I am the lowest common denominator. Thanks for the video, bro

Ross from Friends is back to teach us stuff.

Awesome series! Being someone who has just started during SOI, this is VERY USEFUL. Thank you! I already liked your channel but this is even better.

Good series. I have played Magic off and on for over 23 years. Am learning a lot from this series. Look forward to finishing this series soon.

My friend has me test my decks against his giant bully equipment ally deck and it's excruciating because he kills me on like turn 4. Most of my friends refuse to play against him now because he just has very good decks. I'm gonna show him this video. Hopefully he makes a weenie wall deck.

This video has the perfect level of sass. Also looking forward to learning with the upcoming videos.

Magic is a really complicated, thinking game. This video has brought to my attention some mathematical concepts I haven't thought of applying to magic. I will try it out with a couple of idea decks I have built. The rant at the end is uncalled for. No need to feed the trolls and let them know they are getting to you. If you do, then you end up like Total Biscuit who completely cuts out discussions with is videos via deleting every comment or blocking the comments or you spend the entire time engage in a fruitless discussion. I rather listen to someone speak of Barbie dolls then that: at least they will be enthusiastic about it.

Thanks for the advice. I'm new to the game and was trying to devise a good playtest in the most alpha form and this seems like a great way.

Also great video, topic was nice, and I totally agree with you. Plus the geographic distribution video is nice to watch and I should probably use that for a deck I'm working on :P

There was an article a while back on this where they gave different ideas for "automated" decks you can test with: magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/playing-your-pet-rough-testing-magic-deck-2010-08-30 There's also a more complex version here: magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/serious-fun/deep-iq-2013-06-11

Could you upload your playtest decklist for those of us who are too lazy to build our own deck to playtest against

I purposefully keep like 4 low powered decks with a couple interesting interactions but mostly casting spells and swinging with creatures for the sole purpose of introducing people to the game. I have a friend that's learning to play now and of course his deck isn't going to be as strong as a tribal elf deck that's been edited and strengthened over 15 years. It ironically enough is a goblin devour deck that maybe could be good if I edited it but I like it as an intro deck. Thanks for the vid

Thanks for clarifying. My buddies we play free for all and there is 5 of us. My deck does not do well when come to testing. So I would go home and refine it and repeat. Well I found out on a 1vs1 my deck does really well. But big group play it does not. Lol. Keep up the good work!

This process comes so naturally that I forgot I even do this while I was watching your video. Rather than playing against a punching bag deck though, I just play against a ghost deck. I draw out 7 cards, maul once, then playing as I would until my hand is exhausted. I kill 1 of my best creatures every other turn and boardwipe when my hand is exhausted. After that I play for 7 more turns and that usually gives me a feel for how the deck works and what should be added or removed based on the meta I am hammering the deck out for.

Wow, I didn't even realize I had the proper testing deck for my Commanders, according to what you said. To test my Commander I usually put them against my Obzedat Ghost Council Commander deck that I put up together with cards from RTR and theros blocks. I'm missing the Counterspells and the big creatures, but it's compensated by the Extort mechanic which kind of puts me on a timer. And I can relate, sometimes that Orzhov Commander gets 60 or 70 LP before my Commander can go off, and most of it comes from drain so I'm on a timer to get the comoes and make sure it can win on its own.

I'm a new player and i really appriciate this video ^^

Great vid....at first i swore you were David Schwimmer talking MTG

Do you have a dummy decklist? I just want an example so I can make my own.

I appreciate the advice. I honestly haven't heard about xmage till now and I wish I'd heard about it sooner. Also, quick critique: I felt it was in bad taste to say that someone who bad mouthed you before this video and changed there tune with this one is an idiot. Other than that, great video. Can't wait for the other uploads, even though I have to.

I've learned that you can play against an A.I. in xmage today, what a great day it is.

How is the Tap Dance deck comming along anyway?

where can i find the calculating video?

could you give us an example of test deck that you did talk about in this video. It would be great to see.

Lol the passive aggressiveness pointing somewhat towards a particular person you may or may not have had a small Twitter fight with today is hilarious

Untap.in is my personal favorite testing software/ website

I was just building some dueldecks for me and my friend today. I could definitely see myself saving some time with xmage.

i would love to watch you in a protour simply to watch people's reactions to your rouge brews utterly crushing all the "pros"

i was wondering if you critique decks or do you create videos based on your personal ideas?

I like the idea of using a hyper defense deck. Makes a lot of sense. I usually just play test against my friends standard decks.

I like to use the hoard decks from theros block especially xenegos deck. they help you see if you can actually survive long enough to do anything.

is there a xmage alternative that is on apple products?

I've been doing this play testing. And I've got a problem. Sigil Captain doesn't play nice with continuous pump like Intangible Virtue or Creakwood Liege. Geeze, that's annoying. So, now I have a choice. Build focused on Sigil Capt or remove it and build around Intangible and Creakwood.

I think I know why people troll you. I love that you're trying to help players get better but boy do you come off pompous.

I'd say the best way to quickly refine a deck is dry testing, if done right. that means playing a few games by yourself, and taking note of all relevant options and possible turning points you have during each game. after about 5 to 10 games you take those notes and go over them, analyzing how your deck would perform during an average game when facing specific decks common to your metagame. if you took decent notes and are familiar with the decks you are testing against, it should be quite easy to assess your chances against those decks and determine the weak spots of your deck. after that tweak the deck and repeat that process till you reach the point where your deck feels somewhat refined. then you should try it out against real players and ideally play against a wide variety of decks to make those last refinements.

and I don't get mad at your videos...I love em lol

What affinity have you seen?

