Magic: The Gathering

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Red's always seemed an odd color to sideboard for IMO.

It's *much* simpler for the other colors, especially white and blue as they have very specific answers to problems that need addressing. It's not that they're better colors, just Red often seems to be lacking in ways to deal with problems outside of BURN EVERYTHING!!!

That said, I find insurrection-like cards to be a fun sideboard option in case you run into the odd Green fatty deck etc. Skullcrack also strikes me as a very good sideboard card rather than mainboard. Yes it pushes damage just fine on it's own, but there are other cards that do that and the main thing to skullcrack is denying the healing in response to something like Sphinx's Revelation. I guess it depends on the prevalence of life gain/damage prevention in your meta.


Has anyone seen the "nazi" legend in Khans?! Guy's just bonkers, love him





Gotta say I'm happy to see Khans is basically doing Alara again but with the color pairings that didn't get used.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Chandra, Pyromaster was an excellent 2-of in the deck I used her in almost a year ago.

Of course I'm pretty done with Magic in general for a variety of reasons now so.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

She's a free card draw every turn, something every red deck would kill for. What's not to like?

Four mana cost in a deck that wants to be dropping two threats instead of a fragile utility card. I don't dispute for a minute that it's a fucking fantastic card for Red, just whether or not it truly fits in this deck better than other things I could put in its place.

Obelisk is high risk/high reward. I could see running 1 and being OK. 2 seems excessive unless you want an extra one in the sideboard when playing against a deck without artifact destruction.

It provides more than just the +2/+2 in my experience. This is a deck that wants to have things with convoke if for no other reason than as an outlet to prevent goblins from kamikaze-ing once Rabblemaster is on the board. There are board states where you want to hold off from swinging with goblins, and this is a perfect outlet for that because next turn they'll run in there and not have to die. Needs more testing, but so far it's been useful and I wouldn't hesitate to add a second copy.

Good advice on the Hot Soup, I'll look into fitting it in somewhere for testing.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

I still think Kaboomist's rulestext is a fucking mess. Basically he's there to fill space and give me a sense of how the thing actually plays in a deck. So far he hasn't pulled any weight and is basically a 1/2 that has a 50% chance of killing itself every upkeep. Seems more suited to a deck built around Sharpnel Blast.

He's just not a particularly strong card in general. He's only really useful if you can get him an extra point of toughness so that he can't self-destruct when you lose the coin flip. I'd drop him.

Likewise Chandra is there as a test case and to fill space. She's only shown up once and immediately got blasted with Hero's Downfall so I've yet to see how useful she actually is.

She's a free card draw every turn, something every red deck would kill for. What's not to like?

Might go up to two still, but Obelisk has proven to pull its weight whenever it hits the board.

Obelisk is high risk/high reward. I could see running 1 and being OK. 2 seems excessive unless you want an extra one in the sideboard when playing against a deck without artifact destruction.

I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on Hot Soup because all I'm seeing is dead weight that costs a lot of mana I could be spending on goblins instead. I guess it gets the Rabblemaster through but I'd just as soon go with Prowler's Helm, and that card's been pretty awful in constructed from my brief attempts to make it playable.

There's a significant difference between Hot Soup and Prowler's Helm, though. Even though the mana costs seem similar, they occupy completely different rungs in the mana curve. Hot Soup you can drop on the table with 1 spare point of mana and still leave mana open for something like Skullcrack or Shock as a viable threat. The higher equip cost can be annoying, but you're using it late game to push for the last few points of damage to win, not in the early game where you'd rather cast something that deals damage.

As a general rule though, my sideboard is a fucking mess. I'm very much in need of tutelage when it comes to constructing a proper sideboard.

Sideboard is always:
Step 1: What deck/card do you lose to?
Step 2: When you lose to that deck/card, what card do you most wish you would have drawn that's not in your deck? This is the card you add to your sideboard.
Step 3: When you lose to that deck/card, what card are you least happy to see from your main decklist? This is the card you rotate out for your sideboard.

Repeat for all 15 sideboard slots.


Icemage

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

I still think Kaboomist's rulestext is a fucking mess. Basically he's there to fill space and give me a sense of how the thing actually plays in a deck. So far he hasn't pulled any weight and is basically a 1/2 that has a 50% chance of killing itself every upkeep. Seems more suited to a deck built around Sharpnel Blast.

