Mtg arena open beta

[me_in_japan]

Yeah, I’d’ve liked to see more hoopla about Amonkhet, but I guess they’re leery of promoting historic at the expense of standard? Maybe?

I notice it says “limited events” for Amonkhet, including “draft and sealed”. It doesn’t specifically mention quick draft, but neither does it rule it out. Maybe a couple weeks after it drops, perhaps? I have a draft token I got from the mastery pass, so I spose I know where I’m going to use now. I also seem to have a small but substantial quantity of rare and mythic wcs, so if I do take a fancy to a particular deck, I should have the wherewithal to make it happen.

Looking forward to the next update

[Primarch]

Some previews are being shown.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... remastered
Plenty of fun cards in there, whether you're after game winning combos or just more jank.

[me_in_japan]

so i played a player draft today (with my token) and a sealed event (with proper gems and stuff). My takeaways are...

the tabletop for amonkhet player draft is lovely. All sand and pyramids and stuff. very nice (ok, probably not that important for set review purposes, but hey ho...)

I went 1-3 in player draft. And not just a bit. I got hosed in all my games bar the one I won, and that was very close. I drafted WB zombies, which in theory is a good colour pair, but I just didnt get the gas cards, I guess?

My Sealed was a tad better, going 3-3 (which was frustrating, as I was 3-0 at one point. Last 3 games were wipeouts.) For that one I went 3 colour WGR, and relied heavily on Samut, who is an absolute bomb. Not, however, as much of a bomb as Hapatra, which one of my opponents used. It was...horrible. Like he'd somehow managed to draft a commander deck. -1/-1 synergies everywhere, Hapatra out on turn 2, Nest of Scarabs the next turn, and -1/-1 generators thereafter. Just...icky. Didnt stand a chance. Them's the breaks sometimes, I suppose. Still, 3 wins is my personal "good enough" for sealed, as that's where you get 1200gems and 3 packs back, which coupled with the 6 packs you open, seems good enough value for me.

So, that's my Amonkhet experience for now. I'm going to hold onto my gold in the hope that they open up quick draft at some point. Even if they dont, it'll be needed for Zendikar, so no real risk.
I've also already crafted the cards I need for a Hapatra Brawl deck, so that'll be something for you to look forward to

[Primarch]

I played my first round of Sealed for Amonkhet.

Went okay I thought. I was actually at 6-0 at one point.
I got Hapatra, but she only managed to summon a snake or two before being zapped, blasted or otherwise exiled.

[me_in_japan]

nicely done, sir. I shall have to up my game

Tip of the hat, though - 7 wins is not to be sniffed at.

[me_in_japan]

I managed 6 on my next try (thus at least recouping my entry fee) and then 4 on my subsequent attempt. I thought I had that last game in the bag. I'd managed to hold on until I could cast Sandwurm Convergence, and had an Anointed Procession in play to boot, then the barstewarding UB player goes and steals my sandwurm convergence. I furrowed my brow, Prim. I furrowed my brow, I dont mind tellin' ya...

[Primarch]

I managed 6 on my next try (thus at least recouping my entry fee) and then 4 on my subsequent attempt. I thought I had that last game in the bag. I'd managed to hold on until I could cast Sandwurm Convergence, and had an Anointed Procession in play to boot, then the barstewarding UB player goes and steals my sandwurm convergence. I furrowed my brow, Prim. I furrowed my brow, I dont mind tellin' ya...

That does seem like an inopportune turn of events. I hope that your brow can be returned to it's usual smooth condition in short order.

I'm currently 5-2 with a deck in RB at the moment. I picked up a Glorybringer and it certainly lives up to it's name. I also put Razaketh, the Foulblooded into the deck, but he is more like Razaketh, the Uncastable. 8CMC is a bit much in a colour with no ramp, in a limited format.
Ah well.

[Primarch]

Finished off my last couple of attempts at Sealed Amonkhet last night. Some really awesome cards came up, Gods, Planeswalkers, real bombs. Sadly they weren't on my side of the table.
So, unless Quick Draft is an option next week, it looks like I'll need to be crafting the cards I want.

[me_in_japan]

Yeah. Me too. I did enjoy the format, but I’ve gone ahead and crafted a few choice cards from it and am prepared to call it a day for now. Quick draft would be a whole ‘nother thing, but I don’t see it happening any time soon. My big quandary at the moment is whether to stick to the single copies of Amonkhet cards I’ve crafted (Hapatra, scarab god, anointed procession (which I crafted then annoyingly pulled in Sealed)) or to go the whole hog and get 3-4 copies and actually build decks round them. At the moment I’m really enjoying grixis control in historic. It’s sometimes a lot more satisfying than esper control (the principal difference being: esper just says “no” to everything. Grixis say “yes” to everything, closely followed by “and now I kill anything that had the temerity to enter play.” Also, would you like to hear more about our lord and savior Nicol Bolas?) My most satisfying play recently was casting Tyrant’s Scorn to return Ulamog to my opponent’s hand, followed by Thought Erasure to flip it to the graveyard, then the following turn my The Eldest Reborn putting into play on my side. Most satisfactory

Also: The exception to the above is that it has been made abundantly clear to me that everyone, and I mean eeeeeeeveryone, who even dips a toe into black will now be required to maindeck 4 copies of Thoughtseize. I resisted* at first, but particularly in any control games, the first player to Thoughtseize pretty much has the game in the bag. (The sequence usually goes:
Player A casts Thoughtseize to steal player B’s Thoughtseize. Now nobody has any Thoughtseize, but pkayer A knows what’s in player B’s hand, and thus wins. Such is the life of a control player...)

*no really, I did. For several days, actually.

[Primarch]

... I mean eeeeeeeveryone, who even dips a toe into black will now be required to maindeck 4 copies of Thoughtseize. I resisted* at first, but particularly in any control games, the first player to Thoughtseize pretty much has the game in the bag.

*no really, I did. For several days, actually.

A veritable model of control and willpower. I doff my hat sir.

I'm tempted to start shoving 4 Leylines of Sanctity and/or Leylines of Combustion into any decks I can, just for the Thoughtseize fans out there.