----- Original Message -----
From: Oscar Tan
To: p***i@o***s.com
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2000 10:09 AM
Subject: Play or draw in Sealed deck?
Hello.
After playing again in a Sealed Deck tournament after several months, I noticed that a number of my opponents opted to draw instead of playing. I did this, too.
Would the computations between the "extra half card" and initial momentum be different now because it is a much slower environment, or does it depend on how fast your deck is (like, if you have more 2- and 3-mana creatures)?
Oscar
PS -- And this is probably a weird question, but what makes Fires of Yavimaya so strong in Type II when Fervor was a junk rare?
I find myself letting my opponent draw first every time unless it is game three and I need to win quickly. It has worked well for me even though I don't play many small creatures. As long as you expect to fall behind at the beginning and don't panic, I think it is an advantage to have the card.
On the other note, I would say the reason fires is played now is the short time span of the big green creatures. Both Blastoderm and Saproling Burst aren't going to stick around for very long, so it is worth the other card to get an extra turn out of them.
P/D in limited.
The genrally accepted rule for Invasion limited is draw first in sealed, play first in draft.
This is because
a) sealed is usually slower and has a less deadly card pool, so an extra draw for mana and towards your power spells is better than a bit of tempo.
b) often in sealed, your mana curve can be alot more sketchy (closer to 3 even colours than 2 and a splash or just 2).
c) it's related to a), but I've found that several good sealed decks often play only 12 or so creatures, so an extra draw phase is important just for drawing creatures at all.
REASONS FIRES IS NOW GOOD WHEN NO ONE TOUCHED FERVOR:
i) Prior to the current type 2, a strong T2 deck was either a mono-coloured rush deck, a combo deck, or an aggro-control deck. The only mono-rush deck that could support Fervor was red , which already had several haste creatures , and played mainly expendable weenies. in fact, most rush decks played expendable weenies. And 2R at a time when you are at a key point in your development is not a great time to make weenies better at swinging. It's vulnerable and doesnt truly accelrate your damage. As for aggro-control, The Angry-Hermit, Son-of-Hermit builds were the only ones that COULD have used fervor, and they both had no room between acceleration- mana control, and win conditions for a card that made them 'win more'. By contrast, Fires plays like an aggro-control deck that forgot the control, and with blastoderm and burst being the two most efficient (or close) green punishers already, something which astronomically increases how much they can swing for (burst can hit for 12 the turn you cast it, or 14 if you sac fires), make fires a good card
ii) Fire's ability can help you push through for the win. It lets your surprise creature immediately jon the attack, then can be sacced to finish off the opponent.
iii) It can fizzle dismantling blow. I suppose pre-invasion this wasn't a big deal, but it's a nice feature
iv) back to the mono-coloured/multicoloured comparison, fires can be played a turn 2 in a fires deck, a much less critical turn than turn 3 was in a sligh deck.
I play. Sometimes playing can win a game because the speed it gives. If you rush out creatures while your opponent doesn't do anything, you'll win. If your deck is beaty, definately play.
The reason Fires is played and Fervor wasn't is because old T2's environment was much faster. This environment's cards like Blastoderm and especially Saproling Burst are more kings than they were last environment. Fires is good because they are the same overall mana and it's strictly better, plus if you draw 2 the second one isn't dead. You think same mana because you don't get that much mana problems with invasion :).
First off, Nevin you rock!
I am playing in a booster draft with 4 prophecy boosters. I know it lacks imagination, but hey I'm always game to give it a go. Know I used to play alot but droped out for the last 1 1/2 years so I have not touched proph yet but I did win a Invasion draft last week(yep 4 invasion boosters)with a Black blue red combo.
So which cards rock and which do not for prophesy?
From what I've red on here reds a good choice, any elaborations on this?
Thanks
I draw first almost always in Invasion sealed.
I built one the other night though that had 4 1cc and 8 2cc cards (R/G splash B: 1 green apprentice, 2 red apprentice, 1 scarred puma, 1 Crown of Flames, 2 Q sentinels, 2 Nomadic Elves, 1 Q elf, 1 Tribal Fires, 2 Scorching Lava, 1 Lightning Dart, 1 Stun, some others).
It was silly and couldn't win anything. I even had 4 creatures out on turn 2 in one game and couldn't push through.
It was going to win fast or not at all so I played first. (All the other builds I could have made would have been worse. 5cg only works if there's something in the other colors worth splashing.)
But other than that one time, I think the card is a huge advantage compared to "Forest, Go".