Of Magic and MODO

I want to kick MaRo in the nuts

2008-09-12T00:22:00.001-04:00

Shards of Alara: making Eventide look good for over a month!

2009 Pro Tour Format Change

2008-08-31T10:23:00.002-04:00

I like it. I have yet to play on a PT but hope to next year (really looking forward to Ext and limited PTQ seasons). Limited and constructed are both ways to play Magic. Both are also imperfect.

There are two big downsides to high level limited events and they are linked.

First up is the coverage, I love limited but I willingly admit that it is less interesting to follow along with. The flow of games in more random as most cards are singletons in their respective deck. Looking at winning decklists is also dull. Watching drafts can be cool but that is about it.

The second major stumbling block is connected. The Pro Tour has one over-arching purpose to help WOTC sell Magic cards. Constructed is amazing at this, Tamogoyf rocking every format known to man increased the demand for Future Sight boxes. People watching at home check how many Figures of Destiny to build the latest deck. Limited does do this. No one sees a winning limited deck and says "man I should buy some packs to draft with."

Combing both formats in every PT gets around these downsides. Even in the PT with a t8 draft each year there will be undefeated and t8 constructed decklists. The constructed will make coverage more interesting and help Wizards move more cards. I also think combing formats will make the PT more interesting and challenging.

Many Magic players are regarded as limited or constructed specialists. The best of these cross over. Two great examples are Wafo-Tapa and Kenji. Both were regarded as some of the best constructed players in the world. Their limited game was not bad but it was not where they were making t8s. They both however changed this. Kenji improved so much he was voted into the 2007 Invitational as the Limited Master. Guilluame Wafo-Tapa made t8 of the last Limited PT, Kuala Lumpur.

Combining formats forces players to adapt or fare poorly at PTs. This I think is good, PTs are the highest level of Magic. You can still do well at GPs with just constructed or limited skills but to be the best or the best you'll need both.

Last PTQ of the Season

2008-08-31T10:06:00.002-04:00

Last weekend I battled at my second local PTQ to disappointing results. Turbo report:

Pre r1: I had to dig in my box of cards for Arbiters of Knollridge to loan out, this made me smile.

R1: UW Merfolk as would be a trend my opponent clued me into his deck by shuffling it in my direction. I kept a Nameless/Peppersmoke/Shriekmaw hand thinking this would be good versus him. I never drew a non Mistbind Clique Faerie. g2&# I maul his out of date list.

2-1
1-0

R2: 5c Control Don't remember much of the match but I think I got it in three. He was a solid player but I think a slight underdog in this matchup.

2-1
2-0

R3: Faeries, was playing versus a local guy. I mulliganed into good hands he did not. The faeries mirror match is luck based if both players know what to do, he did not.

2-0
3-0

R4: Faeries, another mirror again versus an opponent who probably had 1/10th or fewer the games I have with the deck/mirror.

2-0
4-0

r5: Faeries, I get him g1 in a drawn out affair, drawing both my maindeck Peppersmokes was nice.

G2 I punt. Twice. First time I Peppersmoke a blocker pre combat to try and get in with Mistbind, he had just topdecked a Spellstutter. I then attack with Stillmoon which he is able to trade a Mutavault for. A few turns later (he topdecks business every turn I might add) I put him on Mistbind Clique but don't play another Stillmoon pre combat. On my last turn of the game (15 or so) I topdeck a 3rd blue source for my Cryptic Commands in hand. He is on one life after Bitterblossom resolves and clearly the last card he drew was another Spellstutter. My fault but man did he have to get lucky to capitalize on it.

Here is the other issue he has played very slowly and we have 4 minutes for g3. I draw about one match a PTQ where I don't call my opponent on slow play in g1 or 2. So yeah he mulls to four and I play to win. I go all-in on Stillmoon beats only to have him cast a turn four Sower off his mull to 4. This goes back and forth and I end the game about two turns short of killing him.

1-1-1
4-0-1

R6 5c Control: I play the winner of the event here. G1 I maul him with BB. G2 I have triple Consign to Dreams for his Colossus but that gets me no where and I loose to a pair of 4/4 Changelings. g3 I don't remember except that he had a savage topdeck that won it. He is a nice guy who I kinda know and admitted he got lucky there. :(

4-1-1

R7 Doran?: I play a green deck, I loose knocking me from t8 contention.

4-2-1

R8 Shamans: I win g1, g2 there are 6 Wolf-Skull Shamans played/reanimated. g3 I win.

5-2-1
17th

Well there were two issues this PTQ. I punted r5 in so many ways for the draw. Second I didn't catch much luck in 8 rounds I had t1 Thoughtseize t2 Bitterblossom twice. Wanted to PTQ this weekend but low on funds to looks like Berlin is a no-go.

The format was so-so it was better than first thought and the last few weeks were good but overall Wizards needs to test 2 drops more.

EEE

2008-08-27T13:00:00.002-04:00

Well after vowing not to play it several times I've done five EEE drafts. As I'm 14-1 in matches it is hard to stay away. I was 12-0 but then came the draft where I mulliganed more often than not and was mana screwed in every game of the finals. I also was 0/7 on removal in g3 of the finals, can't win em all.

I don't really have much advice for doing well in the format. Everyone knows mimics are sick and my best decks have been loaded with them. That said solid decks, tight play, and removal can beat mimics. Some of the uncommons are also amazing, most drafts I go black I've picked up a Soul Snuffers which just destroys the format as most creatures are x/1 or 2/2. To try and see what has been key to my success I've compared my five decks below.

Deck # Colors Mimics God Auras Removal Lands
1 R 2/1 2/0 2 16
2 Wr 4/3 2/0 4 16
3 GB 4/2 1/1 2 17
4 Bg 4 1 4 17
5 Bg 2/1 2/1 6 16

It should also be noted that all of the black and white focused decks were running BW mimics and BW cards as their base. I think the BW mimic is the best, the other cards in its colors are good, its god aura is great, and it gets 4 power and evasion. My first deck looking back was the worst as it didn't have much of anything impressive. The other four were all very solid offering explosive starts or lots of removal.

I think that I'll keep EEEing as long as it remains up after the restart today. Look for me to post a MED II review later this week.

Couple Cards

2008-08-17T16:51:00.010-04:00

Made a few cards figured I'd post them here. Card on the left is for PureMTGO's August make a card contest which wants you to make a zombie card. I think this is a nice "fixed" version of Recurring Nightmare with some flavor added.

Mishra is an attempt to make a few cards to try in the cube. I could see doing trying Endless Horror also. Mishra's pump ability is kinda cool because it can be hard to use, I'd love to see someone pump him and mana burn just cause they needed to do it. I would also love to see:
Turn one Chrome Mox, land.
Turn two land, Mishra, Grim Monolith.
Turn three, Tolarian Academy, hardcast DSC.

His second ablity is pretty basic but solid. His ultimate hits both graveyards because why not but seems fine in the late game.

Next up is another planeswalker who I made mainly because I really liked the art. This is based on the planeswalker (I think) from Ice Age and I like her abilities.

First up she is super aggressively costed at GG. You can cast her turn two and use he as a Hunting Wilds over the next two turns. You can also start stunting your opponent's mana development while working your way up to her ultimate and a one-sided Armageddon.

Next up are a few cards I made playing with echo. Despite two blocks with it I think there are still plenty of places for it to go.

Screaming Zombie is an attempt to make another one drop for a suicide black deck in the cube, and I think it fits the theme.

