Talk with Godzo, MPDC 27.06 winner

Hello and congratulations on your win, GodZo!

Could you please introduce yourself?

Hello and thank you. My name is Giordano and I like competitive games. I'm known especially as StarCraft: Brood War player (my favourite game) and I played several multiplayer games, mainly RTS and RPG.

Before StarCraft, I was a nice guy, and I played several tournaments in "real" Magic the Gathering. : )

What is your identity as a wizard?

I like aggro decks like White Wheenie, maybe mixed with blue and flying, also I like green color, so my archetype is maybe an aggro deck with a mix of these colors.

At the moment I only play Standard Pauper format, it's my favorite one. My favourite card? In standard pauper, Gods Willing is one of the best cards.

How did you start playing Magic? MTGO? Standard Pauper?

I played Magic the Gathering in the years '95, '96, but I started to play MTGO just last year (2013), with the release of the M14 core set. 

Your favorite deck ever? Your favorite card?

If we consider all the formats, the old Crusade deck is my favourite one, and Tundra is my favourite card. : )

What led you to playing the deck you won with?

In contrast to my favourite archetypes, I won with a Black Discarder deck, sadly I see a Triumph of Evil with the actual format, that it's also the name I assigned to my last deck. : )

Would you play that deck again in a tournament? If no, why?

Merchant Black Deck is very solid at the moment, also mixed with other colors, I will play it for sure, if I don't find better decks.Also, it depends, if I have time to test new decks.

Sometimes I test new decks in the tournaments directly, because there are not enough people to play during the week. I played some Green Stompy decks in the past tournaments and I placed as second in one of these.

Could you explain some of the more interesting choices in your decklist? Like Carrion Crow, Returned Reveler or Crippling Blight.

Carrion Crow is a nice 3 mana drop, for a black deck, but it can be weak if you are under pressure to aggro decks, because it's tapped when you cast it, I added just one of it to reinforce my air aggression.

Returned Reveler is a pretty bad creature overall, but it's not bad against Red and Izzet and it ensure some board presence together with the Disowned Ancestor, while Crippling Blight is a nice 1 mana nerf or removal against aggro starts, it can kills some 1 mana creatures in turn 1 or it can give me some devotion for Gary. Some of card choices are focused to have the best mana curve in the first game of a match also.

A short recap of the tournament?

I met 4 decks, two Dimir Merchants with Treasure Cruises. In these matches I discarded a lot of blue cards, so they became more similar to mirror matches, these games are often decided by number of gray merchants or flying creatures, Sultai Scavengers are very good in this match up, because they are not easy to stop. Fimbulvetrr said I was the bane of Asphodels and Cruises. : )

Then I met a Red aggro deck, this match up is not easy for black, because Red can be very fast, but my opponent was not too much lucky with draws, so I easily got the win.

and at last I met MyGalaxy, two times, that was a close match up, in the 1st match I was pretty screw with lands, I lost very fast and I risked to go out of the top 4. But in the finals instead, luckily I had very good openings, removals, all I needed and Merchants did the final hit.

What was the best card in the deck, in your opinion?

Merchant!

What card did you miss the most? / Is there anything you want to add after the tournament?

I tested this deck all the past week, I was prepared enough for the tournament and I don't see big changes to make at the moment.

What do you consider to be the best archetypes at the moment?

Merchants Decks (black or splashed), Izzet Control Decks, Aggro Monocolor Decks (Red, White or Green) and Midrange Green Creatures with some splash colors, we have seen some heroics too. Meta is still young, we'll see more archetypes in the next months, I suppose.

What is your strategy against these top decks?

Always the same (with black), discard the cards of opponent hand, attack or defend (depend of which deck I meet) with the first creatures, then I play flying creatures and call the Merchants, that is the basic strategy. Choose the right sideboard to improve the value of the cards.

Can you explain your sideboarding a little?

My sideboard is pretty standard, Feast of Dreams and Festerglooms are very strong removals, but much specific cards, they are only good against specific decks. The other cards permit to me to have more removals, or more draw cards, against control decks or in mirror matches I would to draw more, while vs heavy aggro decks I go with more removals and less draws, versus big creatures I can add 1 more Deathtouch and 1 more Flesh to Dust.

