Effin' M #1
Features
zandl
8 May 2013
1350 views
Welcome to Effin’ M!
8 May 2013
1350 views
Welcome to Effin’ M!
In this new livecast article series, I, the venerable and gracious zandl, will take you deep into my head whilst I play Magic against my fellow TappedOuters on Cockatrice. See my decks, hear my thoughts, and experience my bouts of manic depression rapidly shift to exuberant glee, then back to soul-crushing sadness. My opponent for this article (the first one to meet me on Cockatrice after a clarion call on the TappedOut forums) was Owlus. This first video is mostly my deck-tech on Zandl's Junk Not-Rites where I explain my card choices, get confused over the incorrect number of cards in my deck, and ramble off-topic about my sideboard tech for my old Wolf Run decks. -shrug-
This next video contains the actual five or six games between myself and Owlus with his deck, Control Freak.
From Owlus: (in reference to the games): ”All the games were very fun, and most of them were pretty close. The first two games I got over-powered and my side-boarding was probably wrong. The rest of them went a lot better and AEtherling was pretty insane all of the games. The last game was intense, my only out was Terminus because I had to Azorius Charm into a Sphinx's Revelation. Chaining Angel of Serenitys is probably the best late game you can have in standard right now, short of ending the game with Craterhoof Behemoth.” (in reference to my deck): ”The list was really good, but I feel like it could make good use of Voice of Resurgence. I might cut the Gaze of Granites and an Abrupt Decay for 3x Voice of Resurgence. It’s definitely a great card, especially against aggro, because it is happy to chump block. Gaze of Granite is sweet, but requires a lot of mana, so by the time it could kill the 3 or 4 drops, it is already too late. Abrupt Decay just doesn’t have a huge amount of targets, unless his meta is full of things like Detention Sphere and Liliana of the Veil.” From me: (in reference to his deck): The deck seemed to have a somewhat powerful late-game with AEtherling and its broken-ness. I’m always a fan of having more board-wipes than most other control decks, so a 4-3 split on Supreme Verdict and Terminus make me happy. What I don’t like is Warped Physique and the high land-count. In a deck with so much draw power and stall, missing land-drops is unlikely to occur with even 25 lands. If just 2 lands could be removed alongside both copies of Warped Physique, then he could add in Tribute to Hunger and Lingering Souls. Warped Physique relies far too much on you already being in control of the game. In a pinch, it has a good chance to do nothing at all. Tribute to Hunger will always do something and it increases your sacrifice effects by a good deal, when you include Far / Away, which I love (and actually suggested for the deck before he cast it). All in all, good cards are good and I’m really just splitting hairs. The second video, for whatever reason, begins about 15 seconds into the actual video itself, just so you know. Also, it’s very long; beware. I figured, though, that if you’re down to watch that much Magic, then it’s just better for you. And if you don’t want to watch that much, you won’t. The next Effin’ M shouldn’t be going up for at least a week, but you can get the information on how to be in the videos towards the end of the second video. Until then, happy tapping!
Less umms and soos, also a high land count in esper control is to allow one to have their mana each turn and to allow them to have a reactionary playstyle, it's easy to end up having to discard spells on turns you didn't draw a land.
As for your voice I think it was right on with what I've imagined, high up in the male vocal spectrum without much power behind it that is very prone to cracking. The lack of apparent enthusiasm also drove me to play music over your voice as I watched the video.
May 8, 2013 5:19 a.m.
I'm currently testing Warped Physique in my Grixis control deck, and I've seen it in a couple others, too, as a 1-2 of. The thought behind it is that a control deck should NEVER have an empty hand, and if you're playing correctly you should always have at least 5 cards. That means Warped Physique should be getting cast for X=4+ which kills a lot of creatures, with the biggest exception being Angel of Serenity . However, a control deck should have answers for the creatures Warped Physique doesn't remove.
For Esper control, an EOT Sphinx's Revelation could mean a big X value for their first main phase, big enough to kill any creature. Also, Esper can use a single Warped Physique instead of relying on morbid to have triggered for Tragic Slip , which can come in handy against pesky indestructible creatures.
I've always had a horrible sense for evaluating cards so I could be EXTREMELY wrong on its usefulness, but it's at least worth some testing.