Mercenary Goblin is a take on FTK/Fire Imp type creatures. I was going to word it "when you pay Mercenary Goblin's echo cost" but figured I might as well open it up. This is another card that is looking at cube use but would make a great cycle in an echo using set.

I wanted a echo card with X but it is fairly hard to make an X effect in echo that is not to powerful or weak. I decided to cheat by making it XX. Like the goblin this is a card where the opponent wants to kill it before you pay echo, unlike most echo cards.

R1 0-2 Loss to 1650

2008-08-10T22:51:00.002-04:00

Deck:
12 Plains
5 Islands

Niveous Wisps
Last Breath
Mistmeadow Witch
Safehold Elite
Safehold Sentry
Sonomancer x2
Consign to Dream
Scuttlemutt
Ballynock Cohortx2
Kitchen Finks
Thistledown Duo
Spectral Processionx2
Repeal Intruders
Watchwing Scarecrow
Barrenton Cragtreads
Biting Teher
Resplendant Mentor
Twilight Sheppard

Game one I kept two land missed a ton of land drops and then got Wild Swing'd. Still would have been it it as he had no creatures and I had Repeal Intruders but I missed my one turn window to hit four mana and lost. Game two I mull five lands into four and die with two lands in hand like 15 turns later.

Argh. This was after going 5-1 in my last two drafts with unplayable decks.

Draft Post Tomorrow

2008-08-10T02:26:00.002-04:00

Too late to post tonight but I did a draft and won with a mostly mono white deck. The deck and draft was mostly unremarkable (few interesting picks) but I want to test out a post using the draft recorder. There is a good chance this will be my last SSS draft as Monday sees Eventide which means drafts before the end of the week.

Also planning on playing in the Classic event tomorrow with a spicy deck so will post on that as well.

Few Updates

2008-08-06T16:45:00.003-04:00

First up we've got the latest patch notes for MODO, Eventide comes out next week and a lot of new features are being added.

The changes of note:

Swiss Pairings have been adjusted. Undefeated players should no longer be paired down inappropriately.

Draft Recorder – a user’s draft picks will be written to a local file. The feature can be activated in the Gameplay Settings scene. The files are written to the application data folder for the windows user account that is in use. The filenames will identify the MOL account that was drafting the cards.

The My Games dock will now display a client side list of games that have been played on that machine. This is really My Games Light; server based My Games lists currently have too much impact on system performance.

Users may note that there are 3 new play lobbies in the system. Casual Drafts, Sealed Swiss Queues, and Daily Events. These rooms will not be hosting any events until after the August 13th build. Specific information on how the rooms will be used will be included in the FAQ for the Eventide release events. Briefly, Daily Events will be used to maintain the normal event schedule separate from the Release Events in the Premier Events room. Sealed Swiss Queues would host the 32 player release events and would fire when full rather than on a schedule. The 32 player swiss queues are still being tested and are not a certainty yet for the EVE release. Casual Drafts would host 0K, no prize drafts from queues.

Hybrid cards will now be hidden during a draft if all of their colors have been hidden. (Example: Silkbind Faerie will be hidden if both “Hide Blue cards” and “Hide White cards” have been selected).

Tournament match scores are updated as games complete.

That last one should have happened long ago but I'm still happy to get it. The Draft Recorder sounds pretty slick and I plan on now posting some draft walkthroughs here. Hopefully someone will write a little program that turns the .txt file into a draftcap like visual showing.

In other news I have decided to add the cycle of hybrid lands to my cube. I'm currently 2/10 on foiling them and will wait to add them till I have 7 or 8 foiled. Also picked up a few cards on ebay I'd been needing for it, most notably a foil Kokusho.

Lastly there is a PTQ in Philly this weekend that I plan on going to. Bringing the fae maindeck is set with one or two sideboard slots still up in the ait. Hopefully can carpool with someone to avoid getting blown out on tolls and gas.

Eventide + Fae = ?

2008-07-31T13:28:00.003-04:00

Consider this an Eventide set review for block faeries.

Dream Fracture - This is a card I'm unsure on. It is clearly no Remand but that does not tell us much, Remand was amazing. Its main competition is Broken Ambitions and Negate. It has the advantage over those two is it hits everything. However the fact it costs three means that it doesn't counter anything on turn two (aka counter Bitterblossom) and you need seven lands to do something like Mistbind Clique+counter.
Verdict: Maybe

Inundate - This to me compares to Incremental Blight. I personally think this could be an interesting replacement. The main deck you run Blight for is Kithkin. Inundate bounces all their dudes but Thistledown Liege and blanks any Spectral Processions. That said I think six is too much and the fact that it doesn't kill anything means this won't make the cut.
Verdict: Nope

Oona's Grace - I'd love to run 26 land and two Oona's Graces in faeries. That said I don't think that will work. Cutting three spells for do nothing cards will result in too many do nothing hands.
Verdict: Maybe but think no

Wake Thrasher - I'm just mentioning this here as the deck lacks 3 drops and fatties. Despite being a Merfolk this fills both rolls. That said I think no.
Verdict: Doubtful

Necroskitter - A fine anti-Kithkin option that "combos" with Incramental Blight. That said due to a hybrid card I'll get to this won't make the cut.
Verdict: Nope

Talara's Bane - This could see sideboard play if the format shifts to lots and lots of Kithkin and green decks. Taking out a Cloudthresher or Cloudgoat Ranger seems really, really good. This is a great sideboard replacement of Thoughtseize in these matchups. It hits the cards you want and boosts your life, not lowers it.
Verdict: Doubtful

Beckon Apparition - Puppeter Clique is still the premier answer to Manneqiun decks. If non-creature graveyard stuff becomes and issue (retrace) I can see this being played. Clearly it fights for space with Faerie Macabre.
Verdict: Maybe

Stillmoon Cavalier - This is the hybrid I allued to. It pretty much has protection from Kithkin, as in the whole deck. You can even first strike it pre Mirrorweave and it keeps first strike after Mirrowweave. This is also solid v 5c decks as long as the board out firespout. I plan on running two or three in my sideboard for the rest of the PTQ season.
Verdict: Hells yeah!

Cold-Eye Selkie - An atractive sideboarding option if Peppersmoke was never printed.
Verdict: Can't wait for UGB merfolk to play this against me.

Groundling Pouncer - See last entry.
Verdict: Nope

Snakeform - The best answer yet to Chameleon Colossus. In fact I think if this card is heavily played CC will become less of a metagame threat. Also this card is gonna be almost as big of a rules pain as Mirrorweave. I want to run a pair of these some where but I don't know if I can find room.
Verdict: I think so

Cascade Bluffs et al - More filter lands make the mana in this format even more stupid. Personally I think if you want to run Cryptic Command and Chameleon Colossus in the same deck why play fish when you can play fae? Not sure if any splashing will be worth using these. If you want to play a 5c list ala GerryT then you'll be running some.
Verdict: Looks likley

Two ideas on where faeries could go:

#1 Slower, more counterspells: Oona's Grace and Dream Fracture look to me like an option to make a slower, more controling faeries deck. That said I'm not sure if faeries is the best fit for this or is Mannequin is. Also this idea probably won't work due to Kithkin and Faerie decks being good and fast.

#2 Three-five colors: I've heard or worse ideas than running some Colossi in faeries. Add in Firespout access and it might be worth diluting the synergistic core of the deck. On the other hand, probably not.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall What is the Greatest Format of Them All?

2008-07-17T02:27:00.002-04:00

Played in another Lorwyn/Shadowmoor blocked PE online today. Like the last one I went x-1 in the swiss (3 of 5 mirror this time) then faced a RB deck in the t8. The RB decks seems like your best chance to beat faeries but honestly its not a blowout. All three matches I've played against them in the final rounds of PEs have been close three game affairs. This time I managed to pull it out though my tendency to loose Lash Out clashes did not help.

