[Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT

[Khaospawn]

I've religiously used KMC Pearl Whites for the last 4 years. I wonder if these sleeves are at least close to that quality.

[RaidaTheBlade]

Well, I've never used them myself, but he has a lot of videos up showing them off.

They seem to have a fairly thick weld, which probably helps with stability/peeling, and shuffling. They look pretty good quality in a lot of the demos

[Lightning_Dolt]

I've religiously used KMC Pearl Whites for the last 4 years. I wonder if these sleeves are at least close to that quality.

I use KMC tournament matte. Red for fnm (since they know what I play) and black for big events. I've only broken a kmc sleeve once, despite how much I play.

I love the art on ultrapro sleeves, but tye delaminate after two fnms.

[DarthStabber]

I lost my ptq top-8 mats last time I moved, so i've just been playing on the bare table. Luckily there is a ptq coming up, and I do very well at limited ptqs.

I see no reason to pay for those when they give you one for playing well. That being said I did buy one of The Magic Show ones a few years back. I just love watching evan go into magical christmas land on set reviews and either brad nelson or gerry thompson drags him back to reality kicking and screaming, and that was worth contributing to.

[LP, of the Fires]

Watching Breaking Bad. Shoutout to Khaos for motivating me.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I lost my ptq top-8 mats last time I moved, so i've just been playing on the bare table. Luckily there is a ptq coming up, and I do very well at limited ptqs.

I see no reason to pay for those when they give you one for playing well. That being said I did buy one of The Magic Show ones a few years back. I just love watching evan go into magical christmas land on set reviews and either brad nelson or gerry thompson drags him back to reality kicking and screaming, and that was worth contributing to.

Sorry, we were talking about sleeves.

I used to play with a flames of the firebrand playmat, but I really like the GP: Kitakyusu (mill stone) one too.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I lost my ptq top-8 mats last time I moved, so i've just been playing on the bare table. Luckily there is a ptq coming up, and I do very well at limited ptqs.

I see no reason to pay for those when they give you one for playing well. That being said I did buy one of The Magic Show ones a few years back. I just love watching evan go into magical christmas land on set reviews and either brad nelson or gerry thompson drags him back to reality kicking and screaming, and that was worth contributing to.

Also, you only get playmats for winning game day or top 8ing ptqs / world magic cup qualifiers. A lot of us haven't achieved that yet lol.

[NerdBoyWonder]

I lost my ptq top-8 mats last time I moved, so i've just been playing on the bare table. Luckily there is a ptq coming up, and I do very well at limited ptqs.

I see no reason to pay for those when they give you one for playing well. That being said I did buy one of The Magic Show ones a few years back. I just love watching evan go into magical christmas land on set reviews and either brad nelson or gerry thompson drags him back to reality kicking and screaming, and that was worth contributing to.

Sorry, we were talking about sleeves.

I used to play with a flames
of the firebrand playmat, but I really like the GP: Kitakyusu (mill stone) one too.

I had been using my friend's blood crypt playmat but picked up the Purphoros Playmat during the pre release cause yeah. Red God and shit.


On another note I wouldn't mind lending a hand design wise to making a clan logo, banners for Primers or sigs. Just toss a PM my way with a request and an idea of what you want included.

[hamfactorial]

Watching Breaking Bad. Shoutout to Khaos for motivating me.

This is the start of a new life, your real life.

[Yarpus]

Damn, I don't even remember what kind of playmat I had and on which Gameday I won. I think it was NPH. (no FK it was MB Gameday! I lost in the finals of NPH one :< ) I sold it straight after winning for some shit money.
Fuck playmats = play on table and have booze. (at least it worked for me like that back in the days)

[zemanjaski]

Working on my 'How to Magma Jet like a Pro' article. Here are some illustrative examples to consider that will get you thinking about the value of information.

BASIC:
- you're on the draw in a mono red mirror;
- you're opponent played a turn 1 Cackler, unleashed; and
- your play was mountain, with shock in hand.

When do you play shock, between your second main phase and your opponents next end step? Why?

ADVANCED:
- you're on the play with BW control;
- you went turn 1 tapped Godless Shrine, pass;
- your opponent went turn 1 island go; and
- you draw a Thoughtseize with a Temple of Silence in hand.

Do you:
- Thoughtseize them first, then scry to make an informed decision about what sort of cards you need to find; or
- Scry first, then Thoughtseize, so you can make an informed decision of what to take?

Bonus point for discussion of whether it's better to lead
turn 1 scryland or turn 1 tapped shock land.

