Limited Resources: DGR Draft #5 (and Beta Client)

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Limited Resources




You can follow Marshall on Twitter @Marshall_LR
or check out the Limited Resources podcast at lrcast.com

 

  1. A couple of thoughts on the draft: I think you took a solid line with Putrefy into Ruric Thar to set yourself up for a solid Jund deck and it could have very well been the best line but the more I play this format the more I think first picking a putrefy is a trap. It essentially forces you to splash or abandon your first pick as its very hard to get out of the first two packs straight golgari. I would have considered taking the tithe drinker which although you’re less likely to play ultimately sets you up for a more powerful deck. In my alternate version of this draft pick 2 would have been more awkward but I think it would’ve been correct to pass the gruul cards recognizing that I wouldn’t be able to bully the guys on my right out of those colors so I’d have picked up the Mastiff into the haunter setting myself up nicely for esper.

  2. I had an experince like your draft yesterday.DC with crash on login. The funny thing is that when this happens mtgo beta sometimes cant submit your deck so you have to re log and do the deck building again. I found this out with 1:30 left. nice 81card deck.

  3. The end of the first round is the perfect encapsulation of the Beta experience. The ease with which you could have dropped from the tournament with a wrong click is almost laughable. :)

  4. My take on the beta is basically that it’s got a ton of improvements over the current client, but that it’s still a beta. There are still bugs and issues, although nothing yet I’ve seen that’s a massive issue (I’ve only had it crash a couple times, roughly at the same rate I see crashes on the current client). As long as they can iron out most of these things (a big if no doubt, but certainly doable), I see the beta client as a definite upgrade on the current client.

    I also liked how they handled this spotlight, it was only for a day and wasn’t during any big event like a set release, and it offered cheaper drafts to anyone who tried it. Much better than their initial plan with the spotlight.

    As for the actual draft, nice to see you win one Marshall, maybe you should use the beta more often? It is after all the only way to win those sweet floating numbers…

  5. Wow. What on earth happened? I watch all the LRR drafts and they use the beta but almost never have these issues.

  6. Here’s why your draft pool was apparently getting unsorted: when you sort by cost, then add a new card to the pool that does not yet have a column, the card goes on the far right. So when you add the first 2-drop to your pool, it gets slotted to the right of your 6-drops until you click “Sort By > Converted Mana Cost” again. After that, every additional 2-drop you add is correctly sorted into the column with the 2-drops. Hopefully they’re going to fix this.

  7. I’d wager that half the problems you see with the Beta here are caused by the Virtual Box setup used, not by the Beta itsself. The Beta is, well, a Beta client, but I’ve been using it since they started it and I will never ever go back to the old client, which is a piece of crap interface-wise. Obviously the Beta isn’t perfect yet, but let me remind you again that I have experienced none of your problems at all and I’ve been drafting on the Beta since the start.

    Anyway, very solid play here, I think I would’ve messed up some of these tight games where you didn’t, so kudos.
    Oh, and if you would be presented with Izzet Guildgates pack 3, would you take them, to accomodate both the red splash as well as Consuming Aberration, basically replacing a mountain?

  8. for some reason i don’t see these videos turning up on the mtgoacademy youtube channel, how bizzare

  9. Marshall, talk to someone who knows how to configure a stable windows virtual machine.

  10. In round 2 game 2 you could have Armed your Imp und made the Armored Transport Dangerous. You would still have killed the Moa but you would have gained 3 more life. In the end it wouldn’t have mattered, but sometimes minor things like that can decide a game.

  12. I have to agree with some of the other commenters here — I’ve been playing on the Beta for months and these issues don’t seem to come up with me. It likely has to do with your virtual Windows setup. That’s not to say it’s not bad, because it’s definitely frustrating for you if the old client works better and I hope they adjust the disconnection coding to be a little more lenient.

    The reason your cards are “tiny” is because you constantly have the red attack zone active. Changing your settings to collapse it will make your play area and cards larger. The reason your screen sometimes goes “dark” is when your opponent has priority or it’s waiting for you to complete a specific action — it’s signaling to you that you cannot activate/cast anything else until whatever it’s waiting on is completed. If you don’t have the chat window open at the start of a match, it will open it for you to make sure you are able to see it. You can snap it to any side of the screen by dragging it into the window, which would alleviate it “popping up” all the time.

