Draft #1014364 deck
Main Deck
1 Battle Rampart
1 Battle-Rattle Shaman
1 Devastating Summons
1 Dread Drone
1 Flame Slash
1 Goblin Tunneler
1 Grotag Siege-Runner
1 Heat Ray
1 Hellion Eruption
2 Kiln Fiend
3 Lust for War
1 Nirkana Cutthroat
1 Perish the Thought
2 Raid Bombardment
1 Rapacious One
2 Soulsurge Elemental
1 Spawning Breath
1 Surreal Memoir
1 Vendetta
1 Virulent Swipe
1 Zulaport Enforcer
Land
7 Mountain
7 Swamp
Side Board
1 Arrogant Bloodlord
1 Bloodrite Invoker
1 Bloodthrone Vampire
1 Curse of Wizardry
1 Death Cultist
3 Demonic Appetite
1 Deprive
1 Distortion Strike
1 Escaped Null
1 Essence Feed
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Naturalize
1 Nema Siltlurker
1 Shrivel
Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Breaking Through @ Conley Woods @ ChannelFireball
This is an article by a player that always writes about the thought process and different aspect of magic.
Breaking Through by Conley Woods @ Channel Fireball
Each week, dozens of articles are produced that help a player with his or her game a little bit more than the last week. Articles on theory or skill-teaching are released on a regular basis that all contribute to a player’s skill set. Sometimes these articles are just decklists and tournament info, but even then, a player is able to gain knowledge about some part of the metagame which allows that player to learn better assessment and metagaming skills. Theoretically, and I suppose in application as well, players should be improving at a fairly rapid rate due to the wealth of information available to them.
It is true that players on the whole are much better than in years past, but what holds players back from applying more of the skills they learn either in articles or from game play situations? The information on how to improve is rampant, but one of the issues is that most players cannot grasp exactly where they are and therefore from where they should begin to improve. Trying to do too much when you are not capable will not allow a player to gain much of anything in the form of improvement. Likewise, practicing skills that should have been, or already have been mastered, will obviously not add a lot to your game.
If you look at Magic in a light similar to schooling, it becomes a little easier to explain. Take an average 3rd grader and teach him high school algebra and you are likely to lose 99% of the information in translation alone, as the 3rd grader is just not ready to acquire the information. Take that same 3rd grader and teach him skills he would have learned from 1st grade though, and you either end up boring the child, or hindering his progress as you are effectively holding him back.
To help players understand exactly where they are in the scope of skill then, there have been a number of categorizations, but each category is unique. These all look to rank a player in some way, to give the player a better idea of where he is positioned. Olivier Ruel has written on the subject, as have I before, but there is no one hierarchy that can encompass all factors within a player’s game and still be practical enough to be useful.
This is why, rather than lumping all of a player’s traits into one category, multiple categories are needed and that when assessed properly, can propel the player to a place where they are streamlining their efforts of improvement. Today I would like to discuss an area that does not get much publicity, yet it is pretty simple in scope and application. For a lack of a better all encompassing term, I will refer to this as Independence Demographics (ID for short).
Everyone can remember back to a time when they first started playing. Lightning Bolts were cast targeting the opponent on turn 1. Everything was played before you attacked. And you would chump block that Grizzly Bears with your Llanowar Elves at 20 life on turn 2 because, “Why would I want to take damage?”
This is a time when there are no rules to follow in the context of correct play. Sure, the rules of Magic are at a foundation, but there are no rules in place that dictate proper play. These players are not maximizing their instants, instead using them main phase and so on. Essentially, they are virgins to the unwritten laws that govern competitive play.
These are the base of our little demographics hierarchy. They encompass all that is new and fresh and are thus the players that belong to group A, or level 1, or whatever bullet point you wish to dazzle the page with. For consistency purposes, we will just be simple and call them tier 1. These players think independently in an almost reckless way at first glance, but when examined more deeply, we can see that they actually aren’t thinking very independently at all. Instead, the rulebook, that is the actual guidelines of play created by WotC, is their strategy guide. If it’s in the book, it must be used!
