Colors of Magic

Janosik

What's been going on with Colors of Magic this year? A while ago... I can't remember exactly when, but certainly months ago... hell, maybe even last year, I dunno... there seemed to be a shift in the decks I was playing against, and now it seems like a majority of the games I play against have Mythics and Masterpieces in them. This was not the case in previous years! Most of my matchups then were against decks built for the event with only Commons, Uncommons, and Rares... but this no longer seems to be the case!

What's going on? Any player who does this is dropping points... and this is generally a tight event, you can't afford to drop too many points or you miss out on 250 crystals' worth of PMA card! It seems really unlikely to me that a significant number of players are trolling the event (perhaps only switching to a deck which doesn't meet the objectives in their last game)... why would they only be trolling THIS event and not other ones? Or... Are loads of players trolling the other events too, and I just don't notice?

It seems a little more likely to me that players are joining the event without reading the rules and objectives first... I also see plenty of really high mana cost cards being played, and also some cards that only work if you have mana in cards in your hand... but surely these players will get the hang of the rules over a period of months?!

I really don't understand it!

naabaldan

Maybe they don't need pma cards anymore? Just going for the 120 points as fast as possible to get those colored dsk boosters and bye bye?

Janosik

Good point!

Mind you, I still feel like I play against a fair amount of decks with a) too many cards that cost >11... doesn't seem like you can win fast with those, and b) Mana draining cards that quite simply don't work in the environment?

Colors of Magic is a neat event, I think, it's one of my favorites, and it would be a shame if it deteriorates over time because there's no incentive for players to play with decks that are built to achieve the objectives.

What is everyone else's experience of the event like at the moment?

naabaldan

Best way to deal with is to limit the cards like in the commoner event.

Tremayne

@Janosik - bugs - challenging decks and nonconforming decks.

Sadly I’m losing my PMA booster due to the bug so I’m not sure I’ll play my last match.

gozmaster

@Janosik said:
Mind you, I still feel like I play against a fair amount of decks with a) too many cards that cost

Funny you mention that, I've always advocated for "11s" only in a build, but have recent changed that with Quintorious Kand.

That build includes 4 cards over the 11 casting cost and lean on Assemble the Players and Connecting the dots to cheat out my creatures and supports (Impacting the board with 4 permanants per turn vs the standard 2 casting allows)

Plus, I have Aurelia The Law Above, so her draw and damage to opposing creatures keeps greg's side of the board clear.

Fun build and MUCH more efficient than I was running before...

However...

All still peasant cards.

I think some people , as @naabaldan mentioned, are just playing to score progressions, but.... I agree @Janosik , not as many as I'm facing in the event with out of restriction builds. (Like 30% of matches are against, M/MPs.)

camo

Hope dev either limit the card like Commoner Cup or add worthy rank reward (maybe PM2 or more DSK) so player incentivize to use deck according to the objectives.

Its bitter to lose against deck that built ignoring the objectives, as if its punishment to follow whats intended and encouraged to do otherwise.

Tremayne

@camo - I wonder if most players who disregard the objectives do so because their library lacks the necessary cards to be competitive. So better prizes will most likely drive up frustration among players who try to fulfill the objectives.

gozmaster

I find it very easy to beat the decks that lose the tempo of 2 cards per turn. If they take 2 turns to cast their 2, it gives me ample time to get my removal /bounce ready to deal with them.

And bounce for their big creatures is FUNNY. Cause greg then has to cast it all over again...lol

Easy win.

GM

camo

@Tremayne I doubt thats the case, players I encounters on CoM match with such collection cards of M & MP, their library surely have more than enough Common, Uncommon, and Rare card since those has higher % chance drawn from boosters compare to M/MP.

Its matter of incentive for them to WANT to do so, since probably the reason they dont bother following the objective of limiting their deck due to reason @naabaldan mentioned, they have all their chased card from PMA, so they whip out quick win deck utilizing combo despite rarities to win progression rewards fast.

