Manchester GT

[fatolaf]

Good luck to our own Steven and Guillaime who are at the Manchester GT this wknd...

Steven using BUG control, Gui using TBC

1st round : Gui won and Steven lost

2nd round : Steven lost, Gui lost (16 damage from Purphoros passive ability )

3rd round : Steven lost, Gui lost

4th round : Steven lost, Gui Won

5th round:

[Steve H]

Yep, good luck guys...

[roland murat]

Not looking like either will  be on the bit that gets shown on youtube then

[fatolaf]

Not looking like either will  be on the bit that gets shown on youtube then

Yeah Steven will miss the cut despite using the same BUG deck that everyone is using, he says the mana gods have been screwing with him...
Will find out Gui's final tally, but with only 2 losses so far, he still has a chance...

[jackhoneysett]

Hope you're having a good time guys!

What is the BUG deck that everyone is using, out of interest?

[Steve H]

Hope you're having a good time guys!

What is the BUG deck that everyone is using, out of interest?

I think it's the Courser, Caryatid, heroes downfall, silence the believers, kiora doo-dah... There's a few variations on it.

[Guillaume]

I went 2-3 and then pulled out cos I couldn't get to day 2 and was getting bored so I did some chaos drafting, also saw John who pulled out at the same time as me with 1-4 . To conclude, block is the most boring format in existence and I will avoid playing this format if possible (will still help Stevo and jack practice for their block event, but i advise them to just play standard or draft...


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[Guillaume]

The mainstream bug deck is the usual removal suite, Kiora, ashiok and sphinx with the courser and caryatid, with some thoughtseizes, psychic intrusions etc...


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[fatolaf]

And of course BUG stands for Black, Blue and Green and it will be everywhere this wknd!

Block format to me is the dullest way to play MTG and I suspect the top 8 will be all the same deck..

[BusiMagic]

It is interesting to hear all the pros talk about how this is a surprisingly diverse block constructed meta! To be fair the pro tour top 8 had 3-4 different decks.

Block is never going to be that interesting. I guess the argument is that the skill level goes up because you know all the decks better. Not sure I buy that.

[fatolaf]

Nor me, block is simply a way to make more money off cards not normally used in standard...

Both Steve and Gui dropped out of the main event after 5 games as neither would make the cut, Steven on 5 losses, Gui on 2 wins and 3 losses...
Both having fun today doing chaos drafts (which uses booster packs from history) Steven got an unhinged booster as his opening pack in his first draft...

[BusiMagic]

I can't imagine wizards make any money off the cards used in block. No one is buying boosters to get a prognostic sphinx. I guess the better argument is it gives people more of an idea about standard post rotation and is a mix up. Possibly a better pro tour format than a GP one.

[Guillaume]

The format was quite diverse compared to rtr block, where it was sphinxe's revelation or white weenie. And this block is more skill based than others because of the scry mechanic and what a pro player would scry compared to a beginner, we didn't actually watch the top 8 except for the final so I dot know what decks were played


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[Guillaume]

This was the best part of the gp though


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[jackhoneysett]

I'm still excited about playing in a Theros block event this summer, but I can see that it could get stale quickly if everyone does use the same BUG net deck. But I suspect that net decking is a problem with any event, and one sort of deck always tends to dominate by the sounds of it.

I think there are still other decks that work from the Theros set though, from what I have seen... Personally I will be using something very different (mainly because I am too cheap to fork out for the Courser!)

By the way, I want to do a chaos draft. Sounds great fun!

[fatolaf]

Not convinced the act of scrying is a hugely skilful process for a player, once they get to a certain level of competence..

IMO the true skill of MTG is deck construction (which is sadly hugely diminished due to the Internet) and learning all the cards/rules...
After that it's all down to the mana gods.....

Glad you guys had fun, block def not for me, but next Big UK event I will come along , more for the side events I think than the main event...

[BusiMagic]

Card selection is pretty important I think there is plenty of skill to scrying. I think the real difference is when you add coursers and thoughtseize. You have such a clear idea about what is in each others hands you have to be very careful about how you use your cards.

[Guillaume]

bug was 21% of the field, Naya monsters was 32%, mono-black was 10%, junk constellation was 8%, junk midrange was 6%, blue/white heroic was 6%, red/white heroic was 4%, junk reanimator was 3%, and 9% was other (mainly esper, mono-blue and whatever else people decided to run, so there is no net-listing problem, and even if it was its not a problem because people recognise that these decks are the best ones and someone might come up with a better one or better interpretation of one but in a competitive event its stupid to paly a deck that is strictly worse than an other.

