In the final part of my Standard Pauper set review for Dragons of Tarkir,
I listed 11 cards that I believed would make the biggest impact in the
format. I thought it would be helpful to look back at these cards and compare my evaluations to how the metagame has turned out thus far. Last time, I discussed how 8 of my 11 picks were seeing consistent play. Today, I want to look at the other 3 cards and look at why I think they aren't seeing much play.
For reference, here are the eleven cards that I highlighted from Dragons of Tarkir:
1. In the past, White tappers such as Blinding Mage have traditionally been very good. As of late, Wizards has been making these more conditional, restricting the target by size or other characteristics, such as only non-flying creatures without flying, which is a fairly big restriction. Worse, having to pay two mana is surprisingly significant, choking the mana you have available each turn. But I think the biggest reason this isn't seeing much play is simply than the traditional White Weenie has been overshadowed by Boros Heroic, which plays a lot more combat tricks and protection rather than removal.
2. Both Mnemonic Wall and Archaeomancer saw quite a bit of play in previous formats, and Monastery Loremaster is arguably stronger than either of those cards. The flexibility of Megamorph shouldn't be overstated, giving you the ability to get it down early, then flip it over later and return a key spell back to your hand. However, with the Graveyard being used as a resource with Delve, it is much rarer to have desirable spells just sitting around waiting to be returned. At this point, it wouldn't surprise me if the presence of Treasure Cruise is sufficient to keep this from ever seeing play.
3. Student of Ojutai is probably also being pushed out of the metagame by the dominance of the Heroic decks, which aren't looking to go into the long game with defensive creatures and incidental Lifegain. Additionally, it doesn't quite fit in with a traditional White Weenie deck either, since those decks rarely play much in the way of spells. But a 2/4 for 3W that gives you 2 life whenever you cast a noncreature spell is quite good value for a Common, and once Heroic rotates out of Standard, I wouldn't be surprised if this found its way into a competitive deck.
So that's where things stand with what I recognized as the top cards from Dragons of Tarkir. We still have quite a bit to go before Magic Origins is released, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more innovation prior to that release.
In the final part of my Standard Pauper set review for Dragons of Tarkir, I listed 11 cards that I believed would make the biggest impact in the format. I thought it would be helpful to look back at these cards today and compare my evaluations to how the metagame has turned out thus far. Overall, of these 11 cards, 8 have seen play in decks that have placed in the Top 4 or higher in multiple events, which isn't too shabby. Here's my list:
Of these, four have been all-stars, appearing in virtually every deck that runs those colors: Anticipate, Duress, Epic Confrontation, and Evolving Wilds. Anticipate provides excellent card selection and has been an auto-include in Izzet Control, some versions of Dimir Control, and both Zephyr Scribe Combo and Mono Blue Control. Duress, while typically just in the Sideboard, is an excellent option against Control decks, and is seeing play in both Dimir Control and Mono Black Devotion. Epic Confrontation is one of the best Green removal spells, with every Green deck running 4 copies. And of course, Evolving Wilds is excellent in any deck that runs two or more colors, and is even worth considering in a mono-colored deck.
Less impactful, but still seeing some play, are Pacifism, Twin Bolt, Vulturous Aven, and Zephyr Scribe. These are still fairly solid cards, but they are somewhat niche choices, relying on a deck that synergizes well with them or simply being borderline depending on the metagame.
Next time, I'll look at the remaining three cards and discuss why I don't think they have made as much of an impact as I expected.
After a seemingly endless domination by White in Standard Pauper, I think it's fair to say that Blue may have risen to take its place. It all started with Treasure Cruise, which is arguably one of the best Commons to see print in quite some time. Blue has been paired with every other color now to take advantage of this excellent card, results in decks like Azorius Heroic, Izzet Control, Dimir Devotion, and even my own Wintergreen.
But that isn't to say that Blue necessary even needs the support of another color to be good. With the release of Dragons of Tarkir, we've seen a MonoBlue Combo deck rise to competitive play as well as other Control decks rise to the forefront, driven by other value cards such as Anticipate, Rise of Eagles, and Weave Fate.
There's a surprising amount of recent news concerning Standard Pauper that I wanted to pass along to you today.
First of all, I am happy to report that the Standard Pauper format is now listed as a Magic Online format on the Wizards of the Coast website. There has been quite a bit of angst in the community when this oversight was discovered, so seeing it corrected should help reassure people that WotC is not trying to ignore or squelch the format.
Second, this week Pauper enthusiast Jason Moore published an article over at MTGOAcademy covering his matches from MPDC 29.04, where his Golgari Delve deck went undefeated in the Swiss rounds. This is the first time MTGOAcademy has covered the Standard Pauper format on their site, so this is a pretty big deal. Take a look at his build below, and be sure to check out the whole article.
Finally, the survey regarding the Standard Pauper Player Run Events is still going strong. We've had nearly 100 responses from over 22 different countries! If you haven't voted yet, the survey will be live through the end of May, so I encourage you make your voice heard. Here's the latest results as of this post:
Thanks again to everyone who voted! See you next time.
Last time, I wrote about the excellent Offworld Trading Company, now available through Steam Early Access, designed by Civilization IV lead designer Soren Johnson. Today, I want to share with you two great resources for this game that have helped me tremendously to understand the mechanics behind the game and improve my skills.
