Modern Magic #3: Diving into M12 Limited

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Simon Goertzen

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  1. i’m really glad that you say you like distress. i’ve found a lot of people completely overlooking it, saying it’s garbage or strictly worse than mind rot. it’s been very good for me and sometimes it really can blow your opponent away if you take their mind control or serra angel, and they were relying on that bomb card to carry their otherwise mediocre deck.

  2. While it is probably expected from me to comment positively, I just have to say that I particularly enjoy your draft and game comments. I am following the published drafts on various sites and I seldom find the picks and in game decisions explained quite as thorough as you do it in yours. It makes watching the games an educational experience as well, even for seasoned drafters, as you can think about the move you wold make and then compare it with the thoughts you express while slinging the spells. Keep up the great work!

  3. Bad play by you in the first game of the final, bad play by your opponent in the second and third game. Very useful to watch.

  4. While is agree with Plejades that your draft content is quite possibly the best on the web, it tilts me so hard that you refer to the first round as the quarter finals…is there some mental competitive reason you do it?

  6. Awesome draft–This showed a lot of the traps and pitfalls associated with M12. It seems that the format is shallow, but gets deeper as I continue to watch these videos.

    I liked the discussion of timely reinforcements (and how it’s good for specific situations, but not as highly as some think). I’m wondering though if Arbalest is being picked too highly. Stave Off seems to always be a game breaker while Arbalest tends to sit on the sidelines for most of the games I’ve seen. His ability is very clunky as well since it prevents him from untapping the next turn. I understand he’s raw power, but Stave Off seems to have more applications for a very cheap price. What are your thoughts?

    As far as color commitments with your deck, it seemed that Distress was good, but also prevented you from playing your War Horses. You already seemed to be filled well with guys, but what power level do you think Distress is at? Also, it seems like people currently value it very low, and you’re likely to pick one up.

    With that, I also could understand why you didn’t pick Overrun and Consume Spirit. Sometimes they seem to get picked in a vacuum, but it seems that this format isn’t really about what quality of cards you’re picking so much as you’re trying to build a deck archetype- which requires a specific curve and synergistic cards, rather than picking a card because it’s “good.” I really enjoyed how you showed how Black/White can have synergies within the archetype via the enchantments (which, with Auramancer, and Gravedigger seemed to give you card advantage in later games).

    On that note, what archetypes do you see being powerful/what you’d like to build in M12 draft?

    My last question is with Griffin Rider. It seems you value being the consistency of your deck overall, and this card is perhaps too swingy. Is this simply dependent on what Griffins you currently have, or do you suppose that you’ll likely find a few more? How many Griffins would it take to make the rider great for your deck?

    As far as the name for your video series, I’d consider changing the name in light of the announcements. Perhaps we can help you pick one out!

  7. I understand the name problem. I much prefer you keep covering drafts instead of going to covering modern events.

  8. Great job on another entertaining draft ! I especially enjoyed the Spirit Mantle with the Auramancers. And Vengeful Pharaoh seems to be ridiculously good in this format.

  9. Simon you have thus far put up some of the most insightful and well commentaried (is that a word?) MTGO videos I’ve watched, and I’ve watched a *lot* from a number of sites. I don’t know if you’ve posted on any other sites before, but if these are your first few offerings then you’ve come out of the gate swinging.

    I am also very happy that you seem willing to draft more varied M12 archetypes, which in turn makes it far more interesting to watch after 95% of the other videos avalaible on the web are drafting mono-two-mana decks. Watching people show you how to win at a given limited format is fine, but I would much rather refine the deeper skills of how to analyse and evaluate the set for myself rather than be taught generic pick orders and general rules (draft bears and attack).

    Please keep up the good work guys – MTGOAcademy has improved the quality and frequency of its content greatly over the last few months, even after losing half the Limited Resources team.

  10. Thanks for your praise and comments!

    Regarding the column title, I am contemplating alternatives to “Modern Magic”. However, I already recorded the fourth episode as I will be leaving for the US tomorrow. Once I return, I will decide how to name the show from then on.

    @mkb: I don’t quite get what tilts you about me calling the first round the quarterfinal. It is an 8-man single-elimination tournament, isn’t it?

    @Deathcloud9: In my experience, most Magic formats are much less shallow than most people think.
    - Regarding Arbalest Elite vs Stave Off, I like both cards quite a lot but they are not really comparable. However, it is really easy to see the negatives in Arbalest Elite and all the potential upside of Stave Off. Once you untap with Arbalest Elite, combat becomes much more difficult for your opponent, and a 2/3 always has at least some impact as well. The disadvantage of not untapping is actually mitigated by the fact that the mere threat of the Elite is usually enough to not having to activate it in the first place (this is the Kabuto Moth effect, for those remembering Kamigawa Limited). While Stave Off is great against all Auras and Removal, you also need to keep open a plains. However, if you simply play it as a combat trick or to force through lethal damage, you open yourself up to removal spells or bounce. In the end, you simply can’t overload on creature-dependent spells and I also want to have some Auras in my white decks, so while I am happy to play 1-2 Stave Offs, I do not see it as a crucial piece to any white strategy. It becomes better than Elite when you are drafting a Griffin Sentinel deck, but that does not happen all that often.
    - I believe Distress to be in the better half of black commons. If you are very aggressive you will take Tormented Souls and Duskhunter Bats instead, but even then I like to have at least one Distress in my deck to prevent my opponent from turning the game around with a single spell. In control, Distress is better than any common creature save for Gravedigger and Child of Night. It offers something quite unique, so if the mana cost is not a problem, you should always play them.
    - I’m still exploring the archetypes of M12, but I think that there are a lot of viable archetypes. I have had a lot of success with black, and did not get to draft that much red because of how popular it is. Green is the hardest color to draft as the value cards (Spider, Web) are quite controlling but everything else rewards attacking (Bear, Crocodile, Wolf, Trollhide, Titanic Growth). Currently my favourites are Mono-Red, Mono-Black, UB Control and White/X with either a Griffin or Aura theme.
    - I’ll play Griffin Rider with 3 Griffins, but I would want more for a deck with multiple Riders. When drafting, I will sometimes gamble on an early Rider as the potential upside is large, but abandon them if it does not work out.
    @JFA: I try my best to give out fishing rods instead of fish, even though it takes quite a lot of work. Not every episode perfectly captures what’s going on in my head, but they come pretty close.

  12. Was the the best example of keeping calm in the face of a bad situation I’ve ever seen? Probably.

    Next time I face down Garruk, Arachnus Spinner and Sphinx of Unfun and it seems like I just got out-bombed, I’ll remember this and stay calm.

    I mean for real, his voice didn’t even crack.