MRD Tournament - Game commentary/Discussion

[Nicdanger]

So changing my deck back to its original name makes it show up . . but I still get an error with Monopomans like "your deck is not legal".

Anyone else having this issue?

[Aswan jaguar]

I dont't know if you are reffering to this,but if you change the name of the deck outside the deck editor then it doesn't show in the deck editor.
Rename in the deck editor then save and should be fine.

[Cognis]

Sometimes if the name of the deck and the name of the file aren't the same some problems may occur. Before I put them into my playdeck folder I made sure they were both the same and I haven't had any problems.

[grinnin]

Crap didn't realize he was still in there, here's the new final 60 card list attached. Also I have the same concern as Cognis- I dont have all of the cards unlocked (especially the weird ones that aww likes to use ) and I've never participated in a tournament before. Where can I get a tournament copy...? Also how does the tournament process work, do we do a gauntlet of all decks, playing each one ourselves and vice versa? Are save games involved?


RE: Decks not working correctly,
Also as far as deck concerns there are two big things that manalink checks for

- 1. the name is exactly the same as in the file without the .dck extension. I've found that editing the filename in windows is often difficult if you have file-extension hiding on as it can be saved as a dck.txt sometime (if you're using something like notepad)

- 2. For some reason I always have problems if there isn't a blank line at the bottom of the deck, just an extra return character after the last card. Double check that its theree and if so, try adding another.

[Nicdanger]

I had the same thought while trying to go to sleep early this morning! Thanks for the advice.

I'm still having trouble with Monopoman's deck however. I'm just going to remake it now that I've seen it with notepad.

I'm also in need of a tournament version of Manalink, I've gone back and looked for a link to one but can't seem to find any.

[Cognis]

This is the one I used since we don't have cards from the new updates. I also made a copy of my magic folder so I could play the challenges and eliminate the need for tournament versions in the future.

[Shantak]

Jatill, could it be possible to get a tournament version of the new patch (that has AI's Genesis working not crashing when used in graveyard) with the tournament cards unlocked? I'm missing at least Serum Powder, Rout, Bloodbraid Elf and Bituminous Blast.

[Shantak]

I did some counting and some nifty top three lists based on our drafting. I haven't double-checked anything, so there may be mistakes in the lists. Hope you'll get something out of these:

Manalink Rotisserie Draft Top lists:

Three first non-P9 cards drafted:
1. Sol Ring (#2)
2. Library of Alexandria (#4)
3. Mana Crypt (#8)
Runner-up Skullclamp (#12)

Three last P9 cards drafted:
1. Timetwister (#60)
2. Time Walk (#11)
3. Mox Ruby (#10)

Three first creatures drafted:
1. Bloodbraid Elf (#23)
2. Dark Confidant (#25)
3. Boggart Ram-Gang (#26)
Runner-up Progenitus(#33)

Three first counterspells drafted:
1. Mana Drain (#13)
2. Force of Will (#20)
3. Counterspell (#22)
Runner-up Daze (#29)

Three first lands drafted:
1. Library of Alexandria (#4)
2. Strip Mine (#28)
3. Wasteland (#37)
Runner-up Maze of Ith (#61)

Three first artifacts not producing mana drafted:
1. Skullclamp (#12)
2. Time Vault (#18)
3. Voltaic Key (#34)
Runner-up Umezawa's Jitte (#39)

Three first planeswalkers drafted:
1. Jace, the Mind Sculptor (#16)
2. Garruk Wildspeaker (#88)
3. Tezzeret the Seeker (#100)
Runner-up Ajani Goldmane (#109)

Three first removal spells drafted:
1. Maelstrom Pulse (#42)
2. Pernicious Deed (#55)
3. Chainer's Edict (#56)
Runner-up Putrefy (#57), next were Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt and Diabolic Edict. And I missed Balance, which was first as #21, and despite doing all sorts of things it counts as removal first.

Three first capture effects drafted:
1. Vedalken Shackles (#79)
2. Bribery (#92)
3. Control Magic (#93)
Runner-up Treachery (#107)

Three first enchantments drafted:
1. Oath of Druids (#14)
2. Necropotence (#24)
3. Moat (#38)
Runner-up Pernicious Deed (#55)

Three first Beta duals drafted:
1. Bayou (#77)
2. Tundra (#128)
3. Taiga (#173)
Runner-up Badlands (#174)

Three first fetchlands drafted:
1. Verdant Catacombs (#78)
2. Bloodstained Mire (#124)
3. Wooded Foothills (#126)
Runner-up Flooded Strand (#127)

Three first Beta commons drafted:
1. Dark Ritual (#40)
2. Lightning Bolt (#68)
3. Sinkhole (#120)
Runner-up Llanowar Elves (#158)

Three first blue spells drafted:
1. Ancestral Recall (#1)
2. Time Walk (#11)
3. Mana Drain (#13)
Runner-up Tinker (#15)

Three first green spells drafted:
1. Oath of Druids (#14)
2. Natural Order (#32)
3. Crop Rotation (#44)
Runner-up Noble Hierarch (#48)

Three first black spells drafted:
1. Demonic Tutor (#19)
2. Necropotence (#24)
3. Dark Confidant (#25)
Runner-up Vampiric Tutor (#30)

Three first white spells drafted:
1. Balance (#21)
2. Moat (#38)
3. Enlightened Tutor (#54)
Runner-up Baneslayer Angel (#63)

