 | Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
Number of Replies: 17
Last Post: 4/16/2009 |
| | The State of Standard | I love Standard. Anyone who doesn't love Standard has no good reason besides they are losing. There are so many ridiculously good decks out there nowadays that saying the format is old is like saying Albert Pujols hitting a home run every day gets old. It just doesn't.
Let me start off by showing those that say diversity is lacking in Standard just how many options they have:
Planeswalkers
Faeries
Kithkin
R/W Lark
R/W Kithkin
G/W Overrun
Bant Aggro
Bant Control
Blightning
RDW
Doran
Dark Bant
G/B Elves
Jund Ramp
Grixis Control
5 Color Control
Naya Beats
B/W Tokens
This is just the tip of the iceberg when determining what you might want to play. There are still more viable options, I just can't think of any more off the top of my head. Thats 18 decks, all that have a great chance at winning, if you play correctly.
The biggest advantage that players have nowadays is playtesting and knowing the format.
Playtest, playtest, playtest. If you think you have playtested enough, you're wrong. You can always playtest more, and it will never hurt you. In fact, nothing helps you more than taking your deck and playing it against the top decks out there, so that you can easily decide what you need to put in your sideboard, what cards help out in what match, and determining the number of copies of each card in your deck. You need to refine, refine, and refine some more until you are completely satisfied with your deck.
You must also know the format. You must know what decks you can expect to play against, and in turn mold your decks ever so slightly to have a better matchup against those decks. Don't confuse this with metagaming. Metagaming is much more difficult than changing your deck to suit the format. Metagaming is different wherever you go, depending on the size of the tournament(players in the tournament). What works well at FNM may not work well at a PTQ, and vice-versa. Expecting a bunch of Fae players? Use Volcanic Fallout and/or Cloudthresher. Expecting a ton of RDW, or Blightning? Some way to gain life(Kitchen Finks) or Burrenton Forge-Tender needs to be in your 75 somewhere. Trust me when I say 2 or 3 cards can make all the difference in how many matches you win. One thing that players do is over-commit to beating a certain deck. Sometimes, you're just going to lose, no matter how hard you try. That's the fact of a Magician's life, and there is nothing you can do to change that. Don't get upset, just start thinking about what you could have done differently, like instead of committing 12 of your 15 sideboard cards to hate Fae, instead change that number to 5 or 6, making room for other potentially weak matchups to gain an edge.
There is one more thing I want to discuss with some people that irritates the hell out of me. That is complaining about losing. Stop it. Stop complaining, stop getting angry, stop getting upset because "your deck failed". Alternatively, start thinking about why you lost, what you could have done different, and the next time you face that opponent, you will be better prepared. Also try to think about this whenever you win. Ask yourself "Did I make any mistakes even though I won?". I remember a matchup against Martin in which I was running Planeswalker Control and he was running a Fae brew with Might of Oaks and Briarhorn. That match went to the time limit and we drew, but I could have won that match in the last turns easily, I just didn't realize it. I made the mistake of not playing my Banefire, not dealing him 3-5 damage, and not calculating how much damage I would need to deal him within the 5 turns, and exactly how I needed to do it. I had Liliana Vess go ultimate, and I was sure I was going to win at that point, seeing as how I had tons of creatures on board and he had pretty much nothing. On that same turn I used his Vess'd Vendillion Clique targeting him to make him get rid of the card in his hand and draw another. I shouldn't have done this. I had dead cards in my hand such as Jund Charm and Path to Exile, and I should have Cliqued myself, searching up some other way of dealing more damage. Instead, I Cliqued him, allowing him to draw another card, and I passed the turn. That was my mistake. I passed the turn before calculating how much damage my creatures would be able to deal, and before realizing that he himself had Vendillion Cliques in his deck that would get rid of my Banefire that I desperately needed to be able to cast. Not only did he get rid of that Banefire with the Clique, he also got rid of my Clique that I could attack with, taking more damage away from what I could deal. In the end, I came within one damage from winning, and I realized it was because of that misplay. If I didn't Clique him, I win. Instead, I drew because of mistakes. Because the time limit was there, I made mistakes, I got panicky and lost focus. That was my bad, and I have nobody but myself to blame for that. On most occasions, Cliqueing your opponent is the optimal play, but on this occasion it was not. This is a big reason why I wanted to explain this game. What you think is best is not always best. You HAVE to learn by trial and error. You HAVE to lose, and you HAVE to make mistakes in order to get better.