[fatolaf]

So what's in the Naya deck?

[Guillaume]

stormbreath dragon, xenagos and elspeth

[Guillaume]

and yh mike is right about coursers and thoughtseize etc... the format is definately alot more skill intensive than standard as players have more information to work with and thus their decisions reflect this, meaning that players with alot of experience will generally make better decisions than newer players, and ol your totally wrong about scrying, ill bet you that 60% of the time you and I would scry different things to the bttom or the top, and 90% of our scry 2 and 3 would be different

[fatolaf]

By that do you mean you are a better player than me? 

It's an impossible thing to say, unless we play the same deck shuffled exactly the same way, and then I predict we would keep the same cards 90% of the time..
As it is, we play very different decks, very different styles and as I use much less mana than you 99.9% of my scrys are to get land to the top any way

I used to take this game very seriously, I do not any more, I am also not in awe of Pro players, I do not think they are that much better than a lot of players I know my age who have played the game since the beginning. They like me.  Do not like playing the game for money, ranking etc....

You could give 10 monkeys a net list Esper deck and eventually they would get a top 8 finish...

[Guillaume]

esper isnt tier 1 anymore, its jund or junk, and the scrying argument is never going to get resolved so theres no point debating it, but watching the finals of the gp the bug player made several key decisions that i would have done differently, maybe they didnt affect the outcome of the game and maybe they did, but the fact remains that he made them differently than me which shows that he is thinking about other possibilities, and maybe im right and maybe he is but the fact that players have so much more information means that more inexperienced players like me might miss things that more experienced players wouldnt (but the difference is only marginal)

[fatolaf]

Was just using Esper as an example, the point is the same

[shadownova24]

Yeah was a great weekend, having a awesome bug deck and losing 0-5.

Having droped at that point i did some side events which was fun plus got some cards signed
Foil Fleecmain Lion plus 3 normal
4 Iroas God
Arulia 

Then Sunday 1400 entered the standard championship and WON it 
Had to ID the last game after going 5-0 and splitting the prize which was 16 boosters and £65 cash or £90 store credit but the store we was assigned was shit.

[Steve H]

Yeah was a great weekend, having a awesome bug deck and losing 0-5.

Having droped at that point i did some side events which was fun plus got some cards signed
Foil Fleecmain Lion plus 3 normal
4 Iroas God
Arulia 

Then Sunday 1400 entered the standard championship and WON it 
Had to ID the last game after going 5-0 and splitting the prize which was 16 boosters and £65 cash or £90 store credit but the store we was assigned was shit.

Well done on the win dude!!!

Now sign up for my draft! :)

[fatolaf]

ID a game.??

Well done though fella, how many players were in that event, which deck did you use?

[shadownova24]

I played with R/G Monsters 50 players i think

4 [card]Stormbreath Dragon[/card]
4 [card]Polukranos, World Eater[/card]
3 [card]xenagos god of revels[/card]
2 [card]xenagos the reveler[/card]
3 [card]Boon satyr[/card]
4 [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card]
4 [card]Elvish Mystic[/card]
2 [card]Mizzium mortars[/card]
1 [card]Arbor Colossus[/card]
4 [card]Burning-tree emissary[/card]
3 [card]Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx[/card]
3 [card]Aspect of hydra[/card]
4 [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card]

Side
2 [card]Ranger's Guile[/card]
2 [card]Mistcutter hydra[/card]
1 Mizzium mortars
and any other big creaturs u have but i didnt use mine

I made a mistake of using 2 Ogre Battle Drivers and domri which i sided out after game one every match for either aspect or ranger's guile.

[shadownova24]

ID a game.??

Intentional Draws

[fatolaf]

Intentional Draws

Thought so, why did you have to do it. Was time running out?

[Steve H]

Thought so, why did you have to do it. Was time running out?

...because no one wanted to risk losing and not get a prize I reckon! :)

[shadownova24]

...because no one wanted to risk losing and not get a prize I reckon! :)

yeah if i lost i would have less prize than if we split, plus it also meant i WON

[Guillaume]

Btw , new season started on 2nd of June so unless you had 400+ points all your PW points drained on Monday, I still have a bye for the next GP . So I will go to:P


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