Likewise Chandra is there as a test case and to fill space. She's only shown up once and immediately got blasted with Hero's Downfall so I've yet to see how useful she actually is. Might go up to two still, but Obelisk has proven to pull its weight whenever it hits the board.

I'd like to hear more of your thoughts on Hot Soup because all I'm seeing is dead weight that costs a lot of mana I could be spending on goblins instead. I guess it gets the Rabblemaster through but I'd just as soon go with Prowler's Helm, and that card's been pretty awful in constructed from my brief attempts to make it playable.

As a general rule though, my sideboard is a fucking mess. I'm very much in need of tutelage when it comes to constructing a proper sideboard.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Goblin Deck

Creatures
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Riot Piker
4 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Skinbrand Goblin
1 Goblin Kaboomist
4 Goblin Rabblemaster

Spells
2 Dynacharge
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Stoke the Flames
1 Door of Destinies
1 Obelisk of Urd
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Land
20 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Skullcrack
3 Searing Blood
2 Weapon Surge
3 Scouring Sands
2 Shock
1 Magma Spray

It still needs some tuning and a few more pieces like another Obelisk to replace Door of Destinies, but overall I'm pretty thrilled with the deck's performance.

* I thought you hated Goblin Kaboomist?
* A second copy of Chandra is a better investment than another Obelisk, IMO.
* No Hot Soup in the sideboard? I can understand not wanting to run it main deck in case you've got a mirror match, but most decks can't deal direct creature damage.

I can only hazard a guess at your local metagame being full of weenie decks or something, looking at your sideboard.


Icemage

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Goblin Deck

Creatures
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Riot Piker
4 Goblin Shortcutter
4 Skinbrand Goblin
1 Goblin Kaboomist
4 Goblin Rabblemaster

Spells
2 Dynacharge
2 Seismic Stomp
4 Stoke the Flames
1 Door of Destinies
1 Obelisk of Urd
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Land
20 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Skullcrack
3 Searing Blood
2 Weapon Surge
3 Scouring Sands
2 Shock
1 Magma Spray

It still needs some tuning and a few more pieces like another Obelisk to replace Door of Destinies, but overall I'm pretty thrilled with the deck's performance.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

In other news: Goblin Rabblemaster is fucking bonkers and my goblin deck kicked major ass on its first outing tonight. I'll post a decklist for critique later when I'm not exhausted and drunk.

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Under most circumstances I'd agree, except with all the dual lands circulating + they are likely to reprint the mana sliver it may not be that hard to cast.

And Sliver Overlord is still the best general for EDH.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Legendary Sliver that isn't 7/7? Fail. Much like the rest of the set.

(Also Mal totally would like Slivers, wouldn't he?)

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Yeah so... um, Slivers are my favorite creatures and all but seriously...





Really? This is actually a card? Probably won't see standard play but could be an utter monster in EDH or Legacy (not sure about Modern).


Love the artwork though, captures the essence of slivers admirably.

Pro-tip Mal:

Any card that has all 5 colors of mana in its cost is probably unplayable in anything except EDH. This guy would make for an excellent Commander though.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Yeah so... um, Slivers are my favorite creatures and all but seriously...





Really? This is actually a card? Probably won't see standard play but could be an utter monster in EDH or Legacy (not sure about Modern).


Love the artwork though, captures the essence of slivers admirably.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Blue card is bonkers. It's about as close to a Wrath of God as Blue can get, and at instant speed. I am not looking forward to dealing with that.

[Icemage]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

^ Now we're talking.

Garruk's not very playable in anything except EDH IMO. 7 mana with no easy way to cheat him on the board with green/black? I'm OK with that. Standard format is slow, sure, but THAT slow? Certainly unplayable in all of the other formats except EDH (but he's going to be a powerhouse there I think).

That blue instant is sexy.

Necromancer's Stockpile looks playable, though 1B activation means it's not really that scary unless you pair it with stuff outside of Standard like Blood Scrivener and Lord of the Undead.


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Magic: The Gathering

OK, so this may just be the single best Blue card printed since Teferi or Jace: Architect of Thought;





Translation (and this has been confirmed)


Instant
For each attacking creature, its owner chooses to put it on the top or bottom of his or her deck.

illus. Dan Scott # 44/269