Do you think there are any metagame differences between this MPDC season and the previous one?

Yeah, there are many differences, in the previous season we seen a lot of Ethereal Armor decks (the best card in the format), often countered by Mass Removal decks, and Dimir Mill that counters Mass Removal.

Now we have no more these kind of decks.

Now it seems more about fast aggro, big creatures or draw cards and the Gray Merchant can make the difference in this meta. I like this meta at the moment, because there is more space for big creatures, ramp decks, aggro variances, tokens, and maybe heroics and enchantments, but still I didn't deepen the meta of the new season. For this reason I'm playing mostly decks that i know from the previous season.

General opinion on Treasure Cruise in Standard Pauper?

It's a very good card, especially in the Izzet deck, we seen it's very good in combination with counter and red removals, but I don't see it necessary in other decks, like the black deck for example, it has already a lot of good draw cards.

Do you belong to Standard Pauper Players clan?What benefits do you feel from being in the clan?

I'm in Standard Pauper Players clan, it's a clan of friends mainly, I don't have some benefits from it, a part Adner give me around 10 tix for month (not true lol).

I think should be nice to have more presence and specially to have more people to play during the week, speak about strategies, test new decks and improve as players and deck lists. In the past season I trained a lot with rremedio1 and I had very good results also.

What led you to join the clan?

Adner! He also told me about MPDC tournaments where I discovered this small but cool community.

Do you have any tips for a new Standard Pauper player trying to Top 8 his first tournament?

I would to start with some aggro decks to learn better the meta, learn the interface commands (for new MTGO players), and learn to avoid mistakes. Top 8 is not difficult with a good deck and a good playstyle.

What about your avatar, it's great?

 Yeah, I spent 0.17 tix for it! Oo

See You, Good Luck and Have Fun, and don't Rage (happened to me the previous tournament :/).

GodZo

Congratulations to MPDC 27.05 winner - Fimbulvetrr! The interview.

Hello and congratulations on your win, Fimbulvetrr!

Thank you very much!!1!

1. Could you please introduce yourself?

Some Juan, 28 y/o.

2. What is your identity as a wizard?

I like drafting, and among player run events I really like Classic Heirloom. I’m giving Standard Pauper another go after failing pretty hard last time I played it. I think it’s got something to do with being stubborn and wanting to play monoblack decks. Luckily, Treasure Cruised has forced the splash!

3. How did you start playing Magic? MTGO? Standard Pauper?

I started back when Urza’s Destiny was released; a couple of high school mates who played MtG got me hooked into the game. I remember I would happily trade my Masticores for anything since I considered discarding a card during your upkeep a terrible and bad thing.

I created my MTGO account last year, since a couple of friends still played. I was told to try out pauper, til the rust came off. Last time I’d touched an MtG card I was still beardless!

4. Your favorite Standard Pauper deck ever? Your favorite card?

Haven’t really played many standard pauper events, both W and UW Heroic decks were pretty good, too, last year.   The best standard pauper card has to be Treasure Cruise.

5. What led you to playing the deck you won with?

Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Treasure Cruise.

5.1. Would you play that deck again in a tournament? If no, why?

Definitely, so I go 0-3 and brew something new to feed with.

6. Could you explain some of the more interesting choices in your deck list? Like Disowned Ancestor, Nimbus Naiad and Mind Rot.

Nimbus Naiad is the best three drop in the colours and you can and want to bestow it. Disowned Ancestor is a solid blocker and enabler of Mardu’s raid, which is a pretty cute play on turn 2. Also, since a bestowed Ancestor stops everything in its tracks and you have enough digging power to make huge life swings or increase devotion. Mind Rot is just 2x1 discard effect.

7. In which match-ups did you like Mind Rot and Eternal Thirst from your sideboard?

Mind Rot did well against Izzet Control and the one mirror match , and I don’t think I sided in Eternal Thirst more than once.

7.1 How did Feast of Dreams perform throughout the tournament?

Poorly, it was replaced every single game for either Negate or Pharika’s Cure.