Three first red spells drafted:
1. Wheel of Fortune (#67)
2. Lightning Bolt (#68)
3. Sneak Attack (#113)
Runner-up Dragonmaster Outcast (#115)

Three first gold spells drafted:
1. Bloodbraid Elf (#23)
2. Boggart Ram-Gang (#26)
3. Progenitus (#33)
Runner-up Maelstrom Pulse (#42)

Three first sorceries drafted:
1. Time Walk (#11)
2. Tinker (#15)
3. Demonic Tutor (#19)
Runner-up Balance (#21)

Three first instants drafted:
1. Ancestral Recall (#1)
2. Mana Drain (#13)
3. Force of Will (#20)
Runner-up Counterspell (#22)

Three first creatures with flying drafted:
1. Serendib Efreet (#59)
2. Baneslayer Angel (#63)
3. Platinum Angel (#91)
Runner-up Birds of Paradise (#94)

Three first non-Beta cards drafted:
1. Library of Alexandria (#4)
2. Mana Crypt (#8)
3. Skullclamp (#12)
Runner-up Mana Drain (#13)

Three first cards first published year 2000 or later that were drafted:
1. Skullclamp (#12)
2. Jace, the Mind Sculptor (#16)
3. Bloodbraid Elf (#23)
Runner-up Dark Confidant (#25)

Three first cards first published year 2010 that were drafted:
1. Jace, the Mind Sculptor (#16)
2. Cultivate (#96)
3. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (#112)
Runner-up Dragonmaster Outcast (#115)

Three first legends drafted:
1. Progenitus (#33)
2. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (#112)
3. Keiga, the Tide Star (#141)
Runner-up Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (#151)


One card I shouldn't have drafted but drafted anyway:
1. Grim Monolith. I mean, what was I thinking - I wanted mana, I wanted a Tinker target (like Tinker would have been available next time) but I didn't want Mana Vault unless I was sure I'd get Tinker. Did any of you have such an early draft card that didn't make it to your deck. Or maybe I should have put this in my deck? Everflowing Chalice seemed better to me.

[Cognis]

Wow, a really amazing list. I didn't have really big problems with the draft, especially after I listened to some advice how to exactly draft. I'm only sorry I forgot about Solemn Simulacrum and Scute Mob. I would've left Boggart Ram-Gang for among the last picks in retrospect but it was the beginning of the draft so I wanted to stake a claim on RG, and black just fell in place after that.

Also, I uploaded an earlier tournament version few posts up. I activated Genesis a few time and it didn't crash although I'm not sure if the AI did it as well.

[Nicdanger]

Playing Aww's Oath deck vs. Jatill I trigged Oath and got Keiga, the Tide Star into play, which is obviously in Jatill's deck and not Aww's.

It didn't effect the outcome as I had Ulamog and Darksteel Colossus out already, but it was an interesting bug!

[jatill]

Playing Aww's Oath deck vs. Jatill I trigged Oath and got Keiga, the Tide Star into play, which is obviously in Jatill's deck and not Aww's.

It didn't effect the outcome as I had Ulamog and Darksteel Colossus out already, but it was an interesting bug!

Were you playing for ante?

[aww1979]

A few of the early picks surprised me, but in general it's about what I expected. And, except for the early creatures, they only surprised me because the AI sucks with them, not because the cards suck. (Umezawa's Jitte, Skullclamp, Mana Crypt, for instance) I'm not really sure what creatures I expected to go first, but it wasn't those.

The only really early pick I didn't end up using was Eureka. With only a few creatures in the deck, I found that most of the time if I had Eureka, I didn't have anything to play with it, and it was just giving the AI free stuff, while conversely the AI would cast it and give the human free stuff.

Looking at play so far, I'm wondering if Channel was maybe a mistake. I haven't actually gotten it yet in any of the games, but I've never had a game where I was wishing I'd draw it. The hope was I'd get a few hands like 2x Forest, Channel, Ulamog or something.

[juzamjedi]

Masticore is an overrated pile of poo anyway :p

Blashphemy! He's a powerful blue creature, especially for the era when he was released.

[juzamjedi]

I think Red was under-drafted. I had too many controlling cards to make the switch myself. The first red card drafted (Wheel of Fortune, #67 ) was taken after all of the other colors had at least 3 selections.

The following red cards went undrafted and I think could have possibly made someone's deck: Grim Lavamancer , Kird Ape , Fireblast, Gauntlet of Might (might as well be Red), Searing Blaze, Pyroclasm, Earthquake, Char, Fireball, Magus of the Moon, Blood Moon, Fire Imp, hasty guys like Hell's Thunder, and the whole Goblin tribe (OK, Goblin Sharpshooter and SGC were drafted, but you get the point).

I made that list above not because I thought the red cards that people did take were bad; I made this list just to point out the power level of red that didn't even get drafted was pretty good.

The "cards in 2010" statistic was pretty interesting, but not too surprising. I was going to take Jace if he wheeled back to me.

Highest card I drafted, but am not playing: Aether Vial (Round 19, or pick #148 if I count the picks correctly). It's good, but the fact that the AI kept putting Aether Vial to 4 when my deck wants it at 3 was the real dagger though. Also in playtesting it does not play well with Library of Alexandria and almost every other card in the deck does.

Highest drafted card I could have taken: Vedalken Shackles. That card would be insane in my deck; almost every land is an Island.

[Nicdanger]

Were you playing for ante?

Not unless it turned itself on and then off again!

And the first card I drafted and didn't play was Ajani. I remember kicking myself for taking him instead of Elspeth when Jatill grab her just before I was going to.