1284658:

A good mage deck also runs Nether Fractures. And a good druid deck always maindeck Natural Order. You'll never find decks that break conventional wisdom as the X-0 deck.

It's all about running all-around good cards with no regards to the meta and what strategies those cards are intended to counter. Right Pip?

Did you have a point? Cause if you did I guess I missed it. It's not like everyone ran 4 Weldon because all alliance decks should have 4 Weldon. In fact most people didn't run Weldon at all in their alliance decks. I'm all for thinking outside the box, but when you out-think yourself you end up with a worse deck.

Even if you go along w/ the assumption that "people thinking you run Taste without actually running Taste is better than actually running Taste" then what did you think about when/if you made it to top 8? Were you willing to be disadvantaged when the most money was on the line?

I seriously have a huge mancrush on whoever wrote this article, he must be super cute and super smart and super dreamy... I also equally have man crushes on other WoWTCG players, some of whom posted on this thread, and some of whom who have not.

That is all.

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DROP BOMBS.

1494572:

Did you have a point? Cause if you did I guess I missed it. It's not like everyone ran 4 Weldon because all alliance decks should have 4 Weldon. In fact most people didn't run Weldon at all in their alliance decks. I'm all for thinking outside the box, but when you out-think yourself you end up with a worse deck.

Even if you go along w/ the assumption that "people thinking you run Taste without actually running Taste is better than actually running Taste" then what did you think about when/if you made it to top 8? Were you willing to be disadvantaged when the most money was on the line?

My point is that people have found success not running these staple cards. Playing in the top 8 is a different animal altogether as the surprise factor is gone. I don't know if there exist anyone in this game so good that they build decks to win top 8 playoffs rather than building one to get there. Did anyone run Reason for the Season for Worlds 2007?

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My entire collection for sale.

1284658:

My point is that people have found success not running these staple cards. Playing in the top 8 is a different animal altogether as the surprise factor is gone. I don't know if there exist anyone in this game so good that they build decks to win top 8 playoffs rather than building one to get there. Did anyone run Reason for the Season for Worlds 2007?

What staple card did Phil not run? Backlash? It's not like he left Backlash out of his deck because it's a bad card. He wanted the other hero flip. I'm guessing if he could have played Backlash and Pidge's flip he would have done that.

I'm sure for every case of someone being innovative and not playing a "staple" card there are 5 times as many who made a very similiar choice and lost because of it. I could be "innovative" and take Myriam out of my Black Ice deck but it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

As for building your deck with top 8 in mind... Markoff has specifically said he does do that. There's a pretty big difference between running Reason for the Season and not running Taste... I'll leave it to you to figure that out :).

I thought along the lines of "if everyone plays around tatse, then I should cut it because it will be irrelevant" and for a while tested without the taste in it.  But even good opponents as Dalton is saying will be testing for your taste, trying to get you to burn it.  I found that even when my opponent's knew about Taste and would play around it most of the time, there would be critical junctions where they would have to "gamble" on whether or not I had one and by not running it I lost out on 100% of those situations.  In the end it went back in because it was still relevant.

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Only two things are infinite......

In the first 3 or so rounds, I tended to play around taste 100% of the time.  In the next matchup or two, I had the policy of "If i have taste, I will play around their taste so I can still have a taste for them" and by the end of the day, I tended to play "I will play out what I have, if you have taste, ya got me"...

The more I played against my opponents, the more I knew when I could, and could not play into taste.  You just have to feel it out and hope for the best.

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Chris "Jedion" Reilkoff

1284658:

A good mage deck also runs Nether Fractures. And a good druid deck always maindeck Natural Order. You'll never find decks that break conventional wisdom as the X-0 deck. It's all about running all-around good cards with no regards to the meta and what strategies those cards are intended to counter. Right Pip?

I lol'ed.

Sometimes it's easy to get in the mindset of, "oh im making a Warlock deck, better start with my 4 Eye of Killroggs" the same can be said with Natural Orders or Nether Fractures. Sometimes (and especially depending on the tournament) it's correct to NOT run those cards and you'll find an unexpected edge when people play around them even though you don't have it in your deck.

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Phillip
Oregon


Check out my regular article series on http://wow.tcgplayer.com!

1494572:

1284658:

My point is that people have found success not running these staple cards. Playing in the top 8 is a different animal altogether as the surprise factor is gone. I don't know if there exist anyone in this game so good that they build decks to win top 8 playoffs rather than building one to get there. Did anyone run Reason for the Season for Worlds 2007?

What staple card did Phil not run?

Just to clarify, in Boston I ran Mythen to a 10-0 start while not including Natural Order in my main deck. Andy did similar in NACC when he didn't include Nether Fracture. I believe that's the point he was trying to make.

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Phillip
Oregon


Check out my regular article series on http://wow.tcgplayer.com!

1494572:

I'm sure for every case of someone being innovative and not playing a "staple" card there are 5 times as many who made a very similiar choice and lost because of it. I could be "innovative" and take Myriam out of my Black Ice deck but it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

I don't disagree with you. Assume what you say is true, that 1 in 6 people do it right. My point is that that 1 person who's doing it right exists.

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My entire collection for sale.