![]()        spot removal, mainly burn and Doom Blade The second thing I look at is which kinds of answers are in common use:        protected planeswalkers, in particular Jace, the Mind Sculptor        (accelerated) fatties up to and including Eldrazi        hordes of 1/1s and 2/2s backed by a quasi-combo finish that is usually dependent on the creatures being in play The first one is what threats you’ll often face in the format: Once I know what the decks in the metagame are capable of in general, I like to ask two pivotal questions, so as to get a little more detailed view of what’s going on. Judging by recent tournament results, Ramp (slowly shrinking in popularity with Valakut outnumbering Eldrazi Green), U/B Control, RUG Control, and Weenie aggro (in all three forms) are the most played deck types. These decks actually make me think of (Legacy) Storm combo in that their early game is completely devoted to building up resources, and once a certain threshold is reached, the game is put away in short order.Īt this point, we have a general overview of which strategies are present what we want to know next is how much of the surface they occupy (to step out of the map metaphor: how popular they are). Both try to use a massive amount of acceleration, in particular Rampant Growth-style acceleration, to cast high-end threats early (preferably Primeval Titan). The first strategy to make waves after the rotation was Ramp, in the form of Valakut and Mono-Green Eldrazi. “Here there be giants” – ancient map inscription When I approach a new metagame, what I usually do is class the successful decks according to their underlying strategy to give myself what could be called a map of the metagame. Overall, the new format seems exciting, diverse, and still open to further innovation. You get to run anything from focused beatdown through various combo-ish decks to classic control strategies. Luckily, as the developments after M11 hinted at, those dark days have ended with the rotation of Shards of Alara, and the new Standard format is one I can definitely get behind. Unsurprisingly, the pre-M11 Standard format seemed really bad to me, and the finals of Worlds 2009 and PT San Diego were the most boring PT live casts I’ve ever watched. That being said, when a whole format comes down to doing nothing for two to three turns before starting to drop big creatures on the table, I quickly lose interest. This in turn means that I’ll probably never know the perfect decklist (actually fine-tuning decks takes time), but I’m pretty good at predicting the kind of deck likely to come out on top. I therefore spend a lot more time analyzing the metagame and jotting down rough ideas than actually playing Standard. As I’m likely not going to play in any big Standard tournaments, I’m in the interesting position of not trying to find a deckīut I can instead treat the format like a huge puzzle I’m supposed to solve. I’m obsessed with this game, and I enjoy the mental exercise of trying to figure out what the current Standard format looks like, what I’d do in it. That doesn’t mean I don’t follow the other formats, though. To really enjoy playing Magic, I need my Brainstorms, my Force of Wills and Swords to Plowshares, even the occasional Moat. I love chaining spells, countering stuff, and cheaply killing my opponents’ permanents. My goal wasn’t qualifying for the Pro Tour I wanted to get my hands on the Power Nine to rock Type 1 (Vintage to those of you who don’t share my age). I started playing when Ice Age was new, and I’ve always had a thing for the older cards, even back then.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |