Magic: The Gathering

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

That mechanic is broken as fuck, mark my words. We're gonna see an explosion of Red aggro decks if that mechanic is widespread enough.

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

So we got some new cards revealed and while this guy isn't particularly good, I love the concept behind the mechanic:





That is basically the key ability Goblins have been begging for since their inception.

[Melody]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Nerds.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

As if there's not going to be a card to replace Verdict, if not a reprint of Verdict itself (given that the upcoming block, I'm told, is also multicolored). Revelation may or may not be replaced by something completely different, however.

At any rate, IM, I have sincere doubts on your qualifications on giving Red aggro deck advice. Which is fine; I'd be similarly unqualified to give advice to a Black control player. I will say that the only Blue deck that gave me any sort of problems was an Esper Superfriends build, and I've only ever had one such matchup (probably the only guy around who could afford to build it). Most of my problems were either Green or Black deck variants, with the combinatory problems of fast fatties, tons of removal, and perhaps some incidental lifegain (especially out the sideboard). You know, all that good stuff that makes Jund so wonderfully fun to play against. [/SARCASM]

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

I don't think red aggression beats devotion to blue at the moment (not consistently, anyhow). It's not like decks with Master of Waves just sit around waiting for you to attack them; they're pretty aggressive in their own right, and are more than capable of keeping up with a red deck. They also pack enough light counterspells to shut down simple tricks like Seismic Stomp. In any case, in general the idea is that you do race them to 0 first, and for that I "get" why you want to stay aggressive even in the sideboard rather than slowing the deck down to play at someone else's pace (something which a mono red deck isn't typically well equipped to do in any case).

I still think Perilous Vault keeps defensive decks honest, though, particularly those that are combo-based. Not that there are many defensive decks in Standard at the moment, mind you, what with Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation rotating out (and taking esper control out with them).


Icemage

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

That's not the point. Some decks WILL beat you at the race once they get access to their sideboard, and you need a Plan B when that happens. That's what sideboards are for.

I'm not suggesting you run Perilous Vault main deck, but in the sideboard? You'd better believe it. It's a handy way to blow Master of Waves off the table, if nothing else.


Icemage

Or I could run Ratchet Bomb, or Scouring Sands, or more Seismic Stomps.
If I have five mana on the board and enough time to tap out two turns in a row for one artifiact then my hand is empty and I've already lost.

Trust me on this one Icemage, I've run Apocalypse in the sideboard of my Ye Olde Goblin deck for years and that type of effect does not perform the way you envision it. It's a reckless gamble at best.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

A good-enough Red deck should be able to out-race Master of Waves, anyway. Speaking from personal experience.

Not sure what you should expect post-rotation when you'd presumably be losing stuff like Mutavault and Guttersnipe, but I can't imagine it being terribly different. Master of Waves, being a 4-drop, just plain isn't that big a deal to mono-Red blitz (and whatever 5-drop Artifact y'all were talking about would incidentally be that much more ineffective against it, anyway). Master of Waves caused tons of trouble to Fanatic of Mogis decks, but that's because those weren't good Red decks in the first place.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

You've seen the deck I'm running, if I don't blitz them down before they stabilize then there is no avenue for making a comeback. That's kind of the whole weakness of Red and the deck archetype I'm running in particular, if you don't just go balls to the wall race then you lose to everything once your opponent makes it to the long game.

That's not the point. Some decks WILL beat you at the race once they get access to their sideboard, and you need a Plan B when that happens. That's what sideboards are for.

I'm not suggesting you run Perilous Vault main deck, but in the sideboard? You'd better believe it. It's a handy way to blow Master of Waves off the table, if nothing else.


Icemage

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

You've seen the deck I'm running, if I don't blitz them down before they stabilize then there is no avenue for making a comeback. That's kind of the whole weakness of Red and the deck archetype I'm running in particular, if you don't just go balls to the wall race then you lose to everything once your opponent makes it to the long game.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

It requires five mana on the board, that's not an answer to anything. If I have five land on the board then I've already lost.

That's an awfully shortsighted philosophy. There are decks that you're going to run long draws against simply because they put out a lot of blockers and/or have a lot of life gain (see: Courser of Kruphix). If you don't have a way of blowing their stuff off the table so you can resume attacking (yeah yeah Seismic Stomp, but seriously...) you're just going to lose to those decks. If someone gets out an indestructible/pro-red blocker, are you just going to give up and concede?


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

I agree with you on mono Red being weird for sideboarding. Every other color gets a variety of answers. For the most part Red just gets direct damage, which it was already mainboarding. It's part of why I hate Indestructible with a passion. Red's answer to things is to destroy them, so everything that word appears on may as well read "Protection from Red" as well.

like 90% of the time yeah it's just nuke it, occasionally steal it (usually temporarily) or that last like 1% of the time there's the odd random jank pray to whatever your luck holds out because it'll be horrible if it doesn't (Kaboomist is an example of this though far from the most drastic I'm sure. Nothing specific comes to mind atm but I'm reasonably sure Red's had some ridiculous gamble cards in the past. I would say final fortune technically fits but was a card you wouldn't play if you're not gonna win anyway. Actually, Kaboom from Onslaught fits the bill nicely)

It requires five mana on the board, that's not an answer to anything. If I have five land on the board then I've already lost.

Sounds like someone misses Thundermaw.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

It requires five mana on the board, that's not an answer to anything. If I have five land on the board then I've already lost.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

I like Perilous Vault as an answer to many of Red's problems from M2015. It's an artifact that has to be respected when it hits the board, and it keeps both players from over-extending (or paying the penalty if you do).


Icemage

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Stuffy Doll, as the favored plaything of Big Red decks gone by, would beg to disagree with your assessment.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

I agree with you on mono Red being weird for sideboarding. Every other color gets a variety of answers. For the most part Red just gets direct damage, which it was already mainboarding. It's part of why I hate Indestructible with a passion. Red's answer to things is to destroy them, so everything that word appears on may as well read "Protection from Red" as well.