Peter's Startup for Modo

[Peter Dun]

After spending the last week desperately wanting to play lots of modern and being unable to find sufficient games due to time difference (magic-league is always empty on Asian time) I have finally realised the inevitable and know that playing on modo is probably my only option if I want to play mtg constructed. This is a very sad day for me, but I guess such is life.

 

However, the idea of starting from scratch with no decks and no packs is a pretty daunting task. As such, I would like any assistance in terms of advice and cards that you guys can give. In particular with cards. If anyone can lend me any of the following cards for modern I will be very very grateful (I will wait on t2 for innistrad). If you are insist on only selling the cards, I will happily pay either 1.1x the bot selling price in tix within 3 months, or 1.2x the value in a year when I next get to England.

 

I think I will primarily grind t2, pauper and constructed queues, and not really play limited (even though that is more fun). I want to avoid spending a very large amount on this if possible, and constructed will let me play for less. However, any other advice on how to play (even basic things like stops etc.) would be welcome.

 

Modern UB LD (or what English ppl should have played at the PT ;) )

// Lands
    4 [ZEN] Scalding Tarn
    2 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest
    6 [CHK] Island (4)
    3 [M11] Swamp (4)
    4 [RAV] Watery Grave
    2 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs

// Creatures
    1 [M11] Frost Titan
    1 [M12] Grave Titan

// Spells
    1 [NPH] Karn Liberated
    4 [LRW] Ponder
    4 [M11] Jace Beleren
    4 [10E] Boomerang
    2 [9E] Annex
    3 [CHK] Eye of Nowhere
    4 [M11] Preordain
    2 [LRW] Liliana Vess
    3 [CHK] Befoul
    2 [PLC] Damnation
    3 [10E] Rain of Tears
    1 [WWK] Smother
    1 [M10] Doom Blade
    3 [LRW] Thoughtseize

// Sideboard
SB: 2 [FD] Vedalken Shackles
SB: 2 [CHK] Cranial Extraction
SB: 2 [NPH] Batterskull
SB: 2 [M11] Duress
SB: 4 [M12] Negate
SB: 1 [M10] Duress
SB: 2 [ROE] Vendetta

 

 

 

Chris Bateman has warned me about Watery Graves and Shackles costing a lot online, in which case, some extra vendettas/river of tears and the UB m11 duals would be welcome.

[Daniel Royde]

Advice to follow, that deck surely just dies after not doing much...

[Peter Dun]

you don't get a lot of time to not do much in this modern format :)

 

resource denial a pro-active gameplan vs control and combo + the ability to find wrath of god and removal as required? seems fine (terrible vs swath unless you can boomerang swath, but very good vs anything else)

[Philip Dickinson]

peter i can lend you a whole standard deck which you could play in some events to grind up tickets to buy some modern cards? If I give you the deck you would only have to invest in the entry fee to some tournaments and you can win enough after a couple of DEs to raise money for modern.

 

I don't have a lot in terms of standard at the moment, but I have a complete Splinter Twin deck and a complete Grand Architect deck. I also have most of the relevant building blocks for most standard decks - playsets of Scars duals, playsets of zen fetches, playsets of all the commons and uncommons etc. I can have a look at my collection to see what I can build out of it - just let me know.

 

DEs give about $40 profit if you 4-0 and about $20 profit if you 3-1, but they take 3 and a half hours to play.

8-man constructed tournaments fire often and are 5-3-2-2... this means the profit margin is less but they take much less time and you don't run the risk of wasting loads of time by going 2-0 in a DE then ending up 2-2 and winning nothing.

 

let me know :D

[Peter Dun]

yeah, that's what I was thinking basically... I know its "easy" to grind in constructed if you can go 2-1 consistently enough, so I probably won't play limited for a couple of months at least. if you could lend me twin for standard I would be very grateful as it's a very solid deck... I'd be happy to pay a "borrowers" fee after a couple of weeks, but I can't really offer you any collateral (although I promise I will return everything and I can give you real life contact details)

[Peter Dun]

do you have any advice on things like stops.... I tried playing a bit on the free server with trial decks... but there interaction is not particularly complicated like I guess twin would be....

[Jason Savage]

Peter,

It can be easier at the start to have all the stops on while you get used to modo.  Then I would amend them to suit yourself and the decks you play. If you watch the videos on Starcity and Channelfireball, they all have made mistakes with their stops, they forget they have taken stops off and then moan when they miss something!

I still have most of the stops on and I have been on modo for nearly 4 years, I very rarely miss something or skip a phase.

[Daniel Royde]

You will lose matches to the interface. There have been good articles on SCG about using modo. It's worth having a search there for some good stuff.

[Peter Dun]

twin won the PT... guess it wasn't such a bad choice after all :)

[Peter Dun]

I live in China, thus haven't seen much videos from either site

Jason Savage said:

Peter,

It can be easier at the start to have all the stops on while you get used to modo.  Then I would amend them to suit yourself and the decks you play. If you watch the videos on Starcity and Channelfireball, they all have made mistakes with their stops, they forget they have taken stops off and then moan when they miss something!

I still have most of the stops on and I have been on modo for nearly 4 years, I very rarely miss something or skip a phase.

[Philip Dickinson]

i have no idea about TIME ZONES. but post here when you can be online on modo and i can trade you the deck. i've sold some pieces of it (Jaces, the Sphinx) so if you let me know what kind of list you like then i'll see what i have. i mean, the core is

 

4 scalding tarn

2 misty rainforest

6 mountain

9 island (or 5 island, 4 Halimar Depths)

4 ponder

4 preordain

4 gitaxian probe

4 deceiver exarch

4 splinter twin

3 shrine of piercing vision

4 dispel

4 into the roil

 

I think that those 56 cards are a lock, and the other 4 can be anything. I think something like

2 See Beyond/Jace B

1 Spell Pierce/Twisted Image

1 Consecrated Sphinx/Wurmcoil Engine

is probably best. but let me know what you want

 

[Ben Titmarsh]

I would suggest at a minimum put stops on Upkeep (opponent), Begin Combat (opponent), Declare Attackers (you and opponent), Declare Blockers (you and opponent).

 

This suits me for 95% of games, occasionally if you need to do something in an opponents main phase or something weird then just put the stop on as you need it.  For me it's annoying to have too many stops.

[Mark Walker]

Think you have to put stops on your main phases too, (obv), but  don't forget opponents end of turn. That suffices for most games i play in limited.

Ben Titmarsh said:

I would suggest at a minimum put stops on Upkeep (opponent), Begin Combat (opponent), Declare Attackers (you and opponent), Declare Blockers (you and opponent).

 

This suits me for 95% of games, occasionally if you need to do something in an opponents main phase or something weird then just put the stop on as you need it.  For me it's annoying to have too many stops.