May 8, 2013 8:34 a.m.
This was a good match, besides the bit of flooding in the first 2 games. I'm trying to experiment with a lot of new decks right now, and I think Gaze of Granite just isn't what a lot of us hoped for or thought it would be. Sin Collector though... That card is just a straight up monster.
May 8, 2013 9:24 a.m.
Gaze of Granite has some real power behind it, but it's less than desirable against control. I mean, really, the dude has 4 nonland permanents, two of which aren't going to die once they're out.
But against anything else, the proportions are switched.
May 8, 2013 10:52 a.m.
Suggestion: Just go best of three to keep video length at a reasonable level.
May 8, 2013 11:02 a.m.
I could make different videos for each game or best-of-three and just post them all individually.
May 8, 2013 11:07 a.m.
GureiSeion says... #8
Totally agree with the one-of Unburial Rites talk. Has served my Junk well in the past.
May 8, 2013 3:11 p.m.
gnarlicide says... #11
Lol. First, to answer your question, zandl, no. I did not think you would have that voice. Second, after you got used to talking into the mic, (nerves maybe?) it sounded really good. Don't think I am a creeper, I am a broadcaster so voice quality means everything in my line of work. Good job.
I look forward to seeing the next one.
May 8, 2013 7:45 p.m.
Yeah. My only experience with this microphone was plugging it into my desktop and making a test video for 15 seconds before making these. Once I got used to wearing it and breathing around it (a bit), I noticed it getting better, too.
I've been recording music for several years now, but my recording microphone uses up too much RAM for this crappy video program, so I had to buy something a little more dumbed-down.
May 8, 2013 7:55 p.m.
Mostly multitracked acappella. I occasionally record things for the acappella group I co-founded a number of years ago.
May 8, 2013 8:07 p.m.
It's how you might pronounce "FNM."
And I'm guessing it's also supposed to be similar to how you might say "Eff that!" instead of "F**k that!"
May 9, 2013 9:16 a.m.
He made this video on a friday night, it's a pun.
also my biggest use for Gaze of Granite is against tokens for x=0. If I want to kill 2 drops, it costs 5, which makes it an essentially worse Supreme Verdict (unless im blowing up something other than creatures, but I rarely do so). maybe x=3 blows up detention sphere or something relevent, but at that point there's Planar Cleansing , so again it's just outclassed by already existing cards, and BG as coloring doesn't make it tempting enough (if there was something like UR to compliment verdict, then I would be talking)
May 9, 2013 1:48 p.m.
No deck that can run Gaze of Granite would consider running Planar Cleansing or Supreme Verdict , so it's unfair to make that comparison.
You need to compare it to in-color alternatives. Green doesn't have any Standard-legal board wipes, and Black really only has Killing Wave
and Mutilate
.
Most creatures in Standard now are 4 CMC or less, and a deck running Gaze of Granite should have little trouble getting to 7 mana to cast it for value.
May 9, 2013 2:01 p.m.
And if I do it for 2 or 3, most of my creatures will live through it and swing in on the game turn.
It's a really good card because you can partially control what gets blown up, instead of Planar Cleansing , where your only choice is casting it or not.
May 9, 2013 7:11 p.m.
Is this all standard or would you do anything involving modern sometime? If so, I'd love to participate.
May 9, 2013 8:52 p.m.
Not too into Modern, actually. It'll probably just be Standard stuff.
May 9, 2013 9:35 p.m.
Great job zandl. I was cracking up listening to you get distracted by things like your cat making an appearance, worrying that people could hear you drinking water, and your pencil falling on the floor. Really great last game with Owlus. Keep them coming!
May 13, 2013 11:57 p.m.
keilahmartin says... #27
btw i think demarge's comment about your voice is way off base, I actually really like the way your voice sounds.
zandl says... #1
Big thanks to Owlus for the patience and devotion to both me and TappedOut.
And I know I said I wouldn't have the time to post anything for a few days, but most of this was copy&paste, where the Pauper Challenge articles require me to actually think and take time to explain how games progressed.
Suggestions? Comments? High-fives?
Also, I have one burning question for each of you: Do I sound like you thought I would?
May 8, 2013 4:09 a.m.