Comments on: Simon Says #44: Goodbye Gatecrash (GTC 8-4)

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 14 May 2013 01:42:04 +0000

Hi, Simon! Love your series. Sometimes after a few losses in a row I like to try and draft alongside your videos and see how we do– on this one, we drafted pretty much identically. (The main difference was Beckon Apparitions, where I took a Contaminated Ground I probably wouldn’t have used, and hatepicked a Zhur-Taa Swine, and I am willing to concede that it is actually a sweet pick up in Orzhov.)

Thanks for great videos as always.

By: premiersoupir

premiersoupir — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:50:06 +0000

spectacular content and commentary as always. thank you so much for your service to the community! I eagerly await your drafts of the entire block!

By: Roger - @deafwolf29

Roger - @deafwolf29 — Tue, 07 May 2013 08:07:26 +0000

I mostly want suggestions on mana fixing.. there are so many ways to determine what you need, and how to get the spells to land when you need it… Any suggestions or links to good articles would help there.. particularly for playing those strong add in cards, bombs, removal.

@Mike, Spire Tracer starts nice for the fast play ability. If it isn;t dealt with early, it can grow with enchants, burst of strength, blood rush, Adaptive mutation…. tokens, and it has evasion.

@Robin, I can say from the prerelease that Izzet’s; Fluxcharger and Nivix Cyclops with Cipher cards probably won’t work well. Izzet’s own spells seem to play better such as overload, burn, and overload mechanic cards. Azorius with detain might work well. Teleport was, by far, one of my strongest cards.

By: Robin

Robin — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:47:09 +0000

Simon – Re: Dragon’s Maze.

I would be most interested in how you view the interlocking of the guild mechanics. Eg. Simic + Golgari’s +1+1 counters, or less clearly Izzet’s proclivity for spell based bonuses supporting Dimir’sremoval/mill. Or are those guild synergies going to be a primary consideration or a secondary bonus when they come together? This may take time to answer accurately, but I’d greatly appreciate hearing your first impressions.

By: Mike Fellman

Mike Fellman — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:40:08 +0000

I’m am curious why you think Spire Tracer is so good…. I’ve gotten really limited value out of it. My opponents seem to play a lot with it, but it never has been much of an issue, even turn one.

Early game it maybe gets in for 1 to 3 points of damage before becoming irrelevant. Mid to late game it is a dead draw. Could you please explain your strategy with utilizing this card?

By: Chah

Chah — Sun, 05 May 2013 08:29:04 +0000

This draft highlighted the importance of getting both of your colors in your opening hand. I wonder if it would have been worth it to play 18 lands with a 10-8 split, in a 41 card deck. The land ratio seems more important than a marginal increase in the chance of drawing the best cards.

By: Simon Goertzen

Simon Goertzen — Sat, 04 May 2013 22:47:56 +0000

Thanks for all the comments!

@Elf_Planator: I played the Swing first because it is more situational than Devour Flesh. I can Devour Flesh anything he plays but I can’t Swing without taking additional damage.

@Nick: You make a great point which I already thought about and believe to be a crucial point of drafting DGR. This is high on my list of topics to talk about.

@Frizzel66: Your question and Nick’s comment are quite related, so hopefully we can understand both signaling and guild composition better.

@NeuHier: I’m always trying to teach something with my series, great to hear it’s resonating!

@Stefan: Christian already answered that, High Priest needs to be dealt damage.

@ViengaryMink: I currently think that most Gatekeepers are pretty high picks, especially the black and white one. Quite different in power level though (ordered close to BWUGR probably).

@Marc: I’m not as pessimistic as you, I think it’s going to be exciting. Some of the strategy is going to rely on people doing what you expect them to do, but if they don’t you can usually gain some advantage as well. I think there will be mostly decks with 3+ colors (most 3, some 4-5).

@wyldcat: I don’t see why starting with Dragon’s Maze is bad. Starting with only the five guilds of RTR would be much more awkward I think. I’ll try to cover this question in the near future.

@0m3n: Mechanical overlap and synergy is a great point which is certainly key to drafting pack 2 and 3 in particular. Thanks!

@Osiris: I was on 4 life when I cast Executioner’s Swing. You are correct that Boros Charm wouldn’t have saved his Griffin, but it would have killed us instead.

@Lee: Tell your friends (about the first part at least)!

-Simon