Faeries:
50% vs the mirror
60% vs other decks
40% vs RB

Seems like it is the deck to play. The mirror sucks that is clear. However I don't think it is that bad IF you know how to play it. The RB deck is the best deck vs faeries but I frankly can't see how it can't win versus some decks. Demigod of Revenge is the best card in the deck as it allows the deck to deal tons of damage very quickly. Beyond that I'm unsure on the deck's chances.

I was not playing during Affinity and I know Faeries is no Affinity. That said the deck is insane and I don't think Eventide will change that.

Preparing for EEE Drafts

2008-07-16T09:43:00.002-04:00

Prerealeases this time around did not have EEE drafts. Why? Because Wizards is a bitch. Known fact: Wizards said we can't EEE draft. Rumor: because store owners were complaining that people got too much product and single sales suffered. Seems like a silly reason but fits with their getting rid of big prerelease events. At my local one the TO ran SEE instead of the SSE she was supposed to, nice thought if a bit random. ANYWAYS....

So yeah at some point fairly soon Eeventide will be released on Magic Online. This means it is time once again for triple small set drafting. Small set drafts are always degenerate and pretty much have one or two totally overpowering decks. In Futuresight it was Green/x getting you the best commons and uncommons while dodging most of the removal. In Morningtide it was U/W Wizard/Merfolk which I wrote about here and here.

I can tell you right now that EEE decks will be all about mimics. I'm unsure on which mimic is best thought I would lean towards the B/W mimic as a 4/4 flyer. That said I'm pretty sure on the deck I want to try. R/x or mono red. Why? Flame Jab. Flame Jab basically means for one mana you can kill all the mimics they could ever play. Another thing about the mimic decks is your mana curve will be very low meaning retrace goes up in value. In normal limited people are talking about retracing after you have six lands or so, in EEE I could see that number being 3-5 lands. This means lots of flame jabs which is a good thing.

When we have EEE drafts online I'll be sure to jump into them and post the results here.

Block Update: Went 5-1 in swiss of PE yesterday loosing to a red/black deck in r6. Lost to another red/black deck in t8. I don't think the matchup is good but it doesn't seem unwinable. In round six I lost game three to him winning the Clash on a Lash Out which put me to four for his Flame Javelin. In the quarterfinals I drew nothing in games 2&3 and it didn't really matter what deck I was playing.

Long Time No Post

2008-07-15T14:38:00.002-04:00

Well this coming weekend there is a PTQ right down the street from me so I've been blocking a lot online. I played 5c at the first PTQ I went to but honestly at this point I see no reason to do that when I can run faeries. So far I've just run two PEs going 1-2 drop in the first one (think I mulligaed over 10 times in three matches) and am 4-0 in the second as I type this.

Something I don't think many people know is that LSV has a daily video series on Blackboarder.com. He recently talked about faeries in block and while I don't think he had everything right I think he was right on one point. Spellstutter Sprite is a win-more card. Worse it is pretty bad when you don't have Bitterblossom out. He advocates running two main deck which I am doing right now and liking it. It saves you from the awkward hands with 2+ Spellsutters where you have to cast one EOT to turn the other on.

Maindeck:
25 Land
8 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Swamp
1 Reflecting Pool (Seems better than the 9th Island so I'm trying it out)
3 Thoughtseize
2 Peppersmoke
4 Nameless Inversion
2 Negate
4 Bitterblossom
2 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Eyeblight's Ending
4 Scion of Oona
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Cryptic Command
4 Mistbind Clique
3 Sower of Temptation

The other thing you might have noticed is the maindeck Negates and the lack of Broken Ambitions. Negate has game versus every deck often stopping key cards that cost four or more. BA is too often a dead topdeck and is awful on the draw. I'm thinking that 3 Negates is the right number, think I might trim the Eyeblight's Ending.

Otherwise I like the maindeck numbers the cards you almost always want are 4x and the semi-awkward cards are 2-3x. The only exception is Nameless Inversion, it is really awful in the 5c matchup. It makes up for this in every other matchup where it is pretty much the nuts.

Sideboard is:
1 Thoughtseize - #4
2 Peppersmoke - #3-4
2 Eyeblight's Ending - #2-3/6-7
2 Incremental Blight - Almost never want to cast this twice in a game making two a good number
1 Biting Tether - Want to run two but my sideboard is already top heavy, best answer to Chameleon Colossus in block
3 Puppeteer Clique - Great v 5c/elementals
4 Shriekmaw - removal spells 8-11

Think the Biting Tether or some Eyeblight's Endings will have to go. Honestly not sure what I want instead. 3rd Vendillion Clique would be okay as would more Neagates.

Limited Bad Beats/Eventide Limited

2008-07-06T12:52:00.004-04:00

Not much to post on of late. Last four drafts I'm 2-4, last sealed I went 0-2 with a sick deck. So far I've done I think seven sealed events going 4-1x4, 4-2, 0-1, 0-2. The worst part is two of the 4-1s I lost a match via punt and the 4-2 I lost both that way. The 0-1 and 0-2 I just got screwed.

Eventide previews/spoilers are coming along should be a fun set. The interaction in sealed and draft should be interesting. Mono colorshould get a boost as Unmake works in mono white just as well as Plumeveil. The allied color pairs will take a hit and the enemy colored pairs will go up. That said UR might not improve in draft. UR in draft is Power of Fire+untappers. Like Pili-Palla.dek it will suffer from one fewer pack of Power of Fires.

Two things that might improve are cards that focus on all colors and five color decks. In SSS draft you could go five color if the FarhavenElves, Suttlemutts, Manamorphoses, and Flasks came. This will be goodin SSE because you can still play everything. The one issue I see is alack of mana fixing in Eventide which could kill the deck. One card that might become much better in draft and sealed is Scrapbasket. Scrapbasket is the only common which can wear any of the ten color auras equally well. I usually had only had to resort to this in sealed but it might become worth it/necessary in draft.

Eventide Spoilers Cube Edition

2008-07-01T21:26:00.005-04:00

As with most sets at least 90% of the cards are not worth a second glance. The ones below are cards I am thinking might be cube worthy.

Red:
Very exciting. Keep in mind that a 2/2 for RR is above average in Magic's goto color for aggression. That however does not make a card cube worthy. This card has two abilities. First, wither which is a decent combat ability but not amazing. The second one is a very unusual ability as it lasts until the end of the game. Now most cube decks won't have lifegain which would make this card look bad. However you have to think about what decks lifegain would be good against. Mono red methinks? This guy seems like a fine maindeck card in a red aggressive deck to stop something like Loxodon Hierarch from blowing you out.

This card I have a harder time evaluating. It costs more than something like Ball Lightning or Blistering Firecat. It also (sometimes) lacks trample. Its major upsides are it lives past the end of turn and has persist. The living past the end of turn is not as important as one might think. The roll of Ball Lighting, etc is to end the game more often than not. You've got them to 5 or so and you summon a hasty attacker ftw. That said Thunderblust seems strong and may well make the cube.

Hybrid:

Like many people I think this is one hell of a common. I love this card. Great art, great effect, and awkward mana cost. One thing the cube fights against is 5c good stuff decks. Cards like this punish those decks because even with tons of mana fixing I'll give this a pass in a 5c deck. It also works in mono white and mono black two types of decks I'd love to push.