[Yarpus]

When do you play shock, between your second main phase and your opponents next end step? Why?

On Modo: during combat step.
On ProTour: eot as they could play Ash Zealot after combat step for both bluff and stonewall.

Do you:
- Thoughtseize them first, then scry to make an informed decision about what sort of cards you need to find; or
- Scry first, then Thoughtseize, so you can make an informed decision of what to take?

Depend on the deck to be honest. If I have small amount of answers against opposing deck, then Scry first. If I'm sure that I have lots of responses to them - Thoughtseize first.

I'll give you and example.
When I was playing UW Control against Aggro (favorable matchup - most of my cards screwed them) I was using Scry for consistency mostly. I wasn't aggresively scrying, just using it to make sure i'll not stumble.
In Control
matchups, I was aggresively scrying to find the answers for cards they are going to play (Tumble Magnet, Into the Roil, Mana Leak) and I wasn't afraid of sending my lands into bottom.

Bonus point for discussion of whether it's better to lead turn 1 scryland or turn 1 tapped shock land.

Depends on matchup's vital points. I'd gladly Scry 1 on T1 against Aggro if I'm in need of finding that T4 wrath. If all I'm going to do is trade 1-for-1 though, I'd play shockland T1 and then use Scry later.

[Khaospawn]

@JS- Every deck I have is in KMC Pearl White. The beauty of it all is that I can play musical cards without resleeving. Everybody knows I play Mono Red or R/Xx exclusively anyway, so I don't try any deception with my sleeves. In fact, I always say, "I'm playing Red. Beat me if you can."

@LP- Breaking Bad will change your life.

[windstrider]

I use black matte card sleeves because I like how the Zendikar full-art mountains look against the black interior. If the V for Vendetta sleeves had a black interior rather than white, I'd use them instead since that is one of my favorite graphic novels and movies.

[TubeHunter]

I enjoy dragonsheild myself, and I like the shiny grey ones the most. Though my legacy deck has pink ones

[LP, of the Fires]

Working on my 'How to Magma Jet like a Pro' article. Here are some illustrative examples to consider that will get you thinking about the value of information.

BASIC:
- you're on the draw in a mono red mirror;
- you're opponent played a turn 1 Cackler, unleashed; and
- your play was mountain, with shock in hand.

When do you play shock, between your second main phase and your opponents next end step? Why?

Their turn, when they attack. If I get an Ash Zealot, my shock became spell snare. If they don't play anything and just swing with cackler, mofo is dead. Trading across on mana is fine so long as I keep my life total up. The only thing they could play post combat that I would want to kill
would be maybe a firefist striker or a YP$, but I consider the 2 life more valuable from exp.

ADVANCED:
- you're on the play with BW control;
- you went turn 1 tapped Godless Shrine, pass;
- your opponent went turn 1 island go; and
- you draw a Thoughtseize with a Temple of Silence in hand.

Do you:
- Thoughtseize them first, then scry to make an informed decision about what sort of cards you need to find; or
- Scry first, then Thoughtseize, so you can make an informed decision of what to take?

Bonus point for discussion of whether it's better to lead turn 1 scryland or turn 1 tapped shock land.

I tend to thoughtseize first. I'd rather a perfect scry then a perfect thoughtseize. Like, if you scry first and see a thoughtseize, wtf do you do? You'll definitely wish you thoughtseized first to know the value of the one on top of your library. On the flipside, it's hard to fuck up your thoughtseize
because you have perfect information. I don't know how to put this but I think thoughtseizing first gives you the highest chance to make 100% correct play into 100% correct play.

For the bonus points, context dependant. If you have precinct captain in hand, you go temple>godless to hit your curve. If you have no turn 1 or 2 play(or you have thoughtseize as a turn 2 play), I prefer holding my temples as long as possible so I have maximum information.

Replies in bold.

Edit: Replies in black cause the bold fucking sucks.

Edi2: Yarpus's points on scrying are also good. Depending on the matchup, it's reasonable to scry for consistency. Like, if you know with reasonable certainty what your opponents deck is doing, you can make adjustments on your shortcuts from that information.

[Lightning_Dolt]

@JS- Every deck I have is in KMC Pearl White. The beauty of it all is that I can play musical cards without resleeving. Everybody knows I play Mono Red or R/Xx exclusively anyway, so I don't try any deception with my sleeves. In fact, I always say, "I'm playing Red. Beat me if you can."

@LP- Breaking Bad will change your life.

Not a known giver of fucks.