    At the end of the first game where things seemed to get “stuck”, you can reset your client by closing the MTGO main window (not the game window). That will allow you to restart everything without dropping out of the tournament.

    Aside from the connection issues, everything looked to play fine, and most things you were vocally frustrated about were just UI adjustments you just weren’t used to.

  13. Marshall problems are not atypical. Just because some of you have run it with no problems doesn’t mean that there are not far-reaching problems with the Beta client on so many people’s machines. I have made many mis-plays (as Marshall came so close to do a few too many times) getting used to the Beta client, but those can be understood as the learning curve (just hate when those mistakes cost you a tournament at @$14 a pop)! But the other issues that come up with the Beta have to be fixed before replacing the old client. I have a decent DSL service with very few problems with any other programs (and a relatively new computer), but the Beta lags me so horribly that I time out almost any game I try to play. I play like a mad-man using all the function keys to their optimum use, and I am always 5-10 minutes behind the other player by the end – but only on the Beta!

  14. For a moment i thought you would finally dare something but no, then you had to chicken the grave betrayal out again… well not everyone is lsv i guess.

  15. During the drafting, you passed up a Balustrad Spy and the Undercity Informer, without consideration that both would have activated your Drown in Filth x2 that you had picked up from pack 1 – It seems most people dont connect the Golgari Drown in Filth from DgM, which meshes perfectly with the Dimir black “grind” mechanic from GtC, and then fills out with Scavenge from RtR, making a graveyard based self-mill-deck.

    But, with that said, you picked up a very solid deck, and I enjoyed watching the draft and play videos. Very cool, thank you!

  16. Krikkitelder –

    That’s because videos are only set to show up on our Youtube channel about a day after they’re made visible through our website (here). They should be made visible this evening from the Youtube channel.

  17. Thanks Marshal for the video. I always love your videos. I would love to see you use the beta client more. Some of the issues you had were because you weren’t familiar with it. Since you are writing articles for Wizards now maybe you can get them have someone walk you through the beta. I think having someone of your skill level using the beta and teaching others how to use it would help a lot. Like some of the other posters said, the crashes could be from your setup.

    @PlanetWalls I really dislike how the videos aren’t available on the youtube channel. I want to watch the videos and support the youtube channel, but since they aren’t on youtube till later it means I have to watch them here then once they become available on youtube go through and give them all a thumbs up and a view. I feel this is a really poor choice and your site seems to be the only one that does that, and I follow half a dozen other content sites.

  18. I can see why some people shy away from the Beta Client after watching this. But it operates pretty well on my Windows computer, as I know Marshall goes through an Apple. Further, at least when the client crashes, the reboot and back into playing the game doesn’t take very long. Too, there’s a reason it’s in Beta.

  19. Sweet video as always, Marshall. Ruric Thar is a beating. One thing that bugged me is that I’m 99% sure “Blackguard” is actually pronounced “Blaggard”, but you probably don’t care.

  20. I’m new to MTG. One thing I don’t get is where came the 3 damage on round 3 game 1. Both attacking creatures are not dealing damage (one in hand, one blocked) under my understanding. Any one could help? Thanks.

  21. Thanks for the comments guys.

    I wanted to address my reaction to the client and its woes during the draft. I was pretty sarcastic/snarky about the issues, and I was pretty frustrated too. I’m not sure that this helps get much done. The small bugs and differences are not a big deal to me. I know those will get ironed out with time.

    The crashes are very annoying, and virtually a deal-breaker for playing on MTGO, so they have to go. I have used the beta periodically throughout the entire process, and have never had crashes like that before. I don’t know what caused them this time, it could be anything. I do know that they are unacceptable.

    I want the beta and the new client to succeed. I have wanted that since the beginning. It’s frustrating when a product that seemingly isn’t ready for production is being pushed into our hands, even if I understand the reasoning behind it. I’m sure you could sense my frustration during the video, though I could have found a better way to express it.