The first is the videos and streaming provided by Zultar, who regularly streams the game on his Twitch channel and posts many of his games from the stream to YouTube. He also serves as a beta tester for the game, with access to unreleased development builds to provide feedback and bring further exposure to the game. He also streams both Hearthstone and Darkest Dungeon, so there's quite a bit to watch if you share my enthusiasm for those games as well.
The second is the document provided by another Offworld pro who goes by the name of Cubit32. He also regularly posts games to YouTube, and it was his match with the developer and TrumpSC (streamed on Trump's Twitch channel), that first brought the game to my attention. In any case, Cubit32 produced an excellent written primer on the game, giving you everything you need to get started and some very useful tips and strategy regarding the game. If you're playing Offworld and haven't check it out yet, you're doing yourself a disservice.
I continue to play and watch a ton of this game right now, so I encourage you to check it out! But don't worry, I'll be back next time with more Standard Pauper content. See you then!
I seem to be playing more early access games than I ever expected. Back in March, I discovered Darkest Dungeon, an excellent fantasy/horror game RPG. Today, I want to tell you about another great find: Offworld Trading Company.
Designed by Soren Johnson, lead developer of the massively popular Civilization IV, Offworld puts you in command of a near-future corporation operating on Mars to mine the valuable commodities found there, buy and trade them on the open market, and export them offworld, all for the purpose of buying out your competitors and earning the exclusive rights to the planet. While clearly a real time strategy game, what makes Offworld stand out is that you use money, and not armies, to conquer new territory, expand your holdings, and defeat your competitors. It isn't a game where your success is tied to how fast you can press hotkeys or micromanage your units; instead, the game is all about recognizing the best opportunities while reacting to a market that responds to what's going on in the game, but often not in a totally predictable manner.
Each game of Offworld is different. You start off by scanning the planet for resources, then pick which colony type seems most advantageous and found your colony, trying to beat your opponents to the best spots. Then, it's a land-rush to claim tiles and build infrastructure to pull some initial resources out of the ground. As you grow, you can upgrade your colony, giving you access to even more tiles and allowing you to start manufacturing goods from these raw materials, typically leading to greater profits (but, of course, subject to the whims of the market). At the same time, you also have to manage the black market, where both you and your opponent can take dramatic actions against your enemies by blowing up one of their buildings, shutting down their production with EMPs, or even temporarily taking over one of their claims. Of course, these actions cost you valuable money, that might have been better used expanding your own production.
Finally, once you've secured resources and production, it's time to use your wealth to buy up the stock of your opponent. Even here, the economics play a big role, as each person's stock price is based upon their cash in hand, the value of their assets, and the amount of debt they've accrued. Fall behind, and as your stock price drops, it makes all the easier for your opponents to buy you out. But gain a financial edge, and eventually you initiate a hostile take over of your opponent, taking over their corporation and getting access to everything they had.
Intrigued? While the game still is rough around the edges (it is in Early Access, after all), it is a very fun and engaging game, particularly in multiplayer. Check out the tutorial videos from the designer below, and if you like what you see, purchase it on Steam today. See you next time.
Throughout the month of April, Blizzard has been releasing the latest Hearthstone expansion Blackrock Mountain, giving access to a new wing each week. The final wing released on Thursday, and after finishing all of the content (minus the Heroic difficulty), I wanted to take some time to share my thoughts on this expansion, just like I did with the Curse of Naxxramas back in August of last year.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Hearthstone Adventure expansions, Blackrock Mountain is much more
than simply a new set of cards for the game. True, it does add 31 new cards to the game, including two for each of the heroes. But instead of requiring you to buy booster packs,
the player instead earns them by completing a series of AI battles and
special class challenges themed around the Blackrock Mountain zone from World of Warcraft.
Like the previous adventure, I really enjoyed playing through the multiple boss encounters within each wing. Assuming you have access to most of the previous cards, the majority of these battles should prove to be more entertaining and interesting, rather than difficult. In fact, other than the boss battle against Nefarion (who you defeat during the 4th wing only to have to do so again at the end of the 5th), I was able to defeat them on my first or second try. But what makes these encounters so fun is the variety of effects that these bosses bring to bear - from summoning a random minion from each deck every turn, to punishing you for having unspent mana at the end of your turn, to giving you the ability to play any card you draw for a single mana, but only one card total per turn. The special class challenges revisit these same bosses, but present you with a unique deck (and in some cases, ones that are impossible in the actual game, like one containing 30 copies of the same card). Indeed, there's enough here to be worth replaying several times, if only to see what happens if you try something different.
The cards themselves range from excellent to mediocre, and this time seem to be intentionally focused on creating new archetypes among the different heroes rather than just giving you better neutral minions available to all classes. I would argue that the overall quality is a bit lower than in Curse of Naxxramas, but still well worth investing in for those who want to be competitive on the ladder. Interestingly enough, while the expansion is definitely themed around Dragons, those are not the cards that seem to be having the greatest impact in the metagame.
The expansion definitely is in keeping with the high values of Hearthstone, with a brand new beautifully rendered battleground, lots of great card art and sound effects, and a fun storyline that plays out as you battle through Blackrock Mountain. The same zany humor is carried throughout, helping to break up what otherwise might seem overly dramatic.
Overall I very much enjoyed the expansion and definitely recommend you pick it up.