[redthirst]

Play the Shock during the Combat Phase before attackers are declared so you still get the Zealot if it's played but won't get blown out by a possible Bloodrush.

And I prefer playing Scry Lands over tapped Shock Lands since the Shocks give you the option to play them untapped if you need the mana in the future and I nearly always go with the line of play that gives more options.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Working on my 'How to Magma Jet like a Pro' article. Here are some illustrative examples to consider that will get you thinking about the value of information.

BASIC:
- you're on the draw in a mono red mirror;
- you're opponent played a turn 1 Cackler, unleashed; and
- your play was mountain, with shock in hand.

When do you play shock, between your second main phase and your opponents next end step? Why?

ADVANCED:
- you're on the play with BW control;
- you went turn 1 tapped Godless Shrine, pass;
- your opponent went turn 1 island go; and
- you draw a Thoughtseize with a Temple of Silence in hand.

Do you:
- Thoughtseize them first, then scry to make an informed decision about what sort of cards
you need to find; or
- Scry first, then Thoughtseize, so you can make an informed decision of what to take?

Bonus point for discussion of whether it's better to lead turn 1 scryland or turn 1 tapped shock land.

1) On the attack step. My opponents wouldn't sandbag a zealot.

2) I would thoughseize first, write down the cards in their hand, then base my scry on that information. The best card in their hand is still going to be the best card in their hand. Knowing what they have in their hand to make an informed scrying decision seems much better.

[zemanjaski]

Great answers! This is why scry is a mechanic that should be printed more often; there's so much depth to it.

[LP, of the Fires]

@Redthirst: RE the fact that shocks have the option, I generally lead with tapped shocks until a certain phase of the game(usually turn 3 in BW) where there are cards you absolutely want to play on curve. For the first X turns, you generally have enough cheap interaction in the scry decks until it comes time to cast supreme verdict, desecration demon, and Obzedat among other things.

[Khaospawn]

I'm late to the party, but JS's response is the exact same one I'd make.

[LP, of the Fires]

And yes, scry is the best mechanic in magic. Lets you and your opponent cheat to your hearts content, and every scry "feels good". It also makes games more difficult to analyze after wins/losses which I love because it means the games are further driven by the margins.

[Yarpus]

I can't always say out properly what I mean in english, so here's my extended response to scry thing.

There are times when you beat opposing deck by being yourself. Mostly, the favorable matchups. The moments when you are just doing your job and you know that resolving your plan equals winning. In case of WB I guess it's resolving some early blocker/weenie or Pharika's Curse something and then step into Blood Baron/Obzedat step. You don't need to scry aggresively. If I'll find a fine card - I'll take it. Let it be Thoughtseize/Doom Blade/Hero's Downfall. I'll just take it as it might help me when I know that my gameplan will work and all I need to do is to do something in the filler turns.

On the other hand when you are pressed to the wall by deck that you know has something that requires very narrow solution from you - you need to go aggresive in terms of Scrying. Let's say you're BW and they are... hell, I
don't know. I don't play BW. I've played lots of UW. So let's say you're UW Venser and they are CawBlade Aggresive version with Mirran Crusaders. You know what is going to happen. Mystic -> Crusader -> Sword of I Fuck Your Face.
You have few narrow responsed. Into the Roil as you can bounce Crusader in response to attack. Tumble Magnet and tap the wielder of the sword. Revoke to exile the sword.
Then you are going to scry very aggresively as you know what you need to draw into. I'll skip Walls, Jaces, Vensers... anything that doesn't support beating their plan. Even 4th, 5th lands which could be really usefull. As all I need to do now is find a response to the board state.
I hope that explains myself a bit.

I loved Preordain to my heart's content. I've played the same UW Control deck for year and I knew that if I don't screw mulligan thing I'll be able to play exactly the same cards during the first six turns of the game. Preordain -> WoO -> Blade Splicer -> DoJ -> Venser -
> Sun Titan. God that was so beautifull. :<

In the similiar way as 'who's the beatdown' philosophy - it works for any deck. The deck that will get the advantage first is forcing second deck to find the response to that or show bigger threat that will be enough to beat the tempo disadvantage. If Red presents me huge board state I'll do everything to find a wrath. If they are just starting to get into the business or have slower draw, I'll make sure my gameplan goes smooth as I know that in later turns I'm the one who's the beatdown.

[zemanjaski]

I'm of the opinion that scry increases in value over time (you get to make more informed decisions), so I want to sandbag it; especially if you're post board.

