Delaying Shield (Seize the Day, RH node).

Smokincookz

This support in conjunction with the objective “deal 15 or more damage during a single turn” can be REALLY painful to deal with, if it is assigned to the AI. 

Too many white gems, along with opponent’s removal, can make this into a tedious balancing act- trying to deal 15, while not killing Greg too quickly or letting this awful support whittle him down. 
I guess massive gem conversion is a solution to this? Using Nissa, Worldwaker I was still not able to reduce the white gems enough to do more than 11 damage at once. In this case, his removal made sure that i couldn’t build enough power. He hit me with discard as well.

I remember last time I used Embodiment of Agonies, Call of the Herd, Gather the Pack, & Nantuko Shrine, non-white conversion, using Karn. Probably should have done the same again this time. Even then, there was a close call where I almost missed the objective. It’s just faster and more reliable, since the self mill kicks off so fast. Faster than he can be whittled down (usually).

I guess another solution is to use Rupture Spire and use a duo or tricolor PW that has white, but not converting gems to it. Still, not entirely bulletproof, and possible to make more white gems.
Funny enough, this was against Nicol Bolas, Ravager, and he wasn’t converting any gems to white. Neither was I. Just unlucky enough to have plenty of tinykitty white gems raining down. 

Even though it’s only a 25% chance of the AI getting Delaying Shield, when it happens, prepare for the worst...

Smokincookz

I just realized that it should work to damage creatures or yourself, so burn spells can overcome it. Doh!

FindingHeart8

Smokincookz said:

I just realized that it should work to damage creatures or yourself, so burn spells can overcome it. Doh!

so question:  I haven't experimented with Delaying Shield itself, specifically because I want to win my matches and the wording of the card is confusing to me as the effects it will produce.

In paper mtg, you take damage from Delaying Shield and X number of time counters (or delay counters, can't remember if they've been oracle'd or not) are put on the shield, then your next upkeep you lose X life unless you pay (1)W for each counter, then you can negate it. X = damage prevented = counters on shield = life lost at end of turn unless you spend mana.

In mtgpq, X is the damage prevented followed by the reinforcements gained (or only reinforced once?), X is also the life lost, X is also the number of white gems.  X is a lot of different things at once, but the connection between these things is not clearly explained.

My best assumption is that (example) there are 8 white gems on the field.  You get hit and Delaying Shield prevents 8 damage.  Your opponent ends their turn.  Your turn begins.  Delaying Shield is still reinforced.  You make a swap, but now there are 13 white gems on the board.  You play a card (another example) that as a side effect, also damages you for 5 damage, but since there are 13 gems, all of it is prevented (or maybe nothing is prevented because Delaying Shield is already reinforced).  Your turn ends, and you take 13 damage, because even though you originally only took 8 damage to reinforce Delaying Shield, you now are taking 13 because the number of white gems is now greater than it was when the support was originally reinforced.

Or do you take 26 damage because two instances of 13 damage caused Delaying Shield to be reinforced twice before turn end...so instead of the initial 8 damage + 5 damage you would have taken.

I'd like to figure out this headache before I risk a match trying to figure out how the consulted card works.

Barnabes

Far as I have experienced, the reinforcements mean nothing. I’m not sure why they even happen, possibly it was an easy way of making it trigger only if you took damage. Either way, damage is prevented from every source regardless of existing reinforcements. 

I’ve been using the easy route of Sarkhan Unbroken combined with Spire/ Scapeshift / Titan and Cavalier, generating enough bodies on the ground to overload the shield even when I’m filling the screen with white gems. It also generates enough recurring power with Sarkhan’s ultimate to exhaust most removal-heavy opponents in a turn or two. Guess it would work about as well with Tamiyo.  

I do realize not everyone has access to high-powered cards but my wife seems to do ok in these matches with just Koth and a bunch of Origins cards. Again, it’s easy to push through more damage than the shield can block and easily obtained cards like Dragon Hoard keep your pressure on. 

Finally, I do believe the shield is an exceptionally powerful tool for players that choose it. It rarely deals more damage than if you weren’t using it and it can stabilize you if the opponent gets to spill out early thanks to a lucky cascade. Umm, just avoid Turn to Frog...

Smokincookz

Yeah, I do enjoy using it, playing against it as well. I just don’t like the possible tedium when Greg uses it, but it’s not impossible to overcome. Playing more matches in the node, I can see it shouldn’t even happen too often. 

Sometimes I’ve used Impulsive Maneuvers. A bit RNG dependent, it is usually able to get an even number of red gems for a big double strike. 

Just got slammed against all that black removal I guess. Options are limited being stuck with Nissa this time. I don’t think I’ll choose her for this node again. 

 My other matches have been fine, it was just extremely terrible luck against the Ravager. I couldn’t believe the sheer number of white gems coming down each turn, just insane how consistent it was. Greg was probably using Rupture Spire too...

Scape/Spire Sarkhan 3 would have fared better than Nissa, Worldwaker’s 1st ability. 

Unfortunately, with the bracket sized like this, there are no players in ranks 6-25 or 26-50. If losing 3 points didn’t kick me all the way down to rank 109, I wouldn’t have even cared enough to make this post.

Barnabes

Yeah, I learned to accept those random loses and just settle for progression rewards in those events. After all, it just shows there are that many serious competitive people who are not dropping a match.

Tends to free up my weekend to a significant degree