One more thing before I end this rant. Don't ever let what your opponent says or does affect what you think you should be doing. Case in point, I was playing Bruce. He had a Treetop Village, a Chameleon Colossus, and enough other mana to activate the Village and pump the Colossus on the same turn. It was my turn, and immediately after I passed my turn, I smacked myself, and starting acting as though I was distraught at his board position by saying exactly: "Shit! You have enough mana to activate the Treetop and pump the Colossus to swing for the win! Shit!". Little did he know that was exactly what I wanted him to do because I was holding two Volcanic Fallouts in my hand. So, because Bruce thought it was the correct play because of my show of emotion, he proceeded to animate the Treetop, and pump the Colossus. I then proceeded to play double Fallout in response to the activation of the Colossus' ability. I set him up to make a mistake, because of my actions and speech. He should have animated the Treetop, attacked with both the Treetop and Colossus, and not pump. He should have waited on the pump. He didn't need to kill me that turn, he had board control, and I was at low life. If he would have waited on the pump, I would have been forced to Fallout twice before the Colossus could pump, and then he could respond to the last Fallout with the pump, saving his Colossus, and dealing me a total of 12 damage including the Fallouts. Instead, I took 4 damage(from my own Fallouts), his board was clear, he was tapped out, and he wasted a turn. I ended up winning that game. That just goes to show you how important mental Magic is. You really just need to ignore every single thing your opponent says that isn't related to information about the board, cards in hand, etc. Often times, your opponent will tell you exactly what they want to happen. Ignore that. Do something else. You don't want them to capitalize on anything. Play around their tricks. Don't ever let anyone bluff you out. If you have the win in hand, execute it properly so that you don't have a chance at getting screwed over.
Think about your plays. Think about how they affect the game, and then you can make the right choice. I by no means am anywhere close to perfect at this game, but I strive to be. Following some of the instructions that has made me a better player is certain to make you a better player if you just take the time to think about it.
Until the next State of Standard, peace!
Pwn'd. |
|
|
|
 | Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
|
| I think Standard will improve with a slightly larger card pool with Reborn and 11th Edition coming fairly soon. I do like the variety of decks in Standard right now but it seems like (at least at The Horse) that there is about 100 or so cards that just get played over and over again, like Figure of Destiny, Cryptic Command, Reveilark, Bitterblosum, most Planeswalkers,etc. I know these cards are amongst the best but I still like to see some other playable cards slip in some decks on occasion, cards like Might of Oaks or Deity of Scars for example. I am actually looking forward to both Reborn and 11th now, I say the more cards available the merrier!
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
|
| Deity of Scars is actually in some lists for an All-In Green deck.
Pwn'd. |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
|
| Planeswalkers are so ridiculously good because there just aren't that many ways to deal with them. Removal doesn't get them, and direct damage is about the only way except for Oblivion Ring and Celestial Purge(Who plays those cards all the time anyways when there is Path To Exile). It's nothing but smart to at least play some sort of Planeswalker in your deck.
Pwn'd. |
|
 | Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Penny Dude
Member Since: 5/1/2008
|
| I like what you did here, Ben. Very nice job. There are many decks that can win tournaments, and while I do like to run some of those decks, I love the surprise factor. What I mean by that is, nobody can predict what I'm gonna play because I switch it up almost every time, and some of the problems that the top decks have is not being able to combat the rogue decks. Go rogue decks (but not the tribal deck)! |
|
 | Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Matthew Ratz
Member Since: 2/29/2008
|
| Ben your write up is nice, but your "bluff" against Bruce is incorrect. Maybe he should have waited to pump, as EVEYONE should do, but there are a good deal of players who like to get those "Fast-Effects" out of the way first when they should wait till after blockers, but, if You are open board, I would most certainly animate and swing. When we get past the blockers step I would pump for an extra four (Assuming I didn't have super awesome card in hand), but especially since the pump would be lethal. At which point you would double fallout. The only play mistake he made was pumping too early, but the result would have been the same.
I can only hope you didn't pull a penny dude and verbally berate him after your win (Like PD does to trevor.....)
Playing to Win is Playing for Fun - Matthew Ratz |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Matthew Ratz
Member Since: 2/29/2008
|
| Of course the overall Idea of Mental Magic that Ben brings up is most certainly true.
Brandon has a story involving him, where a Judge watched him "steal" a game from his opponent. He would have to tell it though.
Also the one that rings true to me is the Story of Good old Mike Long in the Days of the old cadaverous bloom combo. When He was plaing in some enormous tournament and got his opponent to scoop. Most versions of the deck ran 2 drain life (The only win condition). He ran one. He had to use the drain life early in the game for some reason, not sure. But went on, set up the combo and then looked at his opponent and asked "Do I really need to go through all this" and his opponent scooped. He had no way of winning the game, and his opponent conceded. Mental Magic for the Win.
So your answer should be... Until I see the kill card.. Yes you need to go through this.