8. A short recap of the tournament?

4x Izzet Control, 1x UB Devotion, 1x Monored Aggro, 1x White Weenie. I don’t know if it’s interesting, but chaining Merchants is always fun hehe.

9. What card did you miss the most/Is there anything you wanted to add after the tournament?

Black is severely lacking in decent removal. Feast only killed bird tokens, Pharika’s and Injury are good but not an answer to threats. Deck will pretty much fold to 1 big heroic creature.

10. What do you consider to be the best archetypes at the moment?

Izzet Control, probably.

11. What is your strategy against these top decks with Dimir?

To nullify their birds, minotaurs and red removal with my (bestowed) ancients, to discard their counters with Skullhunters or Disciples, and to resolve a Benthic Giant.

12. What’s your opinion on White Aggro deck, which you played against in the finals?

Only loses to flood. (Editor's note: I like this one.)

13. Why did you choose to play 3 copies of Treasure Cruise, one of the most powerful cards in Standard Pauper?

Because I don’t want two in my opening hand.  Deck doesn’t run many instants or sorceries to fill the graveyard with, so a two of in a starting hand probably means I’d be in trouble against fast decks. I run 3 Read the Bones as well.

14. Do you belong to Standard Pauper Players clan? What benefits do you feel from being in the clan?

No, I’m in a clan with some friends tho. Benefits are all the yelling happening in Skype. (EN: It's like people can speak silently on Skype :D)

15. Do you have any tips for a new Standard Pauper player trying to Top 8 his first tournament?

Not really, I got lucky. Play Treasure Cruise, maybe?

16. Shoutouts?

Shoutout to Torreth and his Nimbus Naiad suggestion!!!

Thanks for answering, good luck in the next tournament! Make sure I can interview you again!

Clan Hall of Fame, updated !!!

Written in GOLD forever !

WHOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!!!!!!!!



This short post to let you all know that Clan Hall of fame was updated today.

Sorry for this long delay, been away so long it's hard to keep up with what's going on lately.

Just take a little time to check it.

Please claim your trophy in the hall of fame if you can't find it !

The winner takes it all, congrats !!!

Recent MTGO Playing Experiences, to Rant or not to Rant?

While attendance for both MPDC and SPDC look stable this season with a good STD Pauper dedicated PRE player base, I have noticed more and more ranting posts about the new client aka V4, but also MTGO and WOTC on various community platforms recently.

Though the game, Magic The Gathering, is undoubtedly still very entertaining, fun and complex, many regular online players seem to keep away from it nowadays, and for various reasons. I must admit that includes myself as well.

1) A decreasing interest for the game, motivated by the way WOTC treats their customers online.

http://writeradept.blogspot.fr/2014/10/why-should-i-play-magic-online.html

As Gwyned states : The fundamental problem with Wizards of the Coast in regards to Magic Online is this: They see no reason to provide motivation for you to play. Magic the Gathering is a hugely successful enterprise. People all over the world love to play it. And so they created this software that allows you to play it online. But to them, that's where their responsibility ends. 

I fully agree. We’ve been given virtual presents and gifts for the MTGO tenth anniversary, as a reward for our loyalty, as customers. That was nearly 3 years ago and it felt good. Not that I’m only interested in free stuff. The clan features and options are not really friendly in V4, increasing them and making them better or simply operational would be entertaining and  motivating enough, but I can’t figure out how expansive it would be for WOTC.

2) A resource heavy guzzler-software (V4) that old computers (even new ones) can’t hardly run anymore.

http://puremtgo.com/articles/your-mtgo-stock-analyst-current-state-affairs

Nice survey ! How do we collectively feel about MTGO? (Select the blank lines so you can read the text !)

In the comments: 

"My issue with the new client comes down to one main thing. My computer can't handle the program. (…)It just isn't worth it for me to play if I'm not going to have a chance at being competitive. I'd really like to play in the KTK Limited Champinship qualifiers that start this week, but I see no point in getting my hopes up when I know it will just end in frustration.

Since I can't play the format I like best, I spend little to no time using the program and can't really comment on what I do or don't like among the features that you are trying to gather information on.

Right now my computer is fine with everything else I use it for, so I really can't justify shelling out the money for a new computer just to play MTGO."