Sorry for the image quality on this one but I gotta work with what I got. I assume this is a scan of the prerelease card. It has no date stamp but early printings of them tend not to. As far as the card goes I'm not in love with it but there is no way I'm skipping this in the cube. Gives both red and white another good aggro one drop. Attacking for two on turn two and then four on turn three seems fine. Often you might just attack for one on turn two while playing a two drop, then start pumping it on t3. This seems most likely in a white weenie deck with lots of WW creatures.

Well thats all for now, still missing much of the set. Looks like this set will offer some good new cards in enemy colors for my revised gold section.

Drafts Are Back pt 2

2008-06-28T19:13:00.003-04:00

After the first failed attempt I joined a draft, and then another, and then another. Around 7am I'd finished my sixth draft in a row. Loosing the first draft and then loosing in round two of an 8-4 left me down a few packs though I made three or four packs in the other four drafts.

Last night about doubled the number of SSS drafts I'd done. Four of my drafts last night saw a good number of mountains played. Red in this set has some of the best removal in the form or Power of Fire, Puncture Bolt, and Burn Trail at common. Combine this to access than larger than normal creatures with GR hybrid mana and you have a very solid color.

Two of the drafts were mono red and I liked a lot. The first one was an 8-4, my first round opponent was eliminated before ten minutes had pasted. Curving out into a Furystroke Giant is pretty good I hear. Round two I get some quick damage in before my opponent plays turn six Oona with no other creatures in play and on ten life. I attack with a pair of 2/2s and he declines to block. I then drop Mountain #6 and Jaws of Stone his face ftw. Game two I stall on land while he dropped Sygg turn two and had a fairly aggressive start. I die the turn before I'd have drawn my sixth Mountain to cast Jaws of Stone wiping his team. Game three I have no answer to his turn six Oona or his turn eight Corrupt for seven.

The second mono red was a much less powerful deck but I rolled over my opponents pretty easily as none of their decks came close to the guy I faced round two last draft.

RDW #1 1-1 matches 3-2 games
15 Mountains
1 Swamp - this was wrong sided in a second Swamp for g2&3 taking out a Mountain
2 Intimidator Initiate - one of the decks key cards
1 Scuzzback Scrapper - I thought he was bad but in a Power of Fire deck or RDW he is fine
1 Puncture Bolt - RDW is one time this card is kinda meh but you still are happy to run it
3 Power of Fire - people don't pick this card highly enough
1 Bloodmark Mentor - Very good in mono red and makes Power of Fire even better
1 Mudbrawler Cohort - Having only one of this card was decks biggest problem, considering he is only good in this deck it seems you should get more passed
1 Rustrazor Butcher - very meh but with 3 Power of Fire he is fine
1 Sootstroke Kindler - can give hate to a four or five mana creature which helps
1 Spiteflame Witch - This is why I ran Swamps, really good in this archetype as often you get them to five or six life then need to finish them off
1 Giant Baiting - Sided in a second pretty much every game, really nice to hit for eight on turn three
1 Boggart Arsonists - A fine man unblockable v white decks
1 Burn Trail - Can always conspire it in this deck making it nuts
3 Muddbrawler Raiders - fine cards to five the deck some fat and make Runes of the Deus insane
1 Murderous Redcap - Becomes even better in a deck with Power of Fires can take out x/3s with ease
1 Runes of the Deus - Runes is such a blow out it seems a waste not to run it if you have 4-6 good targets
1 Furystroke Giant - Bomb.
1 Scuzzback Marauders - This is the only common creature I'd want in mono red that costs more than four mana
1 Beseech the Queen - Finds:
1 Jaws of Stone - Best card in the deck

The next deck was much the same but worse. Fury Stroke Giant became Deus of Calamity but there was no Jaws of Stone to back it up.

Well sealed events are back up so I will have to decide after dinner if I want to draft or sealed. I'm down to half a dozen packs and a few tickets but have a Tournament Pack and a $15 Coupon so I might join a sealed to restock on boosters and tickets.

Drafts Are Back!

2008-06-27T23:11:00.004-04:00

Got back from FNM (don't ask) to find that drafts were up and working on MTGO. Needless to say I was stoked and joined one ASAP. First picked GW witch and was passed WItherscale Wurm 2nd which made me plan on G/x. Cards that came pushed me into nearly mono green ramp.

13 Forests
2 Plains
2 Mountains
Barkshell Blessing
Elvish Hexhunter
Seedcradle Witch
Gleeful Sabotage
Puncture Bolt
2x Devoted Druid
Medicine Runner
Scuttlemutt
Boggart Ram-Gang
2x Farhaven Elf
Hungry Spriggan
Mudbrawler Raiders
Wildslayer Elves
2x Crabapple Cohort
Scuzzback Marauders
Foxfire Oak
Morselhoarder
Witherscale Wurm
Howl of the Night Pack

Relevent Sideboard:
Last Breath, Safehold Sentry, Viridescent Wisps, Safewright Quest, Elvish Hexhunter, Safehold Duo, Scar, Medicine Runner, Cultbrand Cinder, Blazethorn Scarecrow

Before playing any games I'd probably rate the deck 7/10. Its decent but not amazing, I don't think I was in the right colors. By the end of pack one I could tell that BR was wide open but I decided to not move into it. I'm not sure if that would have improved my deck as I would have only been able to play a couple cards from pack one.

I'm playing in 4322s while I learn the format so my second account at 1731 is the highest rated account in the draft. Based on that I hope to make the finals but don't plan on winning them.

Two things in the draft were interesting, first was whether to abandon green (pretty much) by picking the BR liege p2p1 or not, I decided not taking I think Farhaven Elf. The second call was Ram-Gang v Scuttlemutt in p3. I'm not sure what the right call is I took Ram Gang but the Mutt is an amazing card.

As far as deckbuilding I couldn't decide between one plains and mountain or two. I went for two of each to be on the safe side.

R1G1 I mull zero lands into four and can't find an answer to his unblockable (Steel of the Goodhead) Leech bonder. He then casts Glamer Spinners moving the Godhead over to it and killing my Witherscale Wurm. Game two I keep a so-so hand and he again leads off with Oona's Gatewarden to blunt any offense I have. Turn four I topdeck Cultbrand Cinder and play him off an Elf taking out the 2/1 Wither. I then bash his face in with huge dudes. Game three the fact he is on the play lets his Leech Bonder go active and I can't find an answer to it plus Armored Ascension so it keeps swinging. He kills me on turn six with Elsewhere Flask.
1-2, 0-1

Crappy to loose to enchantments when I had so many ways to deal with them, just never drew any.

Well time to draft again...

Time to Add Shadowmoor to the Cube

2008-06-25T19:10:00.004-04:00

I've held off on adding Shadowmoor to my cube for a while and decided it was time to take the plunge.

Mono colored additions:

White:
Spectral Procession
Order of Whiteclay
Twilight Sheppard
Armored Ascension

Black:
Dusk Urchins

Red:
Flame Javelin
Cragganwick Cremator
Furystroke Giant

I decided to change around my muti color cards. Before I'd had five cards in each two color combo. Clearly this was too simple. So now I'm moving to a 4/1/2 split for each color. Four gold cards, two hybrid cards, and an open slot for gold/hybrid/split.

Allied-color hybrid slots go like this:
UW:
Plumeveil
Mirrorweave

W/G:
Kitchen Finks
Wilt-Leaf Leige

UB:
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Inkfathom Infiltrator

BR:
Murderous Redcap
Rakdos Guildmage (might switch this to fulminator mage)

RG:
Tattermunge Maniac
Boggart Ram Gang

Need to sort out the other five slots for these colors, will post them when I do.