Playing to Win is Playing for Fun - Matthew Ratz |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
|
| Would that be the Mike Long that was also caught with a card in his lap at a major tournament?
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Matthew Ratz
Member Since: 2/29/2008
|
| That would be.... Man cheaters will do anything to try and win huh....
Playing to Win is Playing for Fun - Matthew Ratz |
|
| In almost any constructed format you see a relatively small pool of cards that are included in most decks. The basic reason for this is that some cards are better than others, and players are able to find the good cards and take advantage of them. Cryptic Command, Bitterblossom, Figure of Destiny, Reveilark, Spectral Procession, Thoughtseize and Ajani Vengant see so much Standard play because they are better than most of the other available cards.
This same rule holds true for almost every constructed format. Extended has a much larger card pool than Standard, but the list of commonly used cards is not much larger. Some combination of fetchlands, Umezewa's Jitte, Wild Nacatl, Vendellion Clique, Engineered Explosives, and Tarmogoyf appear in almost every deck.
Vintage has the largest available card pool, but ironically has one of the smallest lists of commonly played cards. The power nine, fetchlands, Dual Lands, Force of Will, Mana Drain, tutors, and Swords to Plowshares appear in virtually every deck. Constructed players are naturally drawn to the most efficient cards available, and these relatively small pools of cards serve as the staple of almost any competitive deck. Due to the inlcusion of three blocks in the current Standard there is a larger card pool available than almost any time in Standard history. People can certainly use less commonly played cards such as Cavern Thoctar and Quenchable Fire, but they are probably more apt to win if they play Cloudthresher and Flame Javelin instead.
I agree with Ben that the number of viable decks in the current Standard is probably the largest in MTG history. If anyone knows of a period where a larger number of Standard decks mad multiple top 8 appearances in PTQs and other large tournaments, I would like to know when this was and what the various deck types were.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Martin Stanley
Member Since: 2/29/2008
|
| I see your point Christian but at least in the microcosm called The Hobby Horse it seems like Legacy pops up some new cards whenever we play it (which I know isn't very often) and in Standard that doesn't happen too often. I do like Standard currently (I wouldn't schedule it once or twice a week if I didn't) but I am really looking forward to some new cards. At least Standard isn't like the "Black Summer" back in 1996 or 1997 where almost everyone was apparently playing Necropotence decks.
Terry Hoitz: I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly! |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Ben Warren
Member Since: 3/18/2008
|
| Haha, I don't believe that I did anything like that besides pointing out to him how he could have won. I always do that if I feel I got lucky. I don't know, though, Matt, I think I wouldn't have even pumped. I think it would have been smarter on my part to wait until the next turn if I were Bruce, but to each his own. I wouldn't have wanted to take the chance of my Colossus dying. But yea, it wasn't really a bluff, it was just a way to get somebody to make a mistake without cheating, just as asking how many cards somebody has takes their focus off of what they are focusing on. I remember a story about how somebody was always asking his opponent how many cards he had in his hand during the opponents upkeep, hoping that his opponent would forget an upkeep cost in hopes of calling a judge and getting a game loss for the missed trigger.
Pwn'd. |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Matthew Ratz
Member Since: 2/29/2008
|
| So you wouldn't have swung for lethal damage? You would have given your opponent another turn? That doesn't seem like a good idea.
Playing to Win is Playing for Fun - Matthew Ratz |
|
| Date Posted: 4/14/2009
Posted By: Penny Dude
Member Since: 5/1/2008
|
| With your story, Ben, the player that kept asking the questions would probably be the one that would be penalized since it was intentional. I bet that some judges would go so far to consider that cheating. |
|
| I remember the black summer of 1996. Everyone was either playing Necropotence decks or Ernham-Geddon decks. The Necropotence era and the Mirrodin Afinity period probably had the least amount of viable decks of any Standard era.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
| I agree that Legacy at The Hobby Horse produces a wide variety of decks. It is probably my favorite format and I enjoy the huge card pool to build decks from. If you go to a large Legacy tournament the deck diversity is considerably narrower, however. Counterbalance decks rule the field, while TEPS and Fish decks also see heavy play. Restricting Sensei's Divining Top would probably lead to more diversity. I have heard rumors that this may happen in the near future. Block play also offers a lot of room for diversity, as serious net decks don't appear for Block formats until the final set of the block has been released and PTQs switch to Block constructed formats.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
| Date Posted: 4/16/2009
Posted By: Brandon Adams
Joined before August '08
|
| large legacy events are actually really diverse because it's really difficult to hate out everything. Counterbalance is popular because the prevailing strategies tend to be hyper-efficient and pairing the soft-lock ability of CB/Top with whatever other cards you feel are necessary to suit your playstyle is a pretty good idea. CB decks range from the glacial-speed Landstill to more mid-range Intuition CB and NLU-esque builds to really fast stuff like UBg Faeries and Cephalid Breakfast. In any given event, well-constructed Loam control, aggro loam, rock, goblins, non-cb threshold, merfolk, elves, b/x midrange and suicide, tes, ant, and dredge can compete in the same space is incredible. I left out a ton of decks that can show up and win a tournament on any given day. SDT likely wouldn't need restricted if legacy was played on a larger scale because of decks like Survival Elves, Merfolk, and Goblins raining all over the parade of CB decks. The problem is with only a handful of large legacy tournaments every year, there is no chance to develop a real metagame so you're left building decks in a void. This leads to a lot of quick builds of ANT, CB control, Goblins, etc without much room for experimentation. I think the Legacy environment is really healthy right now, and the only thing it needs is more events.