Concerned here too. Could not play a complete match without being disconnected, once or several times, all along the last 10 challenges I was given to play this week. I know I am not alone. I’ve been discussing this with other players. Some say they never experienced this yet, others are really fed up with that unstable connection problem already. Of course you can get back into the ongoing game by restarting the software. First relog is always a miss, at least for me, second one is always successful but when I’m back I’m always behind on time and do often get a loss for timing out in the end. Quite frustrating. I bought a new PC 3 months ago because my old one could not handle V4, looks like it can run it now, but I really can’t figure out where those disconnections come from. I play other Online games and MTGO alone causes me such problems.

One more thing. WOTC is a US firm, and US players seem to be reporting less technical problems than European players (prove me wrong in the comments). Furthermore, their “ping” or delays seem to be shorter and more efficient. I know we're not all equal when it comes to MTGO though.

What is your opinion on that?

3) A buggy software and a slow motioned customers refund policy evolution.

Yes MTGO is bugged. Very bugged.

Interface is bugged, display is bugged or slowed down, cards are bugged and that deeply impacts the players gaming experience, for high scale competitors as well as newcomers. Of course the situation is overall getting better, though every program update can bring a new incredible “surprise”.

http://community.wizards.com/forums/102326

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/magic-online-general/565402-official-complain-about-v4-thread?page=4

http://magic.wizards.com/en/MTGO/articles/archive/reimbursement-policy-update-2014-10-27

http://www.quietspeculation.com/2014/10/a-giant-leap-forward-for-mtgo-customer-service/

Yes, WOTC had to fix and update their MTGO reimbursement policy. I can easily understand getting to the point that regulars were not interested in joining Online pay-to-play events anymore. Nightmare buggy crashing events where you pay to enter and get no reimbursement nor prizes at all after playing and winning several rounds should have never been. Changing that bad customers refund policy took like... forever.

 Don’t get me wrong, I am still in love with MTG.

I hearsay one of the most difficult thing in life is to make good use of your leisure.

Quite relevant.

I’ll be focusing more on paper play within a smaller local community, as well as playing more boardgames with real life friends, until my online MTG experience gets better and less frustrating, meaning I can find the motivation to log in from time to time.

What about you?

Do you still find motivations to play MTGO?

Did you buy a new PC for V4?

Are you happy with the client and the new customer reimbursement policy?

I'd like to read you in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

Adner.

An Interview with MPDC 27.03 winner Mundisv!

Hi Mundisv! And congratulations for your second MPDC win in season 27!

- You've already done that before, but let's recap: who is Mundisv?
I'm a student, who loves playing card games. My name is Raimundas and Magic is my favorite hobby at the moment, both because it's fun and challenging. MTGO users should now me better as Mundisv, who plays in Standard Pauper tournaments and Standard/Block Dailies. Also, I try to write content for our clan blog and PureMTGO website whenever I can. Most of the time it is related to Standard Pauper!

- What about your MTG favorite colors and archetypes?
This summer I played Jund in Standard and kind of got used to midrangy green decks. Despite that, my true love is Blue. Izzet is my absolute favorite colour combination, followed closely by Dimir. That probably means I prefer controlling playstyle, but playing a tempo game, where I control and put pressure at the same time, is the best for me. Luckily, I can play all these combinations in Standard Pauper and Standard, which is quite cool too! I have never lacked patience in card games so I'm fine with grinding my opponents out to death with UB. :)

- How did you get into Standard Pauper and how do you see the format right now?
I began to play it as a budget format on MTGO, where everything else is expensive. I was pretty much new in Magic at that time and what I learned overtime is that the simplicity of Standard Pauper is sometimes a great advantage over all the other formats. The formats is also quite unexplored, so it's always shifting and exciting. I don't think Standard Pauper is dying or anything, nor it is really improving by much, it stands in it's own place with a dedicated player base, who keep bashing in tournaments and having their fun. I can only see bright future for it, since it is a great stepping stone for new MTGO players and is supported enough to continue being played.