Here we go, UW cards:
Absorb
Sky Hussar
Teferi's Moat
Court Hussar
Thisledown Liege (flex spot)
Plumeveil
Mirroweave

Shadowmoor was a huge help to UW as frankly most of the gold cards in this classic color combination suck. Even with Shadowmoor it has one of the weaker lineups. Plumeveil and Mirrorweave might not be the most powerful hybrids from Shadowmoor. However they are both capable of huge blowouts and awesome stories. For that reason I'm more than happy to run them.

UB:
Psychatog
Undermine
Shadowmage Infitrator
Recoil
Spite/Malice (flex)
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Inkfathom Infiltrator

I like Inkfathom, suicide black decks will be happy to take him. In addition he might be good in blue control decks just dropping him turn two to put your opponent on a clock. Recoil is also replacing the unexciting Wydwen, the Biting Gale. I'm this close to trying Oona's Gatewarden. It seems like a great one drop for control decks, really setting back an aggressive start. It however just seems weaker than the other options from magic's two best colors.

BR:
Blazing Specter
Strangling Soot
Terminate
Void
Ashenmoor Gouger (flex)
Murderous Redcap
Rakdos Guildmage

Vampiric Dragon gets the cut because outside of reanimation it is pretty unplayable. Gouger gets the nod over Fulminator Mage for having a worse casting cost. Rather than cut back on mana fixing I want to push people into mono or two colored decks based on powerful cards.

RG:
Stormbind
Burning Tree Shaman
Savage Twister
Rumbling Slum
Giant Solifuge (flex)
Tattermunge Maniac
Boggart Ram Gang

Really, what absurd cards. Not much to say when Burning Tree Shaman is below average.

GW
Glare of Subdual
Mystic Enforcer
Armadillo Cloak
Loxodon Hierarch
Mirari's Wake (flex)
Kitchen Finks
Wilt-Leaf Leige

Pretty easily the deepest gold colors. In addition to the two Shadowmoor cards I cut Saffi Erksdotter for Wake to give the colors some more long-game appeal.

Really need to go through the cube and make sure my list is up to date.

Everything But the PTQ

2008-06-23T18:26:00.004-04:00

So Friday night I went to FNM, ended up doing some team drafts instead of sealed. First draft I started off with an awful pack with Sonomancer and Devoted Druid as the best cards. Took the Druid as in G/R he is better than Sonomancer is in U/W. Went on to pick up plenty of good GR cards. Didn't write down list but had 2x Druid, 1x Farhaven Elf, and 1x Scuttlemutt for acceleration. Had 2x Crabapple Cohort and 2x Foxfire Oak as my main offense. That and 2x Wort, saw three that draft but figured two was plenty. Also had Tower Above, Burn Trail, and 2x Puncture Bolt as removal.

Went 2-0 pretty easily and other team scooped before my third game. Got a Reflecting Pool, Foil Wort, Vexing Shusher, and a few other rares out of the rare draft at the end.

Next draft was meh, had what I though was a good but not great GW deck but it just didn't go anywhere. Lost r1 to drawing 0 relevant cards in about 8 turn vs a Blistering Dieflyn with Elemental Mastery on it. He was on two most of the game but I just couldn't get in there. Round two I lost to a pretty sick UB deck with 8,000,000 ticks. The main problem was Scuttlemutt in both games. G1 it turned off Shield of the Oversoul, g2 it let him block my Oversoul of Dusk. Had a couple chances to pick up a Gleeful Sabotage in that draft but didn't so really my fault for loosing to Sucttlemutt and Elemental Mastery.

My cube is getting closer and closer to being fully pimped. The foils I picked up at the PTQ included some of the high dollar ones I needed. Still need a bunch more foil lands, some random cheap foils, and some money rare foils. Also managed to finally pick up the foil cycling lands for my pimped-out EDH deck with Vorosh the Hunter.

Weekend Upate

2008-06-22T23:49:00.004-04:00

Friday: Two team drafts at FNM, 2-0 first one (other team scooped) with really good RG deck. 0-2 second one with GW deck, should have been 1-1 but went 0 for 5 on outs over about 8 turns in one game. First draft opened insane cards, second awful so I'll call it a win.

Saturday PTQ: 4-2-1, drop before r8. Should have been 6-1 but I'm an idiot, will post more on that later. Did get a ton of cube foils:

Vindicate
Pernicious Deed
Vedalken Shackles
Akroma Angel of Wrath
Steam Vents ($12 in trades for beat ass foil that looks fine in sleeve)
Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Loxodon Hierarch
Wrath of God (player rewards, still want 7ED foil)
Isochron Scepter
Ravenous Baloth
Stroke of Genius
Troll Asetic
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Jace Beleren ($7 lol)
Crusade
White Shield Crusader
Draining Whelk
Magus of the Moat
Saffi Eriksdotter
Armadillo Cloak
Burning-Tree Shaman
Knight of Meadowgrain
Giant Solifuge
Kodama's Reach
last but not least upgraded from DCI tog to altered art/signed DCI tog aka Martinitog

Best part of getting cube foils? Gives me more cards to add to EDH decks!

Crazy Thought

2008-06-20T07:32:00.003-04:00

I think Tower Above is better than Flame Javelin in limited. Yeah, Javelin can shoot creatures. But what if they have more than four toughness? Sure it can goto the dome but what if they have more than four life? Tower Above just strait-up wrecks the discotech. Whenever I cast it I usually kill their best creature and bash their face for four or something.

Dunno I could be wrong but if faced with both cards p1p1 I think I'd take the green card. That said don't think the print run would allow that option barring foils.

In sealed I'd be more likely to play the Tower Above in an off-color deck. I don't really want to play ether but I'd rather have the larger effect if I'm paying six mana.

A Few More Thoughts On Block Constructed

2008-06-20T07:02:00.003-04:00

(Sorry for two long rambling articles in a row but its 7am and I've had no sleep.)

So yeah have not been able to get much practice in this week but here it goes:

Azure Command>>>>>>>>>>Incendiary Command - Being able to kill 4/4s and 5/5s is so much more important than killing Mutavaults. The "half a wrath" ability of this card can also come in useful wiping out the board of a faerie player and leaving your fat intact.

Mana Reflection might be the tech - I played against an AWFUL 5c control deck with maindeck Mana Reflection. Imagine seeing that in hand versus kithkin... That said for the mirror match it was insane. I'll give you a hint, Mirari's Wake was not a format defining card because of the +1/+1. I don't know if this is worth sideboard space but it seems to be a great mirror trump.

Puppeteer Clique is the real deal - This reminds me of Primal Command. When I saw the card I thought it was awesome but not constructed worthy. Pretty wrong on both counts. Clique is going to be one of the main tools in the 5c mirror and for other decks to fight against it. In both situations you have to watch out for Makeshift Mannequin. The internets have beens swirling with stories of Cliquing a Cloudthresher, having it die then grabbing the other Thresher, take 18. Mannequin on the first target (or second) means you take 4-11, not 18.

The 5c Mirror Will Suck to Play but Reward Skill - I think the 5c control mirror will be possibly the most skill intensive mirror in a while. Why? It is slowwww. Mind Shatter is the only card in play that can turn a game into a rout with few options for escape. What spells to counter will be one of the most important facts of the matchup. Most of the spells are so big that you don't want your opponent to resolve them. From what I've seen the best way to win the mirror is to try and keep your opponent behind. If you counter their Mulldrifters and try and Cryptic their lands they will be under pressure. This should let you resolve game-breaking spells like Oona, Mind Shatter, and Mind Spring.

