Demonic Tutor

Magic: the Gathering in the UK

We are doing this in our Multiverse app:

http://mv.bluebones.net/

(Old shared Google spreadsheet for this is here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ag7TtjWsLhYkdHBBUHF4RG... )

Channel Fireball just did Top 8 Mechanics:

* Retrace

* Dredge

* Landfall (not for attacking like Steppe Lynx - Grazing Gladehart and Roil Elemental style)

* Scry

* Flashback

* Kicker

* Flying

* Cycling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiNNg5aj-xo

I wonder if we could use that, or some of that, as the basis of You Make the Set 5.  I know that some of you were keen on Landfall.

Not sure when we would play it out but some time in late May probably?

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Yay, all this sounds pretty positive, and even some of my 'hate' cards that almost all got cut are looking to be useful against some archetypes.

It looks like mono coloured decks are pretty common, which is not too surprising in hindsight as white and red are very insular, and even black to some degree, while blue and green pair well but not so much with anything else.

What was he Mass Conscripting for that made it so bomby? Cyclopean Commander?

We didn't get enough people to play this on Sunday, but I should have plenty of free time in September so looking forward to it hitting the table again.

Whilst it's always nice to hear that people are enjoying the set, we really need more harsh criticism of what we did wrong if we're going to improve for next time!


Were the 9 card boosters a better method than the full 15? It does seem that a 15 card booster in a regular set has quite a few filler/unplayable cards anyway so we won't lose much by cutting a few of our cards since all of them are perfectly playable. I guess next time we need to make some generally terrible cards that can occasionally be useful - that's the mark of a good design I think!

Good points Kieran.

Was this just three 9 card boosters? Or 4?

Three boosters seems a little too constricting, giving you only 27 cards to build your deck from. It feels like you have very little chance to switch into an open colour or change your draft if you realise you are getting cut.

My only problem with making genuinely terrible cards is that they are just their to pad out the boosters. No one is going to pick and play them, so why even have them? For Wizards they are useful for new players, and to provide some redundancy, and some of them can appeal to very niche player demographics, but we really don't have that concern, so should probably just not bother with them.

Regular cubes seem to get around this problem by having narrow/archetype cards that won't fit in every deck. This allows every card in the cube to be good, while not giving a ridiculous glut of options, and making every pick interesting and challenging.

We used 5 9-card boosters.  I haven't experimented with actually giving people less cards yet.

Criticism-wise I have only really heard people hate on Ambassadorial Garb.  And others found Ambassadorial Garb funny and made it the butt of some jokes which was fun so I'm not really sure that even counts. 

Last night we three-man-Winstoned Towerfall at the request of the other players (I had actual cube and graveyard cube on me and had to go up to my hotel room to get Towerfall!)  There was one particularly interesting game where the RB player had a potentially 29/29 Graveshade versus two Rampart Ravens getting in for two and a Flayed Sentry blocking it up on the ground.  The player with Rampart Ravens high-picked Staff of the Towers and played four colors (probably not very advisedly!)  These two have even asked how they print their own copy.

However, there is one player who has some criticism - me!  It is abundantly clear to me that we laid our themes on too thick, that we concentrated on only one theme per color incorrectly, that there is way too much redundancy.  If I draft U I am either drafting support cards for my R deck (Thought Shards - so awesome) or Portent.  If I draft R I am drafting comboloot.  If I draft W I am drafting Soulsong.  If I draft G I am drafting Portent.  B is the only color with more than two roles, I think.  Self-Mill combo, source of removal, or Portent backup color.

Another criticism is that we didn't do enough to break up board stalls.  W v G can degenerate to the point where W has a zillion life and G has a better or equivalent board quite easily for example.  The 2/2 Intimidate guy in G is usually the only one getting in in that situation and the opponent is usually gaining enough life to offset it.  Games really do come down to decking - not least because most of the decks have access to some ways to draw a bunch of cards.

I'm pretty sure Astral Magus is ridiculously broken - I saw two removal spells used to kill him yesterday and it was cheap at the price.   We didn't make Corrupt Seer good enough.  No one has ever played Deferred Pleasure.  I've never seen anyone actually get Evervine out.  Protective Elder is bomby but in a prolong-the-game way not an end-the-game way.  I've never seen anyone cast Lostsight Counsel.  Unravelling Thoughts is probably a first pick bomb that the R and U decks can't beat.  Ancestral Odyssey is probably OP although I saw it go fifth the other day.  Portal Thopter is unplayably underpowered.  I've never seen anyone play Bloodvine's Thorns.  I've never seen anyone play Anxiety Attack.

I have to say, though, we did pretty well.

Oh my god, Bone Beast got printed!

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showpost.php?p=9039777&postcount=2

Cobblebrute - 3R

Creature - Beast

5/2

That just proves it was the best design in the set. Can't believe we cut it!

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