Getting back in the game - Miracles or ANT?

[sherko7]

Hi guys!

Short backstory - been on and off the game since I was in the 4th grade (am 26 now) almost exclusively playing Legacy. Quit the game again about 1-2 years ago and sold out my whole collection as I needed some funds.

Anyway, am thinking of getting back again. Criteria for the deck I wanna play:

1. Am a pretty busy person so I'm looking to just join the local monthly tournaments, and maybe a few nights of casual Magic with my bro (Elves) and friends (DnT, Burn, etc...).

2. I am a very competitive person but will have very limited play testing. I want to place well during the mentioned tourneys I mentioned.

3. A deck that should more or less stay competitive in an open meta. Both decks look like they have game against everything - exactly what I'm looking for.

I used to play RUG and URW Delver, Dredge (LED and Manaless), and Nic Fit. I would say I have a pretty good grasp of the format.

The only downsides I see are:

Miracles - games will take WAY TOO LONG
ANT - looks not enjoyable for casual nights, a blast to play in tourneys though

Open to other deck suggestions. Am looking for a decent non-blue deck that is not Elves or DNT, too.

[iamajellydonut]

ANT - looks not enjoyable for casual nights

How doesn't this apply to Miracles?

Anyway, I think that criticism is entirely subjective. People will piss and moan about whatever deck you do actually bring. If you play combo, you don't provide an "interactive game" for your opponent. If you bring Miracles, you'll literally just piss off the entire room with your stalling. If you bring Delver, you're the reason the format has gone to hell. If you bring Death and Taxes, you're a loser. If you bring Shortcake, you'll get bitched at for having Blood Moon and will force people to start having excessive Moon hate even if you're the only person with it... Etc.


All in all, my vote is for ANT on the basis of it always being fun as balls.

[sherko7]

How doesn't this apply to Miracles?

Anyway, I think that criticism is entirely subjective. People will piss and moan about whatever deck you do actually bring. If you play combo, you don't provide an "interactive game" for your opponent. If you bring Miracles, you'll literally just piss off the entire room with your stalling. If you bring Delver, you're the reason the format has gone to hell. If you bring Death and Taxes, you're a loser. If you bring Shortcake, you'll get bitched at for having Blood Moon and will force people to start having excessive Moon hate even if you're the only person with it... Etc.


All in all, my vote is for ANT on the basis of it always being fun as balls.

Very good point. I don't know but there are some days when grinding it out with Miracles seem appealing to me. TBH the main appeal of Miracles to me is the fact that from the cards in its list I can pretty much just a few more hundred $'s and build Patriot, Stoneblade, etc... when I get bored.

Though at least with ANT, exactly one person in the room is having a blast!

[Nuke is Good]

Depending on your playgroup's definition of fun, playing Storm or Miracles could be entertaining or utterly boring. One deck involves watching you combo hoping to fizzle, the other deck involves not letting your opponent really play magic. Whatever deck you like playing more I say bring regardless.

If you bring Delver, you're the reason the format has gone to hell.

This may be a joke but I do agree with this statement at times.

[nevilshute]

In my experience, Miracles is harder to do well with if you have limited time. That is not to down-play the difficulty of playing storm, but storm will carry with it more free wins imo. If you end up only getting to play with your miracles deck one or two evenings per fortnight I'd suspect you will struggle with the learning curve. The same can be said for storm, but yeah, I would guess that deck will yield more chance of winning in a shorter span of time.

[JDK]

Last time I checked slamming Top+CB and topdecking Termini was pretty forgiving.

[sjmcc13]

Miracles is harder to play and to learn. ANT also requires practice, but you can practice by goldfishing games and get an idea how it goes off.

Really the factors you need to consider are your natural play style, and the amount of overlap (both in terms of # of cards and $ value) with other decks you might consider building later on.

[Jonathan Alexander]

Mostly depends on how fast you naturally play. Being too slow with Miracles will make for a horrendous experience for both you and your opponents, whereas being too fast with Storm will end up costing you games. I'd say that's the main factor.
Neither deck has much overlap with other decks you might want to build, so that shouldn't really be a factor.

[sherko7]

ANT seems like the most likely choice for me at the moment. As it seems both decks need their pilots to invest a lot of time - time I will very rarely have. But at least with ANT I can goldfish, and I can have a proactive game plan. It also fits my play style better.

I have had a history of playing too slow back when I was piloting Nic Fit. I love SDT, hence spend too much time with it.

Thanks for your comments everybody!

[twndomn]

Hi guys!

Open to other deck suggestions. Am looking for a decent non-blue deck that is not Elves or DNT, too.

Are you going to ask people of this forum on whether you should date a blonde or brunette next? This has less to do with Magic but more to do with people being psychic and read your personal taste.

[Kylehyde]

Are you going to ask people of this forum on whether you should date a blonde or brunette next? This has less to do with Magic but more to do with people being psychic and read your personal taste.

brunette

[Zupponn]

Non-blue? How about Dragon Stompy? The newer goblin versions can be quite fun and interactive when you don't just win off of Moon effects.

[apple713]

turbo depths. non blue combo :) very inexpensive too.

[Fuzzy]

Miracles is probably the best legacy deck if you can manage your time and had enough mental resistance to play it during several rounds. I would start from there.

[apple713]

it's not even that miracles games take long. Good players can play the deck quickly. The issue I have with it is that after a casual FNM tournament with it you'll think you just sat for a 5 hour certification exam. Maybe I didn't play it enough to where the plays were intuitive but i get mentally fatigued when I play it. I'd never want to play 8+ rounds at an scg with it.

[Ellomdian]

How doesn't this apply to Miracles?

Best Avatar On The Site beat me to it - casual groups tend not to want to play against you when you are playing Miracles. But you will get to play more Magic than anyone else when you play Tourneys!

Based on everything you said, just build ANT. If you want to have more 'fun,' buy yourself some Ill-Gotten Gains and Leylines to change the pace up - Iggy Pop can at least be more entertaining to play against than straight ANT. You'll also have the Diamonds to build Dredge for when people get tired of you playing storm combo.

Anyway, I think that criticism is entirely subjective. People will piss and moan about whatever deck you do actually bring. If you play combo, you don't provide an "interactive game" for your opponent. If you bring Miracles, you'll literally just piss off the entire room with your stalling. If you bring Delver, you're the reason the format has gone to hell. If you bring Death and Taxes, you're a loser. If you bring Shortcake, you'll get bitched at for having Blood Moon and will force people to start having excessive Moon hate even if you're the only person with it... Etc.

Man, someone summed it up really well...

Crap, it's jellydoughnut again.

[cheerios]

Just note that being marked as the ANT guy in local 3 to 4 round tourneys can be tough.

Cheers

[bruizar]

Are you going to ask people of this forum on whether you should date a blonde or brunette next? This has less to do with Magic but more to do with people being psychic and read your personal taste.

brunettes

/thread

EDIT:

brunette

Beat me to the punch

[MGB]

How about ... neither?

If you're mostly playing local events that are semi-casual, then play something that is generally more fun for you and for the opponent. I would never play a deck like ANT or Miracles outside of a Competitive REL 5+ round event.

Play some kind of aggro deck or fair deck of some kind.