Let’s Play (with Chris and A.J.) M12 Draft, #1

~~~<3 Click 'play' below to watch us pick all the wrong cards! ~~~<3

You need to install or upgrade Flash Player to view this content, install or upgrade by clicking here.

Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.


~~~<3 Click 'play' below to watch our first match! ~~~<3

You need to install or upgrade Flash Player to view this content, install or upgrade by clicking here.

Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.


You need to install or upgrade Flash Player to view this content, install or upgrade by clicking here.

Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.

You need to install or upgrade Flash Player to view this content, install or upgrade by clicking here.

Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.


Show Final Thoughts »

(1) In the first round, was it an appropriate strategy to attempt to time out our opponent? Normally, neither of us plays for a time out unless the opponent is double queuing or has stalled significantly for another reason, but in this situation, our stalling him led to us almost getting timed out ourselves. What do you think about the ethics of intending to time out opponents? In what circumstances is it acceptable behavior?


(2) In the final round, we lost Game 1 to an Unsummon that we expected he was holding. Did we misplay on our final turn? We don’t think we did. If we misplayed, it was probably earlier when we didn’t play out a Gorehorn without bloodthirst. We could have begun lifelinking it with Alabaster Mage earlier to try and get back into the game.


(3) Is ‘turd’ a profane word?


(4) We would like to play a version of our Legacy deck next time. Is this something people would be interested in seeing? In general, how do people feel about Limited vs. Constructed content?


(5) How highly do you guys value Slaughter Cry? Rarely does it do nothing. What about Skywinder Drake? Should we have taken it and switched into blue in P1p8? Finally, should we have avoided white since we passed so many tempting white cards in P1p1?

 
  1. slaughter cry is a fine trick, in this format people will be blocking all the time to prevent you from turning on bloodthirst, so you can “get” people pretty well. i’d value it about the same as any trick, though i like it more than stave off and mighty leap (why did you take leap over fireslinger? WHY?), but less than titanic growth, since growth is almost always strictly better unless there’s deathtouch involved.
    as for whether it was a mistake to go into blue p1p8, of course it wasn’t. but it was a gigantic mistake to not go heavily into blue after you got a 4th pick mind control, that’s pretty much the most obvious sign ever that blue is wide open. also you guys say multiple times during the draft that you’re aware white is being cut, so why do you continue to force it? acknowledging that you’re making a mistake and then willingly continuing to make the same mistake is simply foolish.

  2. To me, Slaughter Cry seems okay but not that great. When I play a trick, I want my opponent’s reaction to be “Oh no!” When Slaughter Cry is played against me, I find that my reaction is either “Yes, I knew he had that and expected this,” or “Huh. Well, that didn’t do much.” It rarely makes me go “Oh no.” The trick that does that to me most often is Wring Flesh :(

  3. Slaughter Cry is a combat trick. Nothing more. That being said, it is very good in this bloodthirsty format, as it is most of the times a 2R removal spell, just like titanic growth is a 1G removal. Plus it doubles as an instant win.
    That being said, it is 7th-10th pick material.

    Timing out opponents is perfectly fine on MODO. It’s a different matter if a round is just 1 hour or if every player gets 25 minutes.

  4. Oh and btw, m3g1 you should’ve just fireballed him to death. Moar fire is always a good option when you play red.

  5. I like that you wanted to play Scars block, yet you drafted the R/W deck with two artifacts and you played against the G/B aggressive deck. Hmm.
    PlanetWalls is skyping you through a fax machine, right?
    Don’t take Mighty Leap over fireslinger unless you’re mono-white.
    Turd is very SFW, and is regularly used in Sunday Sermons.
    I love listening to regular mostly irrelevant conversation you have, even the Teamviewer problems, but if you’re worried about being professional (which I assume is why no one cusses on this site) then edit about the off-topic garbage where you’re mucking around. Older versions of Teamviewer don’t have a time limit, from what I remember.
    Rust elemental was super all-inny, and not my favorite card to play.

  6. Game 1 had a thrilling and hilarious finish. I don’t think I’ve been that far on the edge of my seat for a draft video.

  7. To respond to some people who have posted so far:

    Yes, we really should’ve gone into blue in retrospect. We didn’t remember seeing a lot of blue cards after the Mind Control, but now that we look back at the packs, it probably would’ve been worth trading our Serra Angel for a bunch of good blue card draw, looters, fliers, etc.

    Also, we think it was a mistake to take Mighty Leap over Fireslinger. Fireslinger is actually an okay clock-accelerator for a control deck and it would’ve let us play that bloodthirst 2-drop. You can chalk that pick up to inexperience with the format.

    Yes, A.J. was Skyping through a fax machine, but it was located within a spinning laundry machine. Now that we’re living in the same place, we won’t even need to Skype.

    In Round 3, Game 1, there may have been some sequence of plays that would allow us to Fireball him out, possibly involving attacking more aggressively instead of lifelinking, etc., but I think we would’ve been dead to Unsummon anyway. This doesn’t mean we made the right play in the videos, though.

    Finally, the two of us are not really worried about being serious in this video series, which is why we keep the off-topic stuff in there. As for avoiding profanity, we do it mainly because we want to make sure younger players and their parents are comfortable on our pages. We’ve let some slip into our videos before, though, and we don’t worry too much about editing it out.

  8. A mind control that late is pretty significant, even more significant than a late rust elemental. So, yeah, as you have already touched on, considering moving in on blue was probably worth it especially since you basically stone knew people around you were heavy into white after pack 1.

  9. You had no way to play around Unsummon, so you were dead no matter what if he had it. You played correctly that turn. I don’t know how else you could have turned it around.
    Timing out your opponent is fine, it’s just an extension of the rules.
    I like seeing a mix of constructed and limited play. I’ve been very interested in Legacy lately, so please feel free to post plenty of videos with your no-one-drop deck.

  10. I really want to play Modern soon, but I am committing to the Stoneforge deck for our next installment. *Chris gets more obsessed with playing Magic*

    Thanks for all the comments everyone–A.J. and I will attempt to up our game and our banter to the “next level” or the “stone cold nuts” or “mising gassable tingage”!

  11. 1) I think the time aspect of online is part of the game play of this style of magic. Also, considering the varying severity of actions we deem unethical, timing an anonymous player out on an online card game isn’t that big of a deal.

    2) I think the only chance you had of winning was not using the mana to tap down his creature with your artifact. He couldn’t see if you had a fireball or not so he might not have bothered to block (wouldn’t he have had to trade there?). I could have the life totals wrong, but if he unsummoned your gorehorn and didn’t block, you would’ve had just enough mana to finish him off with a full powered fireball.

    3) Turd is not a profane word.

    4) I would like to see at least one video of Legacy just to see what it’s like. Your drafting videos (M12 or anything), on the other hand, are bringing me closer and closer to jumping in the mix and trying a 4-3-2-2 draft out. Standard Daily Events have been kicking my ass lately :-/

    5) Combat tricks are great, but did having Slaughter Cry cost you something better (like removal or another good creature)? After watching you guys play, I’m seeing that one or two big combat phases often decide who wins the game. In that case, having a couple tricks to come out on top seems very beneficial.

  12. in m1g3 you had the win on-board when you peeled the crimson mage.. if you stave off, and tap his dork, you have exactsies

  13. They’ve done studies you know….60% of the time, Rust Elemental works every time!