On the subject of amazing jedi mind tricks, it's true that I managed to get an opponent to concede at a GP grinder in chicago. Game one I totally dominated this guy. I'm playing storm and he's playing merfolk. He's a complete dog in this matchup due to my maindeck red blasts + chant and I roll him game one while showboating to the crowd (doomsday wins are impressive). In game two I do my normal big tourney routine of talking a lot and my opponent recognizes the EMIDLN on my playmat. I confirm that I'm the combo player from the internet and we shuffle up for g2. He loses an early Standstill and is pretty depressed about his hand. I'm not drawing any accel at all and can't find a bomb either. I begin making my land drops while using REB/Duress to keep him from even considering plays. He gets some dudes, begins the beats, and I'm low on life. My hand is pretty marginal with double Mystical Tutor, a chant, and a dark rit + two more lands when he puts me on my final turn with a resolved lord. I quick play a Mystical Tutor asking if I can go get my Doomsday to win now. He nervously says wait and just looks at me. I count my cards in hand and lands in play for his benefit before he decides to tap out for FoW. I calc up the life he has and my storm and Mystical again. It resolves and I immediately go for my only out, a meditate into the nuts (draws me 4 cards and I skip a turn). I need like runner, runner, with two decent cards to even think about winning this game. I untap, Chant him which runs into Daze that I pay and start in with the Rit + Meditate. I'm at 4 storm and manage to hit one of my out draws: Mystical, SDT, LED, Brainstorm. I count up my mana and realize that I'm short a mana for IGG to do anything relevant. I have the choice of Brainstorming into a +2 ritual effect (4 left in the deck) or going for Mystical -> Tendrils, LED, Top that should leave him at 1 life. I decide all of this in moments while I'm making my plays (lots of practice) and smoothly Mystical into Tendrils. He asks for spell count and I give it to him. I then flip my hand face up (which gets a pale look), cast SDT, and tap top, breaking LED for BBB floating BBBB into the Tendrils that I just windmill onto the table while I extend my hand. I think I see movement to my right (where my team is observing) and catch Dave Caplan physically removing Lam Phan from the area. My opponent looks at his life pad (which reads 17 mind you) and takes my hand before grabbing the match slip and signing 2-0. I thank him, wish him luck in the GP, and move to my friends who are staring at me in utter disbelief. Lam points out that my opponent wasn't dead to which I responded that he appeared to scoop up his cards and concede. Cappy patted me on the back and told me well-played. Kevin Binswager (you might know his name from the Columns he writes on SCG, he posts as Anusien on most boards) walks up to me in the zebra uniform to congratulate me on making top4 and remind me that while my play in the last match was technically perfect, that I was a lousy human being. I asked if I did anything wrong and he told me that he just witnessed the shadiest mind trick so far during the weekend, but went as far as to tell me that by never actually trying to tell verbally he was dead, misrepresenting storm, or game state that I had done nothing wrong. He left it at that and walked away. I lost in the finals of that GPT to my teammate Mr. Caplan (who went on to top8 the grand prix proper thanks to his byes) but I'll never forget the time I convinced a perfectly live opponent to concede to me. |
|
| I was basing my observation on the predominance of Counterbalance decks on the results of the recent PTQ Legacy events. Counterbalance decks dominated the top 16 in both events, although one event was actually won by a Survival of the Fittest Deck (the only such deck in the top 16 of either of the two events). Most of the Legacy events I have played in have actually been quite diverse. There has been a lot of discussion of late about banning Sensei's Divining Top though. The same problems that got Senesei's Top banned in Extended seem to exist in Legacy as well. It creates an easily achieved soft lock with Counrbalance and it unnecessarily lengthens games when used in combination with fetchlands. It also creates a powerful combo with Dark Confidant. A player who really wants the game to go to time can often do so using Senesi's Top without overtly stalling. It's not a card I have ever really minded, but I would be just as happy not to have it around.
The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. - Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
