UW Heroic Pilot Dependant?
Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 20, 2014, 9:55 p.m. by harrison5371
So I've been working on a UW Heroic deck for the last week in a half or so, and plan to take the deck to SCG Richmond this Saturday. (Deck can be found here: UW Heroic Tempo but that's not the point)
Anyway, a lot of decks get good matchups and bad matchups and things that even a newer player can do to beat an experienced player when a certain matchup exists, ie a newer player with a boss sligh deck vs a more experienced UB control player. The deck is good at getting underneath and SHOULD most of the time, close the deal.
This doesn't seem to be true to my playtesting last night. It seems that regardless of the matchup, I won or lost based off player skill. It felt that in all the games I was a better pilot than my opponent, I won. The ones were the other player was more experienced, I lost.
I know my sample size is still rather small, so I figured I would ask the opinions of you all to see if anyone else has had this issue, and of course I'm open for tips to tighten my play. (I make basic right decisions but with this deck, action a still affects action b, but 3 turns later action a could have influenced how the game turned out due to which creatures are getting pumped/protected, when I decide to draw, when and what I decide to scry, even when I crack a fetch etc.
tl;dr: does uw heroic's matchups come down to more of player skill rather than good/bad matchups?
Yes and no. At some point a good hand against a good match-up negates player skill. There's just no amount of Pro-Tour Top 8s that can miraculously pull out a win. Player skill is about giving yourself the best chances to win.
That said, the UW Heroic deck requires a lot more skill than I think most folks give it credit. It's got important mulligan decisions since it needs to have both parts of the deck, and it has the typical decision aggro hinges that make and break games.
And it also looks at a lot of cards, there's a lot of scry and even tutoring that can occur in a single game with the deck. The more actions and decisions points that occur in a game the greater chance that a players skill can tip the odds for and against them.
November 20, 2014 10:45 p.m.
harrison5371 says... #5
I agree with vampirearmy about magic being skill dependant, my thoughts are that the UW Heroic amplifies the disparity.
and thanks for the comments fluffy and sly, Im just trying to solidify my sbing and try to figure out how I want to attack the meta. The play testing kind of got me thinking on this and I just wanted to see other people's experiences or if I perhaps was doing something really wrong.
November 20, 2014 10:58 p.m.
I mean, Heroic decks, by nature, need a delicate balance of creatures, heroic enablers, and land. If that balance is off and you're flooded with too many of one type, you'll lose the game more often than not. In this sense, you'll always lose part of your games to the order of the cards in your library. Mulligans matter a ton, especially considering thoughtseize is still a card in standard. The archetype is actually fairly challenging and requires a lot of decision making.
November 20, 2014 10:59 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #7
Yes. Nut draws in a favorable matchup aside, player skill matters a great deal more than many would think. I've lost games I could have won due to my poor decisions. I'm getting better, but as I do, I learn that pilot vision and game awareness is critical to winning. Taking advantage of opponents' mistakes is also a critical element in closing games. Deck construction and matchups are huge determinants for success in competitive Magic, but the people who win again and again are consistently good both at the drawing board and the playing table.
November 21, 2014 12:23 a.m.
I just played a variant of Tom Ross' U/W Heroic list for the first time tonight. I'm generally comfortable with heroic strategies from my Theros Limited days, but it was still a challenge to pilot the deck effectively. Tom usually makes decks that require very tight decision-making, and U/W Heroic is no exception.
The results were there (3-1, 2nd place) tonight, but I could see scenarios where I simply lucked out or flat out made the wrong decision and didn't pay for it. I can't realistically expect that ever again.
Overall, I do believe U/W Heroic is one of the more pilot-dependent decks out there right now. There is less consistency in the individual cards, even though they are potent when combined correctly. A Gods Willing is utterly useless if you have no creatures, whereas a Crackling Doom or Abzan Charm is always going to accomplish something by itself.
VampireArmy says... #2
all decks (within reason) are dependent on the skill of those using them
November 20, 2014 10:31 p.m.