The 5c Mirror Has Lots of Dead Cards g1 - Seriously, Firespout?

The Vast Majority of T8s Have Been Three Decks - This will probably change over the block season but at the moment at least at the top tables you need to have game vs 5c control, fae, and kithkin. I like fae and 5c control because they are more adaptable. Kithkin can't really switch its maindeck around much. 5c and faeries have many, many options to tweak their deck to beat whatever they feel the need to beat. Kithkin on the other hand are by far the most consistent deck, and I mean come on who doesn't like a beatdown deck with 26 land?

Mana Ramp Seems Unexplored - Green has many good accelerators in this format, one GW ramp deck made a PTQ t8, more might. Personally I think Devoted Druid might become the new Smokebraider allowing powerful turn three plays. Also I want to play Grim Poppets.

5c Control Will Keep the Format Honest - Without a control deck in the format cards like Peppersmoke would be amazing maindeck, if 80% of the field was Kithkin and Faeries instead of kithkin, faeries, and 5c then Peppersmoke would be a 4x.

Non-Kithkin Decks Will Probably Move to Five Colors - Kithkin is the only playable mono-colored deck in the format. Three color mana bases are worse than five color in this format. Heck the five color mana bases are more consistant if a bit slower than TWO color manabases. I think the lure of being able to play any card will pull decks like faeries to five colors. The only thing that could counteract this is the hyper-awkward hybrid cards like Demigod of Revenge and Gilt-Leaf Cavaliers (which by the way seems nuts v Kithkin (and awful vs 5c and fae)).

Puncture Bolt Might Be Playable - Persist creatures are all over, non-Incremental Blight -1/-1 counter cards might become worthwhile to deal with them.

If a Non-Fae Two Color Deck Makes it There Will be Red - I think RG Warriors or Shamans and something Rakdos could maybe work out. That said I think the RG deck should probably be a Firespout deck and in that case just run five colors.

Random Crap

2008-06-20T06:38:00.004-04:00

16-5 in PEs this week. Of my losses I remember four. Of those two I couldn't win due to opponent having the ultimate nuts in two games and mana screw in all three games the other match. Two I punted on mechanics. One was misclick for one point of mana burn ftl. Other was screw up combat when opponent had creature with First Strike and Wither. Both mistakes were small but cost me a game in matches that went to three.

I'm 99% sure I wouldn't make those mistakes again especially playing paper magic. This makes me with I had decided to make the effort and goto GP Indy this weekend. Without those dumb losses I'd have been 18-3 which is absurd as shit (and my account would have 18-53 more packs).

Anyways, been updating my paper EDH decks and starting to post my lists check them out here. EDH is pretty much the best thing ever. Time Stretch->Relearn->Sins of the Past=Win. Had a game yesterday where opponent played Myonsynth Lattice. In response to my Time Stretch he Hurkyl's Recalled me. I floated four mana and Memory Plundered his Recall bouncing his board. I then only managed to take five turns in a row and could not build back up to a great enough level. Slivers killed us both... (I was on two most of that game.)

Might play another sealed today, might not. Going to FNM tonight and plan on playing in the sealed event but if I can find someone to playtest block with me I'd do that. Didn't sleep last night and have to drive upto PA tomorrow so I think I'll pass out right after FNM.

Played a few games on MODO with 5c control. Most were in TP room and useless. A parade of awful 5c decks and then bad aggro and midrange decks. Now if you thought the decks were bad you should have seen the people playing them. Hint: side Nameless Inversion out versus fucking control decks!! Did play some mirror games versus a friend, was kicking his ass but that was not many games. Still need like a 1/3rd of the deck for tomorrow but I'm not too worried about that. Could always fall back on the deck I have and know how to play, Faeries. Also have like 65 cards out of Kithin so that is also an option.

Oh lets do some math. I think I might not Ponder in block Faeries. The best reason to run Ponder is for the turn two Bitterblossom. This much is clear. Now how does this work out in reality? First we have to assume no Bitterblossom is in hand. I will also do all of this off seven card hands on the play. Last assumption is that we are trying to get Bitterblossom, if we don't see it we'll take a random card.

53 cards left in deck, four are Bitterblossoms. 7.547% of those cards are Bitterblossom. You see three off Ponder giving you a 22.641% chance of finding one. Miss it? Shuffle and see one more, again 7.547% chance. So if you always shuffle with Ponder you have a 31.2% chance of seeing a Bitterblossom off your turn one Ponder. Now this does not include the card you draw turn two. If you found Bitterblossom this doesn't matter. If you didn't you draw a random Ponder card then see one more off the top on turn two. This last card is four in 52 or 7.692% so your total chance is 38.9% to find it off Ponder.

Oh by the way, that 39% or so is for hands with Ponder but no Bitterblossom. Add to that the fact that Bitterblossom on turn two is not amazing versus Kithkin and you might see why I'm unimpressed. Run 0 Ponder, 25 land, and lots of good spells.

Told ya this was going to be random...

I Iz A Master

2008-06-18T03:06:00.003-04:00

Round two of a t8 PE I keep a two land hand game one. Turn 13 I play land #4. I won it, Mirror-Weave on Boartusk Liege ftw. Game two I loose. Game three he goes Devoted Druid turn two, the 3/5 guy turn three and Boartusk Liege turn four. He then plays a second Liege. I also won that game with no Mirroweave involved. Go me.

So yeah 2-0 in it at the moment, will be six rounds. This means that I'll be up till 7-9am playing in the PE which is a bad thing. Did another PE today another no top 8 and went 4-1 again. Have yet to manage the 5-0 but these Shadowmoor packs are piling up. Which is good because I want 4x of the set pretty much.

Update: R3G1 I miscount my lands and manaburn for one. That puts me on nine and a removal spells later I'm on 0 turn before Mirrorweave ftw. g2 I get him. g3 I die with three lands in hand and three bombs on top of deck. His deck was absurd 2x Steel of the Godhead, 2x Helm of the Gastlord, 2x Inkfathom Infiltrator, plenty of UW and UB creatures, 2x Gloomlance, etc. Annoying to punt game one in this match. I died to enchantments in both games I lost which was also annoying as I have plenty of answers but couldn't draw any.

Block PTQs

2008-06-17T03:15:00.003-04:00

Plan is to goto Philly this weekend to play some block constructed. Only problem is I've played about three games of it. Want to run 5c control but need to find cards to build that, have maybe half the deck. Other option is to run fae which I've a ton but I am down on after lots of losses. I'm also not a fan of the Kithkin matchup, think you have a slight edge but whoever wins the die roll has a huge edge.

I really want to run 5c control with Farhaven Elf, but we'll see. My tech is Bitterblossom in the sideboard for the mirror. That card is some good.

Shadowmoor Release Event #2

2008-06-16T22:30:00.008-04:00

Movie didn't work out so after some Mexican food I'm home to fart and play Magic. My second PE also has a great pool and three money rares. This pool showed me two decks, a Gwu deck and a BUr deck. I am starting the green deck but I figure can get some surprise value from boarding into another deck. Both decks are running 2x of Thistledown Duo and 2x Steel of the Godhead. I figure those cards alone should steal some wins. The blue black deck has better removal while the green deck has better creatures. Normally I'd err on the side of removal but Oversoul of Dusk is a strong reason to run the green deck.