I'm better at fnm I have more fun but I haven't been winning lately at draft how do I get better at draft.right now I'm taking brake from drafts and playing more fnms.but how do I get better at drafting.thank you

I like to test my decks against the theros challenge decks. One of them is passive, one of them is aggressive and one is unpredictable. It's a good way imo.

Do you have to buy cards in xmage or are they all free

Hey I love your work and this is right but hear me out. Some of the basis of being an enthusiast and a casual this doesn't work. I play at home and at Monday nights I can only build a deck that can hold it's own against one of those things. Also I don't want to pay for a deck I want to build with the cards I have how do I work with that and shut down stuff in commander.

you just gave me deck idea with your defenders and counters hahaha

Storm isn't a top tier deck in Modern. A well timed Mana leak or Remand will tear them apart. For example, if they go Desperate Ritual Manamorphose Desperate Ritual into Mana Leak. Leyline of Sanctity makes Empty Warren a must run, which pyroclasm destroys. Nahiri Control plays pyroclasm, tron plays it, tron also plays ostone. Eidolon of the Great Revel will burn them for 2 each time they cast a card pretty much, and they get slaughtered. Ad Nauseum normally combos off faster than it. Infect is faster than it and has Apostle's Blessing to stop Bolt.

If ur deck dies before you get to test if it works than that's something worth knowing

Scrap the math, with xmage I don't pay a dime to see if my idea will work or not. I'd rather take in play data and see how it runs after several games. Usually takes a few tweaks but I find it a more in depth way to test because then I get to see what my idea does as it actually plays. And yea I'll take on a tough deck, mill is a instant scoop tho, unless I'm playing counter control I'll never get anything out. Old school player lol play testing is my thing mostly because math isn't lol

yay, math! -_- Also, saying someone is "too cheap to have real cards" is a bad estimate. Cause, in my situation, I'm not too cheap to have real cards, i just don't have the cash to get the good $30+ cards.

would love to see the defender practice deck tech.

you should do a testing deck tech

My method is similar concept, scryfall/deckstats, analyze revise, analyze, proxy LGS casual test, hear recommendations, revise, proxy LGS casual test, invest and finally FNM play

David schwimmer

Virulent Plague is still legal fyi. it came out in Dragons Of Tarkir

simplified: goldfish, then play against a test deck. Then test against a bad matchup.

i dont really can't grasp the binomial coefficient theorem

cant speak for others but my criticism regards the how you were talking 'bout how broken the deck was when you were only testing it against ai but whatevet. personally when testing a new brew i like to 'fish it to make saw the deck functions s intended then play it against a gauntlet of decks that frequent my meta (infect, affinity, tron etc) to see what flex slots need adjusting and to build the best possible sideboard.

you were saying how some combos don't work the way you want it so maybe you could help me out to see if I have my comb right. so if you have a selfless spirit out and the new avaycen can you sac the selfless spirit to trigger avaycen's flip and still give all of your things indestructibility with the spirit.

I built a control deck tested it against an elf deck and that was poorly

Just listening to you makes me unable to breathe, good vid tho.

2 videos come up when you search your channel for Hypergeometric :V

I like playing against my pet. If that article still exist you should give it a look.

Huh. Much like you, I actually find the AI the best way to try a new strategy in anything. I consider it like starting a new game in a video game, and doing something completely different. You start with the simple opponents, and after its been proven effective, a few tweaks have been made here and there, you finally feel half-decent about your chances, then you start to test it against gradually better opponents and decks. Though such a tactic only works my way in Modern, Edh, and Vintage/Legacy, because guess what? Standard rushes you to make your deck within a few months, unless you literally only use (In this case SOI and Eldritch Moon)

I have a hard time sticking with my soapbox deck when everyone else is running porches. Build a deck and stick with it. Also don't be afraid to make changes. -mildly successful legacy brewer.

You should put these videos on soundcloud. They're like podcasts and I love your videos but it's just strange to hold my phone up staring at 5 mana symbols. It'd be cool

Cool

I'm sorry, but I'm just way to lazy to hit that subscribe button. probably won't slow things down in any of our lifes

I give my friends all of my deck to test a new deck and it won everytime so its my bedt deck

I don't like xmage, but for anyone, I'd recommend lackeyccg

I disagree des, interaction is a big part of the game and while a goldfish test of some sort can give you good ideas of what the deck can do its rarely as important as knowing what your deck does when it is under pressure. I prefer to build the deck and once i have the math down then just play a bunch of matches out in the wild find out how the cards interact, what matchups the deck likes what it doesn't and then go and plug up some holes rinse repeat.

Hypergeometric... that's a no for me.

hey desolator you said you had a deck that would win FNM's like a a day before you started opening your millions EM boxes, im still waiting bro.

Most modern decks win by turn 4 though

Playing against tier 1 is better. Then you don't waste your time with situation that will never come up. Playing against a human teaches you how humans think.

I mean why not run a 70 card deck

I proxy

turbo fog... that deck sucks.

how about playing pokemon go

face reveal!

if your on android there's a great free way to play mtg. it's called forge look it up if you want to play mtg on the go.

Please stop saying "kill deck"

You actually have no idea what your talking about

I was just building some dueldecks for me and my friend today. I could definitely see myself saving some time with xmage.