Moving up the chain of command, we reach the middle class of independent thought. These are the players who have reached a level of competitive play and have begun to develop habits because of that. Through the consumption of articles and media, play experience, and general consensus, these players have learned to follow the “rules” of strategy.
This involved them playing instants at the end of the opponent’s turn, playing creatures in the second main phase, and using burn spells in Limited as removal and not direct damage. These are all things that are going to be correct a vast majority of the time, and are in place to help shortcut players looking to improve their game. The issue comes due to the fact that these rules for competitive play develop to a point where they are blindly followed. This is what separates the tier 2 players from the tier 3.
Once you hit tier 3, the players begin to define their own set of rules. While the basic rules of engagement for strategy are still in place, players now understand when to utilize the exceptions or in some cases, define their own set of rules. This is the tier that is more likely to main phase their Esper Charm because they know that otherwise they will miss a land drop, or to cast Terminate on their turn just to avoid Sejiri Steppe tricks.
In Limited these players are more likely to board into another color in order to answer a threat or play cards that are otherwise considered bad by the community. Luis’s love (or at least respect) for Razor Boomerang in Zendikar/Worldwake draft is a perfect example of this. Even after taking, playing with, and ultimately winning because of the card, there were still viewers that would comment in the forums about how he should have played card X over it. Those players have not been able to advance to tier 3.
So what can categorizing ourselves tell us in our efforts to improve? Well, as with anything in Magic that can point out mistakes, first you must be willing to be honest with yourself. If you are that 3rd grader, convincing yourself that you read at a 9th grade level will just throw you right back under the bus and have you barely treading water. We are looking to make up ground here, so being honest is a vital component of the exercise.
This exercise can tell a player a lot about things he needs to work on though. We are always looking for ways in which to improve our technical play, but mistakes of timing or rule keeping are going to be very difficult to recognize unless you can determine, even being told so by others, that you are in tier 2. Running your Terminate into an opposing Negate when they were tapped out just half a turn before is obviously wrong, but the issue here is that a player who is likely to do this would not recognize it because according to everything he has ever read, instants should be used as such. He has trained himself into making a correct play based on tons of practice and reading, so expecting him to realize this issue at the snap of a finger is unreasonable.
Just as it takes some amount of repetition to get a person to form a habit, it takes equal or more time to break that cycle. At the end of the day, these are what the “rules” of strategy are that we are taught; habits. So, allowing the player to see where he fits into this scheme may just be the best way to get him to begin self-correcting his mistakes. As he makes plays, he is more likely to assess those plays both before and after the fact to a more thorough state. This allows a player to grasp the times where rules are meant to be broken.
There are endless accounts of rules being followed too strictly. Whether it is a player casting 3(!) Sign in Bloods to draw cards while his opponent is at 2 life, or failing to Path to Exile your own wall after missing a land drop. These plays originate as outside of the box thinking and slowly get incorporated into the fabric of the tier 2 rules set.
Remember the giant hype around the m10 rules changes? Damage on the stack was said to have made the game deeper in strategy, when in reality, it has just become another rule that tier 2 players used to oppress tier 1 players (as they should have, mind you). Damage on the stack did not allow more options; it just fit into the neat strategic givens that all players would follow. Occasionally a tier 3 player would be able to abuse this fact, but rarely at that. The strategy surrounding combat was so uniform that players took the habits to heart. Then, with a change, no longer would combat come out as uniform. Sure there would still be common situation to arise, but nothing like before.
This type of breakdown can be seen in deck building as well. I have been heralded as a Spike Rogue for some time, and I could never figure out why that was a descriptor that set me apart. Then, using this work up, it all made sense. Rogue players by definition cannot be tier 2 players. They like to play by their own rules, which puts them into one of two camps. The vast majority of rogue builders will unfortunately fall in the tier 1 category. These players are not following the rules just to make that claim. There is little rhyme or reason here, which is why these type of players often get scrutinized. I was once here and understand how it works. The image is bigger than the results.
