Modern Magic #2: Infect in Scars Block Limited

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Simon Goertzen

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  1. pretty much exactly what i would have picked…except i would have grabbed up that beast within over the blessing 3rd pick. Its very good removal or an instant speed 3/3 for you. Having the versatility to hit any type of permanant makes it well worth the drawback. Blessing is good, but not 3rd pick good.

  2. Your first-round opponent probably didn’t realize that quitting without conceding would force you to wait. He seemed a little inexperienced overall.

  4. Really enjoyed your comments and explanations during the draft. The games where a bit one sided as your opponents did not really get a strong and threatening board state together during the tourney. Overall a great video and hopefully you will show us some M12 action next time.

  5. Thanks for your comments!

    I agree that my opponents could have posed a little more of a challenge, but I believe that this episode still offered a plethora of interesting draft and gameplay decisions. Also, I am happy enough with how the recording and commentating went that I do not believe this to be problematic at all. Even in the 8-4 queues, there is a wide range of experience and skill levels, but it’s not something I have any control over. In fact, the powerlevel of my deck was not incredibly high, but it seemed to be well positioned at the table – which adds another point about Infect, as it is very easy for an average Infect deck to outlass an average non-Infect deck thanks to the inherent supremacy of your creatures.

    @420gabriel: I noted that you commentated very soon after the videos went up – did you watch the matches in addition to the draft? I was very happy with the performance of Apostle’s Blessing. and glad to have it in my deck. I know that Beast Within hits any permanent, but you have to convince me first why giving my opponent a 3/3 Beast is not a significant drawback. I almost never play Beast Within except in decks where I am very defensive, lack removal and can easily stop 3-power ground attackers — for example a control deck with multiple Wall of Tanglechords.

    @Random Scrub: You are probably right. It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway.

  6. Well done. I like how you don’t get too upset when making a mistake or a miss-click, and instead focus your efforts on the next play.

    Too bad we did not see the Swarmlord in action.

  7. I agree with almost all of your decision in the draft, but I would have put plaguemaw beast in the deck instead of Toxic Nim for sure.

  9. Great video! The quality of your commentary is among the best I have found online, and very enjoyable!

  10. I only like running Beast Within in decks where I have multiple wellsprings. I like Apostle’s Blessing in all of my decks.

    Good draft, I like the before draft commentary as well. I’m interested to see how you draft the core set, as this one is much more interesting than M11 since blue is not obviously the best color and red is unusually strong instead of terrible.

  11. @Gunho: Being a robot has its advantages.

    @milegyenanevem (and others): It’s good that you question my decisions or have differing opinions on certain cards. It would be even better if you could explain your reasoning or why you believe the reasoning I gave during deckbuilding to be wrong. This would make it much easier to comprehend and comment on your thoughts.

    @TonyBicylce: You are too kind, but it’s great to read a comment like yours. If you like my series, spread the word!

    @BT: Regarding the introductory part, I am experimenting with ways to make the viewers think about certain overarching aspects of the game not only during draft, deckbuilding and playing, but also after they finished the episode. My biggest concern with draft videos is that they encourage (mental) passivity, and I hope to combat this to some extend.
    I have not decided on the topic of Episode 3 yet, but right now M12 draft seems to be the most natural choice.

  12. I am really impressed with your picks and feel good about the fact that I would have made nearly all the same choices as you did. The only pick where I feel I might have deviated was P1P3 – I felt the Alloy Myr would provide you with more flexibility and ramp that early in the draft to splash some powerful third color with the chance to see another Apostles Blessing (which did not happen in that case but is not to unlikely). In general when I have the choice between cards of similar value I tend to take the uncommon and the mana fixers earlier in the draft.

    I really like your comments and analysis of the format archetypes in the beginning. There are no other players doing that and I feel it helps me to understand the different possibilities of the block better.
    Keep up the great videos!

  13. I watched the video without commentary and can’t even check it now, but here are my reasons for choosing Plaguemaw Beast over Toxic Nim. It is cheaper, it is greener and it is better. Cheaper obviously, and it is important as you have two great 6-drops. Greener is important as you don’t have too many black cards. Better: the Nim has 2 important advantages: regeneration and infect. Regeneration helps less than usual, as there are plenty of cards giving -1/-1 counters. Against infect creatures the larger toughness is much better. Still, Nim wins in that category, and infect is obviously important.

    But normally you both have plenty of creatures when you play the Nim, so the opponent only has to chump block it a couple of times till he finds an answer or kills you with his fliers. The Beast at least means in those situations that you need only 8 poisons to kill the opponent in the end of his turn and the beginning of yours. When you have more creatures than needed, you can slowly sacrifice them as well. Works great with your Swarmlord. And you can sacrifice those creatures which would die by any reason, so his removal just helps you to kill him.

  14. I like the title of your article series, but it may get a little confusing with Modern becoming a new format, but hey you could always turn the column into an exclusive Modern series. Keep up the good work!