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Writing Issues, Ravager, and the Secret of Life.
4.09.04 OK,
so maybe I'm stretching on the title a little bit.
I have no idea what the actual secret of life is. I
do know there is a ton to do in life though and
there are a lot of decisions to make. I had one to
make a couple of weeks back.
Let me start by saying
that I'm impressed at how fast rumors travel. I
will be writing for a new website -
www.pojo.com/marvel. It's a website for the new
Marvel game. Yes, Pojo has their own Marvel site
here that has gone up recently. Go check it out if
you haven't. I can wait....
...
...
...
OK, now that you're
back, let me say that I'm not going anywhere. As a
matter of fact, I will still be contributing stuff
to our Marvel site. I don't have any exclusivity
deal right now. There is a chance that I might have
one if I decide to join their premium writer's group
over there, but I don't think I will. Even though
they offer good money, I like the freedom I have
here at Pojo and I like the readers. Tough
decisions, but in some regards, it was an easy one.
OK, with that out of the
way, let me get to some actual strategy this week.
Everyone is buzzing with Regionals tips right now.
I can understand though. We're about three weeks
away at this point and everyone is panicking.
Everyone wants to know what deck to play.
The big secret is that
there truly is no best deck to play. There are
several quality decks that are viable. It's just a
matter of deciding something that matches your play
style and finding something you are going to be able
to deal with for 10 rounds (or 12 hours) worth of
tournament play. Regionals is a long day and that
should factor in somewhere.
The other thing to
consider about Regionals is that the field is
roughly 40% casual/less serious players. I know,
the first thought is, "Yeah, hat should make the
tournament REALLY easy." That's not a totally
accurate train of thought though.
Imagine testing for
weeks (if not months), getting prepared. Imagine
having your sideboard set for your five toughest
matchups. Then imagine going against the guy
playing his March of the Machines/Bribery deck.
Yeah, it sounds crazy, but I'd put money on he fact
that there will be one of those somewhere. Or what
about the elf deck that sideboards in 10 black
spells and five swamps. Yes, I've seen that too.
I'm not dogging the
casual players here at all. I find most of those
types of scenarios to be quite humorous. As a
matter of fact, I've been subject to a loss or two
over the years from some really crazy stuff. Those
decks just make the day more interesting. What I
find so funny though is that the serious player that
loses to one of those random decks will whine and
complaint he entire time. The truth is, you knew
those decks were going to be there and you didn't
have a backup plan.
So here's my tip of the
week. When finding sideboard cards to play, try
playing with more versatile cards. Find cards that
are good for multiple matchups. Of course some
cards are going to be ridiculously good against some
other matchups. But the truth is, I would rather
give up some power in one matchup for some
versatility over 10 rounds. Versatility can go a
long way, literally.
Don't concentrate or
worry too much about losing to the casual random
players anyway. You still need to be aware of how
to beat the standard popular decks. Even the random
players will do their fair share of netdecking. Be
aware of what cards are good for beating each
matchup.
Ravager Affinity is a
scary deck if you aren't prepared to del with it.
First of all several cards that destroy artifacts
can be played against the deck. But the truth is,
thinking like a bad player is the best plan we've
seen for beating the deck. Just kill everything.
don't wait to destroy particular cards. If you have
a way to kill something they play, then kill it. It
stops them from ever getting out of the gate. Also,
be aware that white as a whole is pretty good
against this deck. All of the board sweeping
effects are good. Wing Shards is great. Even
Altar's Light is an option if you are really hard
up. And don't forget that Stifle stops some of
those crazy counter tricks. Also, if you're in red,
don't forget about Furnace Dragon being a good
option here.
Goblin Bidding is a bit
tough to figure out. It also comes down to what
version they are playing since there are a few
running around these days. Main deck right now,
Silver Knights and Walls do well. Also, Goblins
aren't real fond of beasts, mainly due to their size
and Ravenous Baloth's ability. Worship is pretty
good against them as well. From the sideboard, you
get things like Scrabbling Claws. If you have
access to black, Withered Wretch is really good as
well. Yes, the wretch is going to die. However, he
can usually take out the Goblin Warchief and/or
Goblin Sharpshooter out of the graveyard before he
goes and that takes a lot of the sting out of a
bidding.
Astral Slide seems to be
the control deck of choice for a lot of players. If
this deck goes heavy on the board sweepers, it has a
good shot. Obviously, Naturalize and cards of that
ilk are good against this deck. Also, anything that
can rush to a three toughness is pretty good.