    I have submitted feedback to WotC here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1028055/magic-online-wide-beta-feedback-form

    I encourage you to do the same, whether you are happy or frustrated with the beta client. I see a lot of people complain, but not in a way that facilitates any change. I won’t be that guy.

    I’ll continue to use it occasionally until it either improves past the old client or is our only option.

  22. hey Marshall! Hope your video will get the MTGO guys to busy it up and make it a smooth machine, for extremely annoying it is atm.

    A quick question: R1,G1, turn seven. Attack with flyer, double strike it, swine it, dead. Right?

  23. @Michiel Yes that would kill him, but I viewed it as unnecessarily risky. If he kills our Imp in response, we have been 3:1′d and given our hand and the board, I thought it was prudent to play around getting 3:1′d

  24. The beta client is a bit of a memory hog and likes higher resolution screens. I’d wager part of your problems may be seated in not giving the VM enough memory to sufficiently run the client (it really shouldn’t be this much of a hog, but you just do what you can). Having said that, I do prefer the new client just hoping they fix the weird way it handles CMC sorting during draft.

    Great draft as always!

  25. Leon, if a blocked creature with trample doesn’t have a blocker to assign damage to, it can assign all its damage to the opponent.

  26. Marshall,

    I hope in your feedback to WOTC you also addresses the Mac-related issues that come with the Beta. I’m just worried that once the Beta becomes the primary client, it’s going to make playing MTGO much less convenient for me and everyone else that runs it through parallels. It’s probably not on their radar at all right now, but I hope it gets fixed at some point.

  28. I’ve had similar problems with the Beta client and I’m on Windows 8(could be the problem). I’ve had the deck reg give me the error where it couldn’t submit the deck and had to re-loggin. Also it has a problem with sucking up all the memory it can and locking up when it can’t.

  29. nice draft, but I have seen quite a bunch of bad plays (which can happen and normally I can’t spot any in your videos).

    R2G2): you played Armed/Dangerous to kill his Bronzebeak Moa, that is certainly the right play in this situation, but why do you give the Armored Transport the +1/+1 Double Strike? it does nothing (Moa would die without, and the Transport would survive due to his own ability) and you could instead target your Daggerdrome Imp for an additional 3 life-swing.

    R2G3): I think it would be better to unleash the Dead Revealer to evolve the Crocanura to 3/5 (so it would bounce off the Armored Wolf Rider, and with help off the Gatekeeper could trade with the Moa and making Armed/Dangerous better, the 2/3 body hadn’t that great impact on your defence in my opinion)

    R3G2): double blocking his Frilled Oculus with your Hired Torturer and the 2/4 Crocanura, with the Oculus activation he simple kills the Torturer. (I have no clue why he played the Dramatic Rescue that moment). So either no block or only blocking with the Crocanura, but throwing away the Torturer for nothing is bad.
    And later that game attacking with Ruric Thar+Maze Abomination into his Palisade Giant seems bad, too, thanks to Ruric Thar having Deathtouth because of the Abomination (and in this situation you might need every blocker, and attacking with it surly did nothing (besides luring your opponent into a really bad block with his Steeple Roc, which was pretty obvious a bad block))

  30. Marshall what happened to nuts-and-bolts-spike during the draft picks? When is hate-drafting over a valid sideboard option ever correct?

  31. just wanted to say that im surprised in g3m2 no one noticed that ruric thar had deathtouch and thus shouldve wiped the other guys board out. each point of damage is considered lethal with deathtouch but apparently modo doesnt know that. i dont play on modo so im not sure if its just because its the beta version or not.

  32. @michaelvan – didnt the opponent have Palisade Giant out? All damage is redirected to the giant, so no points of damage hit any of his other blockers, thus not killing them.

  33. @telemokos yes he did have the giant out but the giant only redirects damage to the player. Marshall’s opponent chose to block with most of his creatures on ruric thar so ruric shouldve just wiped everyone out in one swing.

  34. @michaelvan It’s player and other permanents they control, including all creatures other than Palisade Giant.
    “Palisade Giant – 4ww – Creature – Giant Soldier – Rare – All damage that would be dealt to you or another permanent you control is dealt to Palisade Giant instead.”