Adding few new set / regular PM2 booster on top of PMA rank rewards could shift their perspective, returning them to playing deck driven by event objectives.

gozmaster

@camo said:
Adding few new set / regular PM2 booster on top of PMA rank rewards could shift their perspective, returning them to playing deck driven by event objectives.

I seriously doubt that will happen, as they already have the Mana Burn event for PM2 and they don't want that to die off 2x as fast.

Janosik

@gozmaster said:

@camo said:
Adding few new set / regular PM2 booster on top of PMA rank rewards could shift their perspective, returning them to playing deck driven by event objectives.

I seriously doubt that will happen, as they already have the Mana Burn event for PM2 and they don't want that to die off 2x as fast.

When you say 'die off', what do you mean? There's no incentive to play a deck which is against the spirit of Mana Burn, is there? If you're not playing for the objectives in CoM, you can gain an advantage by playing with Mythics and Masterpieces more powerful than the Rares you'd normally play. But if you're playing against the spirit of the rules of Mana Burn... doesn't that just mean you get killed by the node support?

gozmaster

@Janosik said:
When you say 'die off', what do you mean?

I meant that if they give us 2 events that pull a non-dupe card from the set (PM2 in this case) then they're doubling the rate at which we'll get those cards for free. This would "kill off" the set from a collecting stand point , faster... thus shortening the lifespan of the event/full rewards playability (at least for full points) Progressions would still be a thing.

In other words...

I don't think WC wants to give us those packs faster, when we're still willing to pay gold for them now.

Xibvert

Updating the interface for selecting a Planeswalker for events would probably help too. If you're using favorites to select the Planeswalker you want but the deck you have favorited isn't a CoM deck it ends up in the pool of decks people can be matched against. While you're off editing putting together a CoM deck you non CoM deck is out there getting matched to against other players until you play a change and your deck in pool of opponents gets updated. If they made it easier to get to the Planeswalker you want without using favorites it's possible it would help with this. No idea how much it contributes to the issue, but it probably comes up to some extent for any event. Way more noticeable in this event though since the combination of the event rules and the objectives make a CoM look significantly different from a typical deck.

Amadeus

This event is dumb, stuck in plat with cards from 10 sets ago I managed 5 points HAhah

Blighted

@Amadeus said:
This event is dumb, stuck in plat with cards from 10 sets ago I managed 5 points HAhah

It is likely very hard if you're just coming back to the game from 2-1/2 yrs ago, then yes. You're going to be facing an uphill battle for a while. It would be that way with any standard PvP event.

I personally love this and Sieze the Day because they are so different from regular events. They let you play a little different and are absolutely unforgiving to losses. I constantly run into new decks that surprise me and I almost never have an easy path to a perfect run.

Janosik

This is one of my favorite events, altho

• It's a little long: 16 games could do with being trimmed down to 12, maybe
• I wish new sets would have more good 11 cost cards we'd want to play in it

gozmaster

@Janosik , Man 12 nodes would be great for this event, it's SUCH a grind, and if you lose just 1 match, you're out that non-dupe pack, very tough for most to swallow... But the rest of the rewards, are EXCELLENT.

Also, smaller brackets too? That'd be nice.

Xibvert

@gozmaster said:
Also, smaller brackets too? That'd be nice.

How small? At 500 it's already significantly smaller than typical events.

JTK421

@gozmaster said:
@Janosik , Man 12 nodes would be great for this event, it's SUCH a grind, and if you lose just 1 match, you're out that non-dupe pack, very tough for most to swallow... But the rest of the rewards, are EXCELLENT.

Also, smaller brackets too? That'd be nice.

This is my biggest complaint. I think I lost one match and missed out on the non-dupe PM1 (which is worth nearly infinite more to me than FDN packs)

gozmaster

I think 300 would be good for this event. @Xibvert .