Lightning Rift is quickly becoming the weak card in
this deck. I've even seen it getting sideboarded
out a lot recently. Discard effects seem to be
decent against this is really good as well. Yes,
the wretch is going to die. However, he can usually
take out the Goblin Warchief and/or Goblin
Sharpshooter out of the graveyard before he goes and
that takes a lot of the sting out of a bidding.
Astral Slide seems to be
the control deck of choice for a lot of players. If
this deck goes heavy on the board sweepers, it has a
good shot. Obviously, Naturalize and cards of that
ilk are good against this deck. Also, anything that
can rush to a three toughness is pretty good.
Lightning Rift is quickly becoming the weak card in
this deck. I've even seen it getting sideboarded
out a lot recently. Discard effects seem to be
decent against this deck. Goblin Bidding might want
a couple of discard items to use against this deck,
because you need to be able to get Starstorm out of
their hand to set up your Patriarch's Bidding.
Elves is still a
contender. Don't write this deck off. It's fast,
it's pretty resilient. And truth be told, it's
worst matchup is really goblins. If you expect to
play against a lo of Goblins, that can be an issue.
Otherwise, you might want to give them a go. The
trick to beating the elf deck is to ignore certain
creatures. As long as I can keep their creature in
check to a reasonable extent, I ignore the
Wellwisher. I recently beat an elf player that was
at 320+ life. I just had to slowly get rid of his
team and then start swinging for 16+ per turn. The
scariest guy in this deck is the Wirewood
Hivemaster. This guy lets them get out of control.
If you keep him wrangled in, things are a lot more
manageable. Also, elf variants don't look like they
did even five months ago. Do some research on these
guys before just jumping into your testing.
Monowhite Control is
making a comeback. Blue/Whtie control is as well.
I'm going to group these together, because similar
strategies can be applied to both of these decks.
First of all, speed kills. You want to force them
use a Wrath of God on turn four or turn five. Apply
pressure like it's going out of style. When you put
them on the spot, you slowly take away some of their
options for cycling and card drawing. This can keep
the playing field a bit more level. Also, recursive
creatures can be good. Don't forget about
Flashfires and Choke for these matchups. Those
cards are still around and they are still good.
Don't overcommit to the board either as each of
these decks will be packing Wrath of God + Akroma's
Vengeance most likely.
Landkill decks are still
around as well. The trick is to play alternate mana
sources (vine Trellis, Birds, Talismans, Chrome Mox,
etc.) or to play more land. This is also a matchup
where to need to apply pressure where you can. If
you force them to deal with your creatures, they are
going to be killing less land. Just realize that at
some point during the game, you are going to lose
probably up to six land. Be prepared to deal with
it. Sacred Ground is still a viable sideboard
option. Also, a few mana leaks can go a long way in
this matchup. White Weenie and Elves seem to have
the best matchups against this deck so far.
Well, there's some deck
comparison information to chew on. I'm not sure if
that helps or hurts your decision making process.
But either way, it's more knowledge. And we all
know that knowledge is power. Even G.I. Joe taught
us that knowing is half the battle.
Well, moving on, let's
get to the fun order of business...Bad Play of the
Week.
This one comes to us
from zealotpker:
My opponent has
a field full of vanilla beatsticks, which are
being held off by my two white knights. He
plays Wrath of God, resetting the field. He also
had this card out :
Parallax Wave
Enchantment
3WW
Fading 5
Remove a fade
counter: remove target creature from play.
When this card
leaves play, return all permanents removed this
way to their owner's field.
He had EXACTLY
enough fading counters to save all of his
creatures, which would have given him a total
of 10 attack power the next turn (the
total strength of the creatures he would have
removed in addition to the total strength of the
creatures he summoned after the wrath). That
would've been an easy game after that. I was
surprised that he didn't do that, and when I
pointed it out to him on my turn and asked him
why he had decided not to save his creatures,
and he was like "OMG! :< x_x XP."
I need everyone to keep
sending in their Bad Plays of the week. You get
spotlighted here AND get a free PowrDragn prize
package. Yes, I really do send prize out through he
mail. Also, I want some good plays of the week too
to spotlight here. Send me all that you have...all
your plays are belong to me :)
My card of the week is
simple. Oxidize. This card is selling like
hotcakes. In some place they are already $2
uncommons. People will be needing more of these int
eh coming days, so get them while you can.
Keep writing me fan mail
and I'll keep responding. Also, be sure to send me
your good and bad plays.
Until next time,
DeQuan Watson
a.k.a. PowrDragn
PowrDragn on IRC
PowrDragn on MODO
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