Following a tier 2 set of rules would have you win much more, but you would rather go 6-2 with some concoction than dare be seen hoisting a trophy with Jund or Faeries. Because of this mentality, it is very difficult to break through to tier 3, which is inevitably where the other rogue camp lies. This time, they are still breaking some of the rules, but doing so for justifiable reasons. Instead of simply being different for the sake of being different, you are now making card choices or play decisions to gain a strategic advantage.
The line here may be thin, and it is easy to occasionally relapse into a tier 1 rogue builder, but with a good head on your shoulders and an understanding that winning is what matters at the end of the day, the urge is able to be contained. Image will only get you so far; eventually results are going to be required or your efforts will all be for naught.
Ultimately, how each player comes to conquer the transition to a tier 3 thinker will be different, but each will begin in the same place: accepting that you are taking too many situations as a given and allowing others to do the work for you when you are potentially capable of solving these situations in unique and better ways. It is going to be best to learn to incorporate independent thought with the group-think that the Internet provides to maximize results. Even then, you are able to academically criticize the common thinking and arrive at the same decision point only after investigating its path.
The biggest step is to simply realize that all of the givens are actually not and move on from there. With a little time and effort, eventually you will be processing information on your own terms and hopefully expanding the “rules” for the rest of us. The more minds we have contributing to a problem the better solution we can arrive at so long as each mind is willing to bring something new to the table. Stay independent but not to a point of self-corrosion and the world of Magic opens up for you.
Thanks for reading.
Breaking Through by Conley Woods @ Channel Fireball
Each week, dozens of articles are produced that help a player with his or her game a little bit more than the last week. Articles on theory or skill-teaching are released on a regular basis that all contribute to a player’s skill set. Sometimes these articles are just decklists and tournament info, but even then, a player is able to gain knowledge about some part of the metagame which allows that player to learn better assessment and metagaming skills. Theoretically, and I suppose in application as well, players should be improving at a fairly rapid rate due to the wealth of information available to them.
It is true that players on the whole are much better than in years past, but what holds players back from applying more of the skills they learn either in articles or from game play situations? The information on how to improve is rampant, but one of the issues is that most players cannot grasp exactly where they are and therefore from where they should begin to improve. Trying to do too much when you are not capable will not allow a player to gain much of anything in the form of improvement. Likewise, practicing skills that should have been, or already have been mastered, will obviously not add a lot to your game.
If you look at Magic in a light similar to schooling, it becomes a little easier to explain. Take an average 3rd grader and teach him high school algebra and you are likely to lose 99% of the information in translation alone, as the 3rd grader is just not ready to acquire the information. Take that same 3rd grader and teach him skills he would have learned from 1st grade though, and you either end up boring the child, or hindering his progress as you are effectively holding him back.
To help players understand exactly where they are in the scope of skill then, there have been a number of categorizations, but each category is unique. These all look to rank a player in some way, to give the player a better idea of where he is positioned. Olivier Ruel has written on the subject, as have I before, but there is no one hierarchy that can encompass all factors within a player’s game and still be practical enough to be useful.
This is why, rather than lumping all of a player’s traits into one category, multiple categories are needed and that when assessed properly, can propel the player to a place where they are streamlining their efforts of improvement. Today I would like to discuss an area that does not get much publicity, yet it is pretty simple in scope and application. For a lack of a better all encompassing term, I will refer to this as Independence Demographics (ID for short).
Everyone can remember back to a time when they first started playing. Lightning Bolts were cast targeting the opponent on turn 1. Everything was played before you attacked. And you would chump block that Grizzly Bears with your Llanowar Elves at 20 life on turn 2 because, “Why would I want to take damage?”
This is a time when there are no rules to follow in the context of correct play. Sure, the rules of Magic are at a foundation, but there are no rules in place that dictate proper play. These players are not maximizing their instants, instead using them main phase and so on. Essentially, they are virgins to the unwritten laws that govern competitive play.
These are the base of our little demographics hierarchy. They encompass all that is new and fresh and are thus the players that belong to group A, or level 1, or whatever bullet point you wish to dazzle the page with. For consistency purposes, we will just be simple and call them tier 1. These players think independently in an almost reckless way at first glance, but when examined more deeply, we can see that they actually aren’t thinking very independently at all. Instead, the rulebook, that is the actual guidelines of play created by WotC, is their strategy guide. If it’s in the book, it must be used!
