Comments on: Simon Says #41: Madness? This is Gatecrash! (GTC 8-4)

By: Disco

Disco — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:17:23 +0000

This is the first time I’ve seen Incursion Specialist be a good card. You like some cards that other good players don’t really like (Spire Tracer for example), and it’s nice to see the difference in opinion. You are also staying open longer than them, though every good player is staying open now.

What combat tricks do find especially easy or hard to play around in Gatecrash?

Thanks for the draft, it was informative and exciting

By: Simon Goertzen

Simon Goertzen — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:21:24 +0000

@Benjamin: Thanks for the correction. I assumed that Ray meant for me to take the counters from the Swimmer and put them onto one of my creatures. In the last game of round 1, I don’t think that giving my opponent a 7/7 Ooze is what I want to be doing. It’s especially awkward if he doesn’t play a combat trick to make the Swimmer lethal. Good point though.
The funny thing about the Bioshift in that exchange is that I only won because my opponent decided to chumpblock the Denizen rather than taking the trade with the Slaughterhorn. That was incredibly close!

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:59:35 +0000

@Ray: Bioshift can’t kill my opponent’s Nimbus Swimmer.

Why can’t you kill his nimbus swimmer with bioshift?

Greetings Benjamin

By: Simon Goertzen

Simon Goertzen — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:26:57 +0000

@Freek: Regarding undiscovered archetypes, the best I can come up with is Verdant Haven-fueled multicolor control. Not completely undiscovered, but quite open nonetheless. Other than that maybe the Dimir deck which is only going for mill? I have ended up in Haven Control once, but I prefer to draft one of the five guilds.

@Ray: Bioshift can’t kill my opponent’s Nimbus Swimmer.

@Fishy: Interesting question, but in practice the other players will settle into guilds more quickly. If everyone at the table drafted like me the guilds would still fall into place at around pick 4 to 6, I would say.

@FNMnoob: You do not care as much about the other players’ evaluation. If they are good, you are getting good signals, and if they aren’t, you are getting the better cards whether or not your neighbors are in your guild. The strategy I described is best when your neighbors are sticking to their first or second pick because it is exceptionally powerful and they want to play the corresponding guild as a result. Having just returned from GP Utrecht, I can say that this happens at all levels of competition :).

By: FNMnoob

FNMnoob — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 04:32:35 +0000

Hey Simon,
What are your thoughts on using this strategy at the FNM level? Does your strategy of “surfing” rely on the other players at the table making the “correct” evaluation of cards so that we can read the signals?

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 01:34:57 +0000

This is by far the most influencing introduction you have ever given and you proceeded to follow up by winning the draft and beating a deck that was seemingly “opposite” of what you were trying to teach… long time fan… can’t wait for the next installment

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:47:58 +0000

@Fishy That happens a lot in my casual playgroup, where people pick cards at least as highly for their EDH decks as for their limited deck. Awkward 4-5 color decks are the result, and one can usually capitalize by passing the offcolor bombs and sticking to a lowcurve aggro strategy.