Round One - Me: 1783 Him: 1573
He plays first and I keep a spicy looking hand, aiming to lay Oversoul down on turn five. We both curve out well, however my spells are more powerful. My Oversoul doesn't come down on turn five as I've only drawn one land, an Island. He stops playing spells after a few turns and I roll over him.
For game two I decide to give my other deck a shot. Want to get a game or two in with it and seems like no better time than now. Then he mulls to four... Despite that he manages to drop a Deus on turn eight which makes the game much closer.
1-0

Round Two - Me: 1789 Him: 1948
Game one I race his Windbrisk Raptor ftw. Game two my opening hand is a mull to a poor six card hand. I draw all the Islands in my deck and can never cast half the spells in my hand. Game three I switch decks because I think Gloomlance will be a house in this matchup. He has Mistmeadow Witch to answer my Steel of the Godhead on a duo. I Gloomlance the Witch. I then three for one him by casting Gloomlance on his Steel of the Godheaded Slikbind Faerie. I get there eventually with both of us playing countless lands. I misclick and throw away a Power of Fire enchanted creature in combat. My opponent makes up for this by not using his on-board lifegain when I attack for lethal.
2-0

Round Three - Me: 1806 Him: 1817
A mulligan into a weak hand is again the way I start a game. He plays Spawnwrithe followed by Boartusk Leige followed by a foil Furystroke Giant. Between that and me being mana screwed the game was a joke. Game two I keep a sketchy hand that could work out. I never draw a land and his slightly less absurd draw gets me. I drew the Island I needed turn seven when it no longer mattered.
2-1

Round Four - Me: 1794 Him: 1748
My opponent ran the sick fall asleep play. Or at least that is my guess.
3-1

Round Five - Me: 1805 Him: 1707
Game one I never saw a Forest and killed him with a pair of Thistledown Duos.
Game two I brought in my second Inquisitor's Snare in exchange for a Merrow Wavebreaker. I made the mistake of leaving in Gloomwidow's Feast which ended up sitting in my hand this game. It was that mistake in sideboarding that cost me the game, another card would have had a huge impact on the damage race that game. His Wilt-Leaf Liege and field of G/W creatures didn't help... He could have killed me a turn early but decided to give me one more turn to draw an out. For game three I moved to the backup deck. I spent time thinking if I could make a five color deck work with all my good cards but however I tried it the mana wouldn't work. He had almost no ways to kill creatures from what I saw so I also brought in both Helm of the Ghastlords.
Game three I see a strong hand with no white or blue mana, I keep as a source of one of those colors means I am in very good shape to win the game. I don't find one till turn four but that is enough and a Steel of the Godhead equiped Duo gets me there.
4-1
Final Rating: 1814

Well two PEs today which means I spent 2 Tournament Packs, 4 boosters, and 4 tix. I got 22 boosters, 4 avatars, 11 rares, and 64 rating points. Of my rares most are worth 4-14 tix. I'd count today as a big thumbs up as far as magic goes.

Tomorrow I'll try and get my pools and decks posted and probably do another sealed. The pack winnings are nice as I need to learn to draft Shadowmoor. I'll be doing this on a non-1800 account and I think 22+ packs will more than get the job done.

Shadowmoor Release Events

2008-06-16T13:49:00.008-04:00

Was busy this weekend so today is my first chance to play in a Shadowmoor PE online. I picked a good one to join cracking a pretty damn good pool.

click on image for fullsize

Round One - Me: 1750 Opp: 1808
Game one I elect to play and have a solid hand with some three drops and Redcap and Corrupt to fill out my bomb quotient. He mulls to six and keeps a hand that is super slow and does nothing. By the time he can start casting spells he is way behind on tempo. His deck seemed slow so I take out Torpor Dust for Inescapable Brute which I've seen do some sick things in limited. I expected to be on the draw, on the play I would have brought in Poison the Well versus his slow deck. Turn three Tattermunge Duo into turn four Poison seems pretty sick.
Game two he elects to draw. We trade two drops then I Redcap his turn three Scuttlemutt. He has no follow up. On my fifth turn I drop Cinderhaze Witch and the game is starting to look like a blowout. He drops Illuminated Folio but on my turn six I knock him to two cards in hand. He keeps drawing off the Folio but can't find much defense and he concedes.
2-0

Round Two - Me: 1764 Him: 1766
I start by picking to play and laying Sygg turn two. My opening hand was sick with Sygg, a RG duo, Ruins of the Deus, Demigod, and three land. I miss land drops #4&5 but get Sygg active through a large number of creatures. I misclick my turn six attack which costs me the turn seven win and a card off Sygg. I get him turn eight without having to cast Demigod of Revenge which I'd rather not show if I don't have to.
Game two I cast turn five Deus off a pair of Scuttlemutts, which seems good. He plays an Inkfathom Witch which could cause issues but I have a Redcap in hand to kill it. The game slows down but Deus keeps hitting for six. Both of us have drawn at least nine lands. He doesn't find an answer to my 6/6 and concedes the turn before I draw a Jaws of Stone for 5 damage.
"
Round Three - Me: 17something Him: 1618
Well my luck sac of an opponent gets a Mistmeadow Witch and plays Steel of the Godhead on it turn before I can Redcap it. He then goes on to attempt to punt the match but my last three draws were blanks. Game two I smash him. Game three I see six land and mulligan into a five card hand, Corupt two spells and three mountains. My first three draws? Mountain, Mountain, Oona. He again Godheads his witch and is beating me down with that and his turn two Inkfathom Infiltrator. Jaws of Stone gets me back into it. He throws away three creatures to kill a Deus when he should have raced. I then manage to get a swamp and Scuttlemutt into play. Turn 12 he plays Twilight Sheppard with me at five life (and after I blew up a plains). I cump block it one turn. Turn 14 I draw Swamp #2 (have 7 mountains out atm) and cast Oona. I have to block with it of course to live. Just to make sure I'm totally out of the game he scars Oona so I can't even "trade" with the Sheppard. On my last turn I draw Swamp #3. Getting Oona out a turn sooner would have been the win assuming I could hit once with her ability x=4. That would give me blockers and then in two turns I'd mill him. Nothing like loosing to someone's bombs in their awful deck and awful plays.
2-1

Round Four - Me 1759 Him 1729
He Curse of Chains my two and three drop creatures. I get stuck on four lands with three six drops in hand. Once I hit six lands I drop Oona who pretty much ends the game.
Game two he keeps a one lander on the play but gets lucky and drops a land turn three. He however doesn't hit land #3 and I kill his two drop with Redcap. He scoops on turn five to Ruins of the Deus on my Tattermunge Duo.
3-1

One thing I notice at this point is all of the 3-0 players at the end of round three were in the 1600s. This means that probably a couple started under 1600 before the event. I'd say ratings don't matter but the 16xx I lost to was awful just had bombs and I got screwed g3. It is 5:20 now with probably 25-35 minutes till round five. I have a movie in Bethesda (30 minute drive at least this time of day) in two hours, hope for another quick 2-0 match.

Round Five - Me: 1770 Him: 1817
Start with six land into two mountains and 4 unplayable spells into two swamps and 0 playable spells. I'm good at this game. Clearly I turn six him off the mull to five. And that is without casting the Demigod turn six which I could have.
I take out Smash to Smithereens for Bloodmark Mentor as his only creatures g1 had persist. Game two he does nothing and I splitting headache him seeing Grim Poppet, Reaper King, and Mossbridge Troll in hand... I take a four drop (he is stuck on four lands) and he concedes to turn five Demigod the first time I cast it in five rounds.
4-1

I end 4-1 at 1783 (would probably be 1800 if not for Mr. 1600) and get 11 packs and a good number of money cards. So I had 9 blow out games and two close losses, kinda sucks that both had to happen in one match but whatever. Will post pool and stuff after movie tonight.