[LP, of the Fires]

I'm of the opinion that scry increases in value over time (you get to make more informed decisions), so I want to sandbag it; especially if you're post board.

To quote Khaos: All my yes. I've been known to belittle my friends for playing turn 1 scrylands when they have no turn 2 play.

[Yarpus]

'Sandbag' = play it later ?

[Helios]

Late to the party, but: If you don't have a card you want turn two in your deck (which, on the play, I don't know that black does), then I'd play the shock tapped. Then you get to thoughseize next turn, and scry with more information.

The people at my LGS like to turn 1 shock untapped, then thoughtseize. They're my favorite people.

[LP, of the Fires]

'Sandbag' = play it later ?

Yes.

[Yarpus]

I actually reccomend casting burn spells not at EOT but during their upkeep before draw step. People often forget about responding to that as they just want to draw their goddamn card. But that's one kind of abuse for newbies.

[DerWille]

Working on my 'How to Magma Jet like a Pro' article. Here are some illustrative examples to consider that will get you thinking about the value of information.

BASIC:
- you're on the draw in a mono red mirror;
- you're opponent played a turn 1 Cackler, unleashed; and
- your play was mountain, with shock in hand.

When do you play shock, between your second main phase and your opponents next end step? Why?

I save the shock till combat. If they play Ash Zealot, I blast her. What tempts me though is to figure out if they're using Emily. If they are, I'm half tempted to take the 2 and then blast the Firefist Striker when he comes out. A cackler is easily dealt with, but a striker with 3 guys on the field is a
pain in the ass. Even if I did kill the Cackler, they could play Chandra's Phoenix and still negate any blocker I put out the next turn.

ADVANCED:
- you're on the play with BW control;
- you went turn 1 tapped Godless Shrine, pass;
- your opponent went turn 1 island go; and
- you draw a Thoughtseize with a Temple of Silence in hand.

Do you:
- Thoughtseize them first, then scry to make an informed decision about what sort of cards you need to find; or
- Scry first, then Thoughtseize, so you can make an informed decision of what to take?

Bonus point for discussion of whether it's better to lead turn 1 scryland or turn 1 tapped shock land.

The first question seems to be slanted. Why would I scry then thoughtseize? Learning my opponent's hand make the scry decision better. It seems like the only answer to thoughtseize then scry.

However, I'm more tempted to play the scry land first so I have the most mana available to cast
spells. Maybe this is my lack of experience playing control coming out, but I highly value curving out. It might not be as big of a deal against a blue deck though. If I did scry first, then I would have saw the thoughtseize and kept it there. While this line of play is strictly worse, there's no way I could know that thoughtseize was my first draw without cheating.

[TubeHunter]

If anyone has cockatrice, im up for some games.

[InflatablePie]

I saw the dumbest goddamn thing at my LGS last night.

Walked by in the middle of a match between a BUG Midrange deck I beat last week, and a UG deck.

Player 1 (BUG) had a Reaper of the Wilds. And a Progenitor Mimic copying it. And another Mimic copying the first one (so, it spawns two tokens). Player 1 is spawning three Reapers per turn (and I think had one token at the time I walked by, so he went Mimic, pass, [p2 turn], draw, mimic, pass).

Here's where I walked up.

Player 2 (UG) plays his own Mimic, copying the second Mimic of player 1. So he gets a Reaper that spawns three tokens per upkeep. He passes.

Player 1 spawns his tokens... then plays his third Progenitor Mimic, copying his opponent's, which is copying his, which is copying his, which is copying his Reaper, and will spawn 4 tokens for a grand total of seven tokens spawning per turn.


...




(I just walked away after that. Pretty sure the BUG player won.)

[Helios]

Pie that's hysterical.

Fun fact: Look at young pyromancer's belt! http://www.sheppard-arts.com/blog/img/p ... a-belt.jpg

[Khaospawn]

Fun fact: Look at young pyromancer's belt! http://www.sheppard-arts.com/blog/img/p ... a-belt.jpg

He should've been a man and gotten that as a tattoo on his crank.

[Helios]

He should've been a woman. Most of her art is alluring women, but for whatever reason Pyromancer is a dude.

[Khaospawn]

He'd make an ugly woman, dat's fo sho.

[Kazekirimaru]

I love scry because it makes bad players worse. /input

[Helios]

Kaze, stop hanging out in your mafia thread. I mizz you.

[Kazekirimaru]

Awh. I'm around. Honest. I just expanded my ambit a bit.

Soon, I shall take over this entire forum. For the clan. For the Burn. For the Mountain.