I have been brewing pretty hard since my son was born back in November and I have not been able to play much paper magic. I wanted to ask for some opinions on how people brew decks.
I tend to look at brewing in 3 ways:
- Trying to make a known deck better or at least better for my play style
- Creating something new and novel
- Taking a different look at a know concept.
Some of you have probably read my threads on Mono-blue PO or Blue Moon, which fits into category 1. I messed around with Aminatou for a minute, which is category 2. Most recently I have been focused on Karn, Scion of Urza which is category 3 but quickly spills over into category 1 or 2 depending on how you approach it.
Vintage is a very unforgiving format for brewing. I find that concepts often flame out fast against the 4 tier 1 decks (PO, Xerox, Shops, Dredge). This can stifle innovation but it does not have to. How can I leveage knowledge of the meta-game and the huge option of cards to innovate?
I make a lot of jank decks that I would normally play at my LSG or against my brother but being unable to get out because of dad duties has kept me on MTGO. Being honest it is really hard to brew on MTGO. I own a ton of cards and cards that I do not own I will proxy in paper to brew. On MTGO, while the cost is low it is still a cost. I find that I get stuck and unable to brew the way I want to because of the cost and because the competitive play on MTGO makes it hard to play decks that are being brewed.
If I play pick up games they do not tell me much because the decks are all over the place. The leagues are too competitive for a deck that is being brewed and not quite ready for prime time.
I am open to all ideas here.