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Forums of Magic-League: Free Online Magic: the Gathering Play with Apprentice and Magic Workstation; casual or tournament play.
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Toshi
Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 22
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 Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:52 am Post subject: What are your thoughts on Black in TPF? |
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To me black is horrible; I rarely draft it, and I'm glad when I see my opponents slap down their swamps on the table.
It's removal is expensive/not good (ever other color has removal at common in tpf, and most of them are cheaper/better than blacks shit), and it has no tempo. Granted its cards do have good synergy embedded in them, but what looks good on paper doesn't play the same in game.
Drafting it is really situational to me. You need to get a specific card pool for it to be playable. Stay away from those Strangling Soots, they've juked me more than once.
My suggestion to you: Don't draft it.
As far as I know, I can say truthfully that in my last 5 matches against black players I didn't lose a single match. |
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Revik
Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 135
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:16 am Post subject: |
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Ah, but you forget that black packs some insane removal, and always comes as a great splash if you get the right cards.
Black has some great suspend, decent removal, and insane bombs. It's also SO underdrafted sometimes that you just cant help but to play it. I've gotten pick 7 Null Profusion before  |
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cloysterd
Joined: 24 Jan 2007
Posts: 47
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:28 am Post subject: |
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I actually really like Black in TPF, if for no other reason than nobody else likes it and you can usually get a lot of good stuff. I'm not sure what's not to like about the removal, especially at common:
Strangling Soot: Kill 2 guys with one card
Tendrils of Corruption: Kill a guy and gain some life
Dark Withering: Kill a guy for B with Madness
Death Rattle: Kill a guy for B with a full GY
Ichor Slick: Kill a guy and draw a card
Assassinate: Not great, but still kills a guy
Yeah it doesn't have a lot of good creatures, but that's why you draft 2 colors. Personally I love BR. |
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Toshi
Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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| cloysterd wrote: | I actually really like Black in TPF, if for no other reason than nobody else likes it and you can usually get a lot of good stuff. I'm not sure what's not to like about the removal, especially at common:
Strangling Soot: Kill 2 guys with one card
Tendrils of Corruption: Kill a guy and gain some life
Dark Withering: Kill a guy for B with Madness
Death Rattle: Kill a guy for B with a full GY
Ichor Slick: Kill a guy and draw a card
Assassinate: Not great, but still kills a guy
Yeah it doesn't have a lot of good creatures, but that's why you draft 2 colors. Personally I love BR. |
Strangling Soot and Ichor Slick are great, but they don't really stack up against Dead/Gone, Sunlance, Shaper Parasite, Whitemane Lion, Lightning Axe, which are all cheaper and aggro friendly. Ichor Slick is a great card, but it's a sorcery which is a huge swing against it in the early game, since blacks creatures are significantly worse than the other colors it relies on having good removal or a strong creauture base (meaning you are a great drafter). Playing black is basically letting your opponent control the board at the beginning and hoping you can gain control.
I beat a BW deck with Sengir Nosferatu, Damnation, Demonic Collusion, and Nillith backed up by removal, revered dead, etc. Because of the way black decks are, I was always able to win the early game battle. I'm not saying it wasn't a close match, but I was still able to pull off the win even against such a strong card pool (Damnation was played both 2nd and 3rd game off Collusion).
Blacks strong cards are expensive, the other colors all have strong cheap cards as well as strong late cards. Add player skill and black doesn't really have a chance.
Of course, getting strong card pool in any color (from lack of players, etc), including black, means you will probably have a strong deck, but overall the color is weak.
Just cause it has removal doesn't mean it wins. |
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Avata
Joined: 03 Dec 2006
Posts: 356
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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| Toshi wrote: | | [which are all cheaper and aggro friendly. |
Because as we know, aggro is the only viable choice for M:tG.
Black in TPF is about card advantage. Strangling Soot, Ichor Slick, madness (letting you get solid effects without paying the discard cost), Mindstab, Nightshade Assassin, and a host of other cards means you'll still have a grip full of cards after your opponent has run out of gas. |
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Toshi
Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| It just never seems that good. It just hands the early game over to the opponent and hopes that it can find the answers. There's no wrong threat as the saying goes. |
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Toshi
Joined: 16 Oct 2004
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:21 pm Post subject: Here's my deck from that draft dv8r |
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//NAME: Untitled Deck
2 Strangling Soot
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Bonesplitter Sliver
1 Nightshade Assassin
1 Goblin Skycutter
1 Traitor's Clutch
1 Phyrexian Totem
1 Dead/Gone
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Brain Gorgers
2 Deepcavern Imp
2 Gathan Raiders
1 Ichor Slick
1 Riddle of Lightning
2 Grave Peril
1 Fleshwrither
1 Frenzy Sliver
1 Henchfiend of Ukor
1 Grave Scrabbler
9 Swamp
7 Mountain
SB: 1 Verdant Embrace
SB: 1 Drifter il-Dal
SB: 1 Jolrael, Empress of Beasts
SB: 1 Psychotic Episode
SB: 1 Curse of the Cabal
SB: 1 Smallpox
SB: 1 Fallen Ideal
SB: 1 Giant Dustwasp
SB: 1 Cradle to Grave
SB: 1 Keldon Marauders
SB: 1 AEther Membrane
SB: 1 Kavu Predator
SB: 1 Piracy Charm
SB: 1 Vampiric Link
SB: 1 Deadly Grub
SB: 2 Lavacore Elemental
SB: 1 Dash Hopes
SB: 1 Street Wraith
SB: 1 Saltskitter
SB: 1 Rift Elemental |
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JayL
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
Posts: 0
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| Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:51 am Post subject: |
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Black is good when it's underdrafted. However, so is every other color. What really does it in for black is that Planar Chaos has so few good black commons. Usually I will avoid black unless I have a clear signal (late picks nightshade assassins, strangling soot and tendrils).
I've had success with B/R and B/U decks, in both cases I had a lot of madness outlets and madness cards.
My suggestion:
Don't avoid black altogether, but pay attention to signals that seem to indicate that black is wide open. If you have to make a choice between two cards of relative power before you are color committed, pick the non black card! |
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