[Article] Damia, Sage of Stone

[rocketrae21]

I recently wrote about my Damia, Sage of Stone deck for Commader, check it out and let me know what you think

Check Out My Gorgon (http://jupitergamesonline.com/2012/1104/tales-of-the-squire-check-out-my-gorgon)

[kombatkiwi]

I recently wrote about my Damia, Sage of Stone deck for Commader, check it out and let me know what you think

Check Out My Gorgon (http://jupitergamesonline.com/2012/1104/tales-of-the-squire-check-out-my-gorgon)

It was fine but it wasn't really a worthwhile read, because it lacked any substantial content.

It was basically

-Here is my deck
-It's not optimized
-I played a couple games with it
-Some sentiments about commander everybody has heard before

The best paragraph was this

I took this Damia list to a Commander night and got placed in a three man pod with my friend Jason and a gentleman known as Poptart. Jason was sort of mana screwed and Poptart didn’t really do a whole lot. I landed a Consecrated Sphinx early and protected it into massive card advantage. I eventually added a Geth, Rune-scarred Demon, Sheoldred, and Vorinclex to the party and abused Geth by using Jason’s graveyard to get back Snapcaster for my counters and Phyrexian Metamorph to copy my Rune-Scarred Demon for full value. Poptart helped me out by playing Call to the Grave which let me sac Jason’s creatures and use them again. Eventually they were both at 22 and I just swung out to take them both down. I actually played well this game and thought out my plays instead of that horrific incident with the Olivia deck.

Except you didn't even really explain why you played well, which was disappointing.

I think in future you want to consider what your target audience is going to get out of your article and therefore why you are writing it.

Is it
-Educational?
-Entertaining?
-Persuasive?
etc

[rocketrae21]

Hey thanks for the criticism, I actually like it when people do this and you have been the first. I realize I am not the best at writing articles but definitely do want to get better.
I was also sort of in a time crunch with this article and writing it at 3am, but hey maybe my other articles suck as well. But thanks again and hopefully I can do better in the future
I'm also trying to not make everything a tournament report where I just talk about my playing, but I guess this didn't really have other things people wanted/needed.

[Aggro_zombies]

Tournament reports for EDH decks are kind of meh in the first place because there's less helpful information to glean from them; normal tournament reports give you all of the same interesting plays but offer insight into matchup analyses and sideboarding and the like that don't translate well to EDH.

That said, it helps for deckbuilding articles if you talk more about the deck. What makes your build of Damia special? Why should I care about it? What about potentially glaring omissions like Mind Twist and Mind Shatter, which are really good against many decks? What, specifically, does Damia offer to someone looking to build control that isn't offered by, say, Vorosh (aside from the creature type)? How do I take advantage of that?

What I get from your article is that you chose Damia because she's a gorgon and she does stuff sometimes, but is kind of bad so people aren't scared of you. So...why Damia, then? Why not have Vorosh as your general and just never cast him or something? I don't feel like your build really takes advantage of its general, although some of that might be your ambivalence towards her in your article.

[rocketrae21]

Tournament reports for EDH decks are kind of meh in the first place because there's less helpful information to glean from them; normal tournament reports give you all of the same interesting plays but offer insight into matchup analyses and sideboarding and the like that don't translate well to EDH.

That said, it helps for deckbuilding articles if you talk more about the deck. What makes your build of Damia special? Why should I care about it? What about potentially glaring omissions like Mind Twist and Mind Shatter, which are really good against many decks? What, specifically, does Damia offer to someone looking to build control that isn't offered by, say, Vorosh (aside from the creature type)? How do I take advantage of that?

What I get from your article is that you chose Damia because she's a gorgon and she does stuff sometimes, but is kind of bad so people aren't scared of you. So...why Damia, then? Why not have Vorosh as your general and just never cast him or something? I don't feel like your build really takes advantage of its general, although some of that might be your ambivalence towards her in your article.

I guess I never realized you responded again until now.
Cards like Mind Twist and Mind Shatter only affect one opponent and that causes enemies right away. Yeah, its nice to make someone discard their grip but then future games you are doomed.

There really aren't any good BUG generals. The Mimeoplasm is pretty beast but I didn't want to be complete reanimator. Damia isn't a scary general but she can just get you back into the game (or farther ahead). She doesn't win on her own but is worth casting when the time is right. Vorosh is just bad in everyway. I don't like decks that focus on their general too much and I don't with Damia, but she still can do work.
Also I'm not trying to say that my Damia list is the best or anything, but its one I have been playing with and had success. No one ever has the right list for a Magic deck.
Hope that answers your questions

[Aggro_zombies]

Rereading my response, I came off a bit harshly, which wasn't my intention.

The thing I've noticed about Damia is that she tends not to actually draw you any cards when you need them. If you're behind and you cast Damia, it signals desperation, and Damia tends not to live for very long in those cases. Oddly enough, if you're ahead and cast Damia, she tends to live a little longer - though that may be because I usually have more cards in hand when I'm ahead, so she does less. I've very rarely had a Damia survive multiple turns, but my deck gets a very obvious bonus off of drawing multiple cards per turn (dredging a lot).

Vorosh is actually not that bad. He's less immediately threatening than Teneb and less situationally devastating than Oros, but still makes for a decent Voltron general once he connects once.

[rocketrae21]

Rereading my response, I came off a bit harshly, which wasn't my intention.

The thing I've noticed about Damia is that she tends not to actually draw you any cards when you need them. If you're behind and you cast Damia, it signals desperation, and Damia tends not to live for very long in those cases. Oddly enough, if you're ahead and cast Damia, she tends to live a little longer - though that may be because I usually have more cards in hand when I'm ahead, so she does less. I've very rarely had a Damia survive multiple turns, but my deck gets a very obvious bonus off of drawing multiple cards per turn (dredging a lot).

Vorosh is actually not that bad. He's less immediately threatening than Teneb and less situationally devastating than Oros, but still makes for a decent Voltron general once he connects once.

Na, I didn't take it as harsh. I do agree with the desperation aspect but there has been games where I have been behind and just cast her, drawn a nice full grip and not just died. I think with your and dredging its a bit differently. I often cast all of my cards and then if they die rebuild. EDH is about fun and I'm down to lose or win. I just like casting fun/mean cards like Overwhelming Forces.
Vorosh is fine for what he is and the one positive is I can get him in Jap Foil, but I want my general to now be the worst dragon