Moving up the chain of command, we reach the middle class of independent thought. These are the players who have reached a level of competitive play and have begun to develop habits because of that. Through the consumption of articles and media, play experience, and general consensus, these players have learned to follow the “rules” of strategy.
This involved them playing instants at the end of the opponent’s turn, playing creatures in the second main phase, and using burn spells in Limited as removal and not direct damage. These are all things that are going to be correct a vast majority of the time, and are in place to help shortcut players looking to improve their game. The issue comes due to the fact that these rules for competitive play develop to a point where they are blindly followed. This is what separates the tier 2 players from the tier 3.
Once you hit tier 3, the players begin to define their own set of rules. While the basic rules of engagement for strategy are still in place, players now understand when to utilize the exceptions or in some cases, define their own set of rules. This is the tier that is more likely to main phase their Esper Charm because they know that otherwise they will miss a land drop, or to cast Terminate on their turn just to avoid Sejiri Steppe tricks.
In Limited these players are more likely to board into another color in order to answer a threat or play cards that are otherwise considered bad by the community. Luis’s love (or at least respect) for Razor Boomerang in Zendikar/Worldwake draft is a perfect example of this. Even after taking, playing with, and ultimately winning because of the card, there were still viewers that would comment in the forums about how he should have played card X over it. Those players have not been able to advance to tier 3.
So what can categorizing ourselves tell us in our efforts to improve? Well, as with anything in Magic that can point out mistakes, first you must be willing to be honest with yourself. If you are that 3rd grader, convincing yourself that you read at a 9th grade level will just throw you right back under the bus and have you barely treading water. We are looking to make up ground here, so being honest is a vital component of the exercise.
This exercise can tell a player a lot about things he needs to work on though. We are always looking for ways in which to improve our technical play, but mistakes of timing or rule keeping are going to be very difficult to recognize unless you can determine, even being told so by others, that you are in tier 2. Running your Terminate into an opposing Negate when they were tapped out just half a turn before is obviously wrong, but the issue here is that a player who is likely to do this would not recognize it because according to everything he has ever read, instants should be used as such. He has trained himself into making a correct play based on tons of practice and reading, so expecting him to realize this issue at the snap of a finger is unreasonable.
Just as it takes some amount of repetition to get a person to form a habit, it takes equal or more time to break that cycle. At the end of the day, these are what the “rules” of strategy are that we are taught; habits. So, allowing the player to see where he fits into this scheme may just be the best way to get him to begin self-correcting his mistakes. As he makes plays, he is more likely to assess those plays both before and after the fact to a more thorough state. This allows a player to grasp the times where rules are meant to be broken.
There are endless accounts of rules being followed too strictly. Whether it is a player casting 3(!) Sign in Bloods to draw cards while his opponent is at 2 life, or failing to Path to Exile your own wall after missing a land drop. These plays originate as outside of the box thinking and slowly get incorporated into the fabric of the tier 2 rules set.
Remember the giant hype around the m10 rules changes? Damage on the stack was said to have made the game deeper in strategy, when in reality, it has just become another rule that tier 2 players used to oppress tier 1 players (as they should have, mind you). Damage on the stack did not allow more options; it just fit into the neat strategic givens that all players would follow. Occasionally a tier 3 player would be able to abuse this fact, but rarely at that. The strategy surrounding combat was so uniform that players took the habits to heart. Then, with a change, no longer would combat come out as uniform. Sure there would still be common situation to arise, but nothing like before.
This type of breakdown can be seen in deck building as well. I have been heralded as a Spike Rogue for some time, and I could never figure out why that was a descriptor that set me apart. Then, using this work up, it all made sense. Rogue players by definition cannot be tier 2 players. They like to play by their own rules, which puts them into one of two camps. The vast majority of rogue builders will unfortunately fall in the tier 1 category. These players are not following the rules just to make that claim. There is little rhyme or reason here, which is why these type of players often get scrutinized. I was once here and understand how it works. The image is bigger than the results.