- Tell us about your MPDC 27.03 winning deck. Why did you chose it and how does it play?
As previously mentioned, I like to play Blue. Also, I knew Treasure Cruise is an insane card. I was too lazy to build my own deck, while DrChrisBakerDC won SPDC with a sweet UR shell. I took a note of it and just filled the decklist on Monday, looking to have fun with my lovely archetype. I definitely had. Moving on to the deck, it was really awesome. As expected, Cruise is busted, while other spells help fill the graveyard and dig deeper until Cruises. Token creating spells as finisher were also surprisingly effective for me, probably getting 2 creatures out of 1 card in Standard Pauper is strong enough to see play. This deck usually plays burn and counters in the early game to slow down opponent and then follows it up with Flurry of the Horns to create a board presence, followed by Cruise to refill hand and just win by sheer card advantage. Everyone, who likes controlling and then suddenly taking over control, should definitely try this out!

- Can you make a short recap of the tournament?
My memory is notoriously bad for such things, I'll try to recall my matches... Luckily MTGO has game history.

The first match of the tournament was won against the host himself, Gwyned. He was playing White Heroic/Aggro, which was good, but had a hard time beating Scouring Sands and burn spells followed by Cruises. That deck was quite to tricky to play against and the match was quite close.

After him, I had to beat Brazil equipped with MonoWhite. It was yet another close match, going down to the third game. And once again, Scouring Sands was extremely strong against 1/1 tokens.

In the third round I lost to my final's opponent, MisterMojoRising. His Green splash Black dredge deck was strong and I just really struggled to get rid of large green guys with my spells. In the end our deck is controlling and we can't really aggro our opponents out. That requires to control the board as long as possible and it becomes very difficult when you can't beat a resolved green fatty ever.

Luckily, 2-1 was enough to get me into the Top 8 where I battled out a win again skayleef, who was playing MonoBlack splash Blue. That deck had a problem of giving me too much time to setup and then losing to unsurmountable card advantage.

After skayleef, I got to play against MyGalaxy and his MonoWhite. That deck was frightening at times, but timely Scouring Sands got me out of the trouble multiple times and let me win.

In the finals, I met MisterMojoRising again, but this time he got unlucky and his draws matched-up poorly against mine. Basically, he had weaker starting hands, while I drew the best I could. This match had to be much different, but this time I got an underservingly easy victory.

- Looking back, is there anything you would like to change in the deck? Would you play it again?
I would definitely play it again. It is strong and it fits the way I want to play. Looking for the changes, we should be looking for answers against bigger green decks with lifegain. I'm not sure what should be added exactly, but there is always room for improvement.

- What about Khans of Tarkir? Is this a great set? Any special cards you plan to brew with eventually?
Khans was a little underwhelming, since Morph is not really a constructed mechanic and there wasn't any rewarding multicoloured cards for us Paupers. What it gave us though was Delve and I still want to figure out a deck with both Treasure Cruise and Hooting Mandrills. :)

- How do you see the future of the Standard Pauper format and the Standard Pauper Players clan?
I imagine format will stay healthy as long as tournaments happen. I'm really happy for the community we have and, even though, our clan isn't too active right now it still unites us. I hope our clan gets friendlier and more active over time, but that's not that easy to achieve.

- You haven't been so active in Standard Pauper tournaments as you used to be some seasons ago. Any specific reasons?
This year, I had some random Mondays, which were just randomly busy and I had to miss tournaments. In addition, I have finished high school and spent this summer with more other activities than Magic. Also, joining an university and starting to play other formats doesn't add more free time. Hopefully, I won't stop playing this season and reach the top of season leaderboard once again.

- Please, leave us some final words.
First of all, thanks for every active Standard Pauper player! Especially gwyned for hosting the events, rremedio1 for making this interview a reality and actively working in our community, MyGalaxy for learning me of everything I do now, BigBee for staying active in the community and helping me whenever I needed, DrChrisBakerDC for building this Izzet deck, winning SPDC a few days before and producing amazing content for everyone. Also, MTGOTraders and BETAFAN for providing financial support to tournaments. In case of BETAFAN, thanks for reminding I was in the Top 8 of MPDC 27.01 when I was going to sleeping! Without you I couldn't have physically been able to win that tournament!