Mtg Ensnaring Bridge Mtg Simian Spirit Guide Altered Art
The Competitive Vorthos: Loving Lili's Rack in Modernistic
I'm a Vorthos who likes to win.
I am never going to play a pet deck that is merely awful. Only I might hook my optics a scrap at having to choose Simian Spirit Guide and its Planet of the Apes rave art over Pyretic Ritual when there is no other dark-green at all in my deck—anywhere. I need my lands and tokens to lucifer, for my sleeves to exist fashionable too equally functional, and I adopt information technology when the card art of my advisedly engineered brews complement, or at to the lowest degree don't offensively contradict, each other.
And art should support what the card does. Lingering Souls? Come on, the guy with the meat cleaver in his back doesn't accept flight, plainly. He merely has a bad attitude. I likewise demand that decks I play feel correct according to what the cards conceptually stand for. There's nothing more annoying than slinging something labeled Burn when during bodily gameplay it feels as though y'all're taking minor jabs at your opponent, armed merely with single-utilise sharpened twigs.
Another practiced example is Tempest. I was excited to watch Kai Budde pilot the deck this by weekend at Pro Tour Born of the Gods and see what it was all most—afterwards all, with a proper noun like Storm, it could exist null short of epic on the level of an episode of Game of Thrones, correct?
You can imagine my deep disappointment when I watched Budde count cards for minutes on end, his opponent even stepping in to assistance out with tallying at one point. That wasn't a storm. That was reliving the hell of my past life as an accountant. Seeing Budde methodically laying card subsequently card and making copious tick marks on his phone was the Magic version of counting screws and chain link for hours in an industrial warehouse. No thanks. Something called Storm should experience like y'all're flying loftier with Ororo Munroe, babe, zip less.
Avacyn Restored by Jason Chan
I am a competitive Vorthos.
In my gut, I feel it'south a picayune more complicated than only existence a "Johnnyish Vorthos–Spike" or whatever . . . at that place might fifty-fifty be another Magic thespian psychographic profile in there.
Maybe her name is Deidre.
More on that another time.
So, last year, when I decided to go into Modern and was totally fed up with keeping up with Standard, I knew I wanted to feel similar a badass mage when I played. A dark mage. I told the hubbs: "I just want to play mono-black. I only want to play discard. I but want bones lands." Thank God for this format. Not even knowing it was a thing, I mentioned wanting to play Lilianas and The Racks and Thoughtseizes and merely exist a really nasty person . . . sleeving up chic, blackness cards that coordinate so much better with each other than any other slice of the pie'southward. It's true, and you know it. Black is the new black. End of story.
Aside: Always noticed how much variance in that location is in reds on Magic cards? And it's not subtle variance that blends easily—information technology'south like bold orange-reds, pastel pinks, ruddy-cards-that-expect-green, and purplish reds have to be mashed upward in my burn deck together. I can't stand up it! Yous'll hear more on this in the next Competitive Vorthos, almost red control . . .
Much better informed on the meta than I, my husband was happy to affirm to me that there was feasible black discard in Modern, and we put together a version of 8rack, which I affectionately like to telephone call Liliana'south Rack. She's not offended. The name refers to the four copies each of The Rack and Shrieking Affliction, which both painfully clasp your life from you based on the number of cards you don't have in your grip.
Yep, yummy.
Peradventure best of all, I was able to choose the perfect Swamp for the context of this deck from all of the sumptuously dire and evocative Swamp art throughout the history of Magic. I ultimately went with the urban Chippy Swamp from Shards of Alara, the shining curve of the moon contrasting the angles of physical, much equally I hoped the visual entreatment of the deck would dissimilarity the farthermost annoyance and disgust information technology would cause in my opponents. This is the Swamp that depicts Tezzeret'south old neighborhood: the sluiceways and salve piles where he scavenged, every bit a child, for $.25 of etherium. The dark sky shimmers over the darkness of the slum, providing a glimpse of hope and beauty above a hopeless and lonely existence.
I had trouble closing out games with my initial version of 8rack, and then next, I splashed blue for cards such equally Creeping Tar Pit and Snapcaster Mage. The change gave it more flexibility but still couldn't become at that place a lot of the time. A more than aggro version with Bloodghast and Geralf's Messenger felt powerful merely ended up a bit slow. The side by side iteration was with the addition of Ensnaring Bridge. When the unbanning news came out, I was like, "Bitterblossom. I remember that b--- from back when Faeries got banned during Shards. Tin can I put that in the deck?" Yes, yes we could.
I just found out there's an informative 8rack primer by Robert Leva on MTG Salvation. If you're interested in the deck, this guy has been working on information technology a long time and is actually careful about discussing all the angles. Brewing and trying out decks that are new to me always reminds me how fantastic a creative outlet Magic is, and just how great the hive heed is at investigating possibilities. There are rarely ever truly brand-new ideas, but people are constantly coming up with original solutions and innovative takes or finding unique interactions that riff on an idea . . . It'south amazing. And the dedication that people put into their decks is inspiring.
You lot know what's fun? Sitting behind an Ensnaring Bridge and a Liliana with an empty hand equally yous look for your opponent to practice nothing on his or her plow, so you can draw your card, assault with a swarm of stinging faeries on your plough, so sit back to relax again as you pass the plow and spotter the rack tighten its grip.
Well . . . it's fun for me (and for you, if you lot're piloting this deck). I can't speak for the opponent.
I was super-excited to see 8rack making a splash today at Pro Tour Born of the Gods in the easily of Arjan Van Leeuwen (deck tech hither). I'm certainly nix shut to a high-level player, but over the last few months, I have run 8rack a lot with a critical center against several format staples, such equally Analogousness, KikiPod, Twin . . . and some of the format'due south weirder decks, such as Tinfins and Living End (also seen on #PTBNG coverage, in the hands of Michael Hetrick).
After all my testing, I tin can personally adjure to the fact that the 8rack deck is more gorgeous than the side by side guy's sixty. One hundred per centum match win rate on that front. The latest Bitterblossom version (12-pack? Liliana'southward Fae Pride Parade? Ensnaring Rack? Bridge to Nowhere?) is evil fun at its finest when it's working properly. Seems like it has potential to be a summit contender in the hands of the right (skilled) players.
My list at the moment:
"Lili's Rack"
I lobbied hard for Memoricide and Surgical Extraction in my main, but alas, they didn't cutting it. There is no such thing as victory without cede . . .
Till next fourth dimension, may Magic be your artistic bloodthirst and quest for ultimate domination.
-MJ
0 Response to "Mtg Ensnaring Bridge Mtg Simian Spirit Guide Altered Art"
Post a Comment