Following a tier 2 set of rules would have you win much more, but you would rather go 6-2 with some concoction than dare be seen hoisting a trophy with Jund or Faeries. Because of this mentality, it is very difficult to break through to tier 3, which is inevitably where the other rogue camp lies. This time, they are still breaking some of the rules, but doing so for justifiable reasons. Instead of simply being different for the sake of being different, you are now making card choices or play decisions to gain a strategic advantage.
The line here may be thin, and it is easy to occasionally relapse into a tier 1 rogue builder, but with a good head on your shoulders and an understanding that winning is what matters at the end of the day, the urge is able to be contained. Image will only get you so far; eventually results are going to be required or your efforts will all be for naught.
Ultimately, how each player comes to conquer the transition to a tier 3 thinker will be different, but each will begin in the same place: accepting that you are taking too many situations as a given and allowing others to do the work for you when you are potentially capable of solving these situations in unique and better ways. It is going to be best to learn to incorporate independent thought with the group-think that the Internet provides to maximize results. Even then, you are able to academically criticize the common thinking and arrive at the same decision point only after investigating its path.
The biggest step is to simply realize that all of the givens are actually not and move on from there. With a little time and effort, eventually you will be processing information on your own terms and hopefully expanding the “rules” for the rest of us. The more minds we have contributing to a problem the better solution we can arrive at so long as each mind is willing to bring something new to the table. Stay independent but not to a point of self-corrosion and the world of Magic opens up for you.
Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
MTG Forums and Websites
I surfed a few MTG forums to improve my skills in MTG.
This is the list of website and forums that I always scan through.
Official Website - DailyMTG.com
Unofficial Website
1. 1MTG.net (Malaysia Forum)
2. MTGSalvation
3. BlackBorder
4. ManaNation
5. ChannelFireball
6. TCGPlayer Magic
7. DeckCheck.net (A website to check deck)
8. Magiccards.info (A website to check cards and price)
9. StarCityGames
10. Tomoharu Saito Blog
11. Mtg Translation for Japanese Website
I will update this blog more often since I'm going to learn how to use this blog to record my results for my playtesting. Adios.
This is the list of website and forums that I always scan through.
Official Website - DailyMTG.com
Unofficial Website
1. 1MTG.net (Malaysia Forum)
2. MTGSalvation
3. BlackBorder
4. ManaNation
5. ChannelFireball
6. TCGPlayer Magic
7. DeckCheck.net (A website to check deck)
8. Magiccards.info (A website to check cards and price)
9. StarCityGames
10. Tomoharu Saito Blog
11. Mtg Translation for Japanese Website
I will update this blog more often since I'm going to learn how to use this blog to record my results for my playtesting. Adios.
Malaysia National Championship 2010 @ Cititel Midvalley
Malaysia National Championship 2010 is one of the anticipated event for any magic player in Malaysia to qualify for. Why?
1. You can draft for free - Keep what you draft :D
2. When you register for the Nationals, you get a free LINVALA playmat.
3. You get to compete with the best player from the whole Malaysia.
4. It's FREEEEEEEEEE, only by invitation.
There's a few ways to get into Nationals.
1. By ratings.
2. By National Qualifier.
3. By Regional Qualifier.
I'm lucky to get into Nationals through Ratings and ranking in DCI. This happen due to the major event wins that I got in GP KL. I was in Top 75 of whole Malaysia.
Lucky me.
So this is the official website for the Malaysia National Championship 2010.
1. You can draft for free - Keep what you draft :D
2. When you register for the Nationals, you get a free LINVALA playmat.
3. You get to compete with the best player from the whole Malaysia.
4. It's FREEEEEEEEEE, only by invitation.
There's a few ways to get into Nationals.
1. By ratings.
2. By National Qualifier.
3. By Regional Qualifier.
I'm lucky to get into Nationals through Ratings and ranking in DCI. This happen due to the major event wins that I got in GP KL. I was in Top 75 of whole Malaysia.
Lucky me.
So this is the official website for the Malaysia National Championship 2010.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)