@smmenen said in [Article] 100 Matches with the Best Deck in Magic:
That said, the only really disappointing part of the article is that I felt you should have presented the pros and cons of possible Shops restrictions in more detail, instead of just an offhand remark about Inspector and/or Sphere. I think Ravager might actually be the best next restriction of Shops, as it is the card that makes Ballista so truly ridiculous, and thwarts other removal and Dack.
Thanks for the reply and nuanced feedback. I'll start off by talking about why I didn't mention Arcbound Ravager for the chopping block:
I think Arcbound Ravager is by far the deepest card in the deck. It's what lets you leverage your skill against your opponent's. It's the kind of card that depending on how you play it, different players will win or lose from the same boardstate. I think that having this sort of card is what keeps Shops interesting.
The reason I suggested the cards that I suggested, Foundry Inspector or Sphere of Resistance, is because I believe that the current hate cards against Shops (like By Force and Energy Flux) are certainly good enough to beat the deck. The problem is that by the time the cards are actually able to be cast, it's often too late.
Shops currently has 8 lock-pieces. With a 7 card hand, that's about a 65% chance of having at least 1 lock-piece in an opening 7. Restricting Sphere puts this number down to 47%. Also, reducing the likelihood of multiple Sphere effects allows these hate cards to get cast a turn earlier, which is often all that is needed.
Foundry Inspector is the other side of the coin. It can often produce 3+ mana per turn, and it's not even a Workshop! It enables you to empty your hand extremely quickly, making creature-heavy draws into an extremely fast kill. Restricting Foundry Inspector slows down the Aggro plan by a turn. This turn, as mentioned, can be all the other deck needs in order to cast its hate cards.
Also, I don't necessarily think Misstep should get the axe. It's just a popular argument so it would be disingenuous to not mention it. I intended this article to be understood by a non-Vintage playing audience, too, and most of them wouldn't have heard this argument before.
@joshuabrooks said in [Article] 100 Matches with the Best Deck in Magic:
P.S. I'd love to know how you got 100 matches in with a 6 week old! My magic came to a grinding halt when the babies appear, lol.
One of the best ways we have for calming our baby and getting him to stay asleep is to put him in an ErgoBaby strapped to my chest, while I bounce him on an exercise ball. So I replaced my desk chair with the exercise ball. Win-win.
The way that players play their decks on MTGO reflects a video game scenario where they look at their interactions as if playing a computer not a person.
@moorebrother1 said in [Article] 100 Matches with the Best Deck in Magic:
I very strongly disagree with your assessment. There's a reason the best MTGO players are the best paper players.