut my Magic writing teeth on Usenet. However I have actively avoided forums for about the past two years. I still read them for the most part, but I no longer spend my life getting in fights on them.
Most of the nitpickers, complainers, detractors, and so on have nothing productive to say. They are limited in their experience or scope, and have nothing to contribute to the conversation. They, however, still feel a burning need for significance; they fill that need by holding up a gigantic neon sign that says:
“Hey! I’m a raging butthole!”
But you have to hand it to them, somebody paid attention.
Well; that’s it… Kimono open.
Ask about other notes and points I didn’t use in the comments below.