Regonals in <12 Hours Sideboarding and Mana

2008-06-06T23:04:00.003-04:00

Well I'll be (re)sleeving my deck soon. Looking to do well tomorrow. I'd love to Q for Nationals but the main reason I want to do well is so people see my decklist. Why do I want this? The awesome (random looking) sideboard.

3 Razormane Masticore
3 Damnation
2 Nameless Inversion
2 Thoughtseize
2 Persuasion
1 Mindspring
2 Counterbore

0 4x spells and three spells no other fae lists are running, whats not to like? Now to be fair Nameless is Terror 5 & 6, and the other two Thoughtseizes are in the maindeck. 3/3 on Damnation and Razormane is pretty typical so I won't comment on it.

Persuasion - Elf decks hold back a Colossus to play post Damnation. This means that you can tap out again the next turn and laugh all the way to your win.
Mindspring - For the mirror mostly. Most mirror games post sideboard go fairly long unless one player gets a quick Bitterblossom edge. It also is not hard to tap your opponent out at the end of his turn with a bunch of instants. Its okay to throw away some good spells getting him tapped out. You untap draw 4+ cards and then go on to win.
Counterbore - The latest versions of Revillark preform better versus fae from what I've seen. Counterbore on Revillark or Body Double stops their combo cold. Also bringing it in helps as it gives you another counterspell to help beat theirs.

The only other thing I'm considering in the sideboard is one Mystical Teachings and one Counterbore. This gives you the virtual 2x Counterbore but the Teachings is more flexable and can be played in the mirror for instant speed card advantage.

The only thing left is deciding on my manabase.
As it stands now:
4 Underground River
4 Secluded Glen
4 River of Tears
4 Mutavault
4 Faerie Conclave
3 Island
2 Pendelhaven
1 Sunken Ruins

This is one more land and three fewer islands than the typical Faerie manabase. I'm considering cutting two Conclaves for an Island and second Sunken Ruins. Dunno probably won't decide till filling out my decklist tomorrow. Might also just cut one Conclave in favor of a Ruins. Islands help your turn one Ancestral but they hurt you versus Merfolk and for casting black spells. I personally am going to favor the Ruins.

MMM Drafting Part Two

2008-06-06T14:21:00.003-04:00

Well I'll try and finish up my MMM draft guide. Lets get right two it with uncommons.

#1 Swell of Courage - This is an uncommon bomb. You have to pick it highly because Kithkin decks also want it. That said people undervalue it and you can get it 4-5th pick sometimes.
#2 Sage of Fables - Your lord is one of the better ones. Combined with an active Schoolmaster this will give you tons of cards and 2/2s. Three is the most I've had and you should be happy to play as many as possible.
#3 Diviner's Wand - This is a strong equipment. It can give a Schoolmaster evasion to let it attack in the absence of a tap effect. It also can deal tons of damage with Distant Melody of a Sage of Fables. Ideal decks have two.
#4 Sage's Dowsing - A two for one counterspell is very nice in limited. Ideally you'll be casting this on the cheap of a Banneret.
#5 Wandering Greybeard - He serves two roles. First as a 4/4 he is the fattest creature in the archetype. Secondly gaining four life is very strong. Many games versus aggressive decks you hit his kinship twice and that pretty much puts it out of reach for them.
#6 Waterspout Weavers - This is the first uncommon on the list I'd not always run. If you already have plenty of five drops leave them on the bench. They are nice in that they can randomly win games off kinship. I'm not upset to play them but I don't aim to.
#7 Inspired Sprite - This card is much weaker in this archetype than you'd think. The problem is it costs four and has little impact on the board. I usually run him partly for mana curve reasons but he is not a high pick.
#8 Meadowboon - A decent pump spell and a decent body versus green decks. I run him in decks lacking other pump effects (Swell and Sage)
The rest of the uncommons are not really worth it. Thornbite Staff is the strongest of the off tribe equipment for this deck but I don't think its worth running.

Rares -
Most suck.

Bombs:
Notorious Throng
Reveillark
Solid:
Mind Spring
Vendillion Clique
Fuedkiller's Verdict
Playable:
Grimoire Thief
Sigil Tracer
Stonehewer Giant

Example Decks:

1 Coordinated Barrage
2 Stream of Unconsciousness
3 Mothdust Changeling
1 Disperse
1 Weight of Conscience
3 Stonybrook Banneret
1 Diviner's Wand
2 Sage of Fables
2 Stonybrook Schoolmaster
2 Distant Melody
1 Inspired Sprite
1 Swell of Courage
3 Wandering Graybeard
7 Plains
1 Rustic Clachan
9 Islands

Relevant sideboard cards:
Meadowboon
2 Distant Melody
2 Negate
1 Inspired Sprite
2 Waterspout Weavers

This deck is a pretty solid one. Its a bit short on removal ans Schoolmasters but has everything else I'd want. Currently playing round one with it so will post on how it did.

I'd post more decks but I can't find any in my v2 folder and I'm not sure where v3 stores draft decks (if it does).

To sum up MMM drafting, force merfolk and you'll win.

Update: Made it to finals, played first opponent didn't show in first five minutes of game. I forget about it and next time I click on MODO I've timed out. Whatever 3 packs+foil Mind Shatter=profit. Kinda annoying that v3 doesn't highlight itself in your task bar when it needs you.

MMM Drafting

2008-06-04T22:18:00.004-04:00

I probably should have written this a while ago as MMM drafting is short for this world on MODO. I don't think I've ever been more successful with a format than MMM. Just with 4-3-2-2s I've gone well past just infinite with the format. What is my secret?

Draft UW Merfolk. I don't care what spells you see, just force merfolk. The deck is insane, I rarely miss the finals. Most losses with the deck are due to nut draws from the opponent or mana issues. For example finals of the craft I'm currently in, g1 he plays turn two Bitterblossom and I can't hit five mana for Swell of Courage. Game two we get the sick four spell eight land draw with no removal or card advantage.

If you don't get screwed over the deck is hard to loose with. It has the best commons and uncommons in the format and you'll be able to pick up lots.

I'll go card by card with what you want for the deck. I'm not going to cover on color cards that I don't think are worth playing.

Commons:
#1 Stonybrook Schoolmaster - This is the card that makes the deck tick. You'll usually pick up three or four of him but I've seen as many as seven and as few as one.
#2 Weight of Conscience - This is great removal for the deck. First off you're the control deck so you don't need to RFG the card right away. The other advantage is lets you tap Schoolmasters. You fight for these with Kithkin decks so don't expect to see many.
#3 Mothdust Changeling - The format was two playable one drops, he is one of them. Mothdust turns on your Schoolmasters and helps pump your tribal effects.
#4 Stonybrook Banneret - You want to get lots of these, its the deck's best two drop. Most decks have two to four of these but you should aim for as many as you can.
#5 Distant Melody - This is a slightly unusual card as its great in the deck and you should pick it accordingly. However you don't want to play a number other than two of them. Aim to get two of them in your three packs, more than that is usually a waste.
#6 Coordinated Barrage - This is fine removal, usually not hard to pick up a couple.
#7 Burrenton Bombardier - Bombardier is a card Kithkin players pick highly. This means you often won't have any which is fine. They will often sit on your sideboard when you have them as the deck will almost never want to cast them as a spell.
#8 Disperse - This spell is a good all-around utility spell. It can slow down fast starts from aggressive decks, save your creatures, and can mess with auras or reinforce cards.
#9 Stream of Unconscious - A spell you can pick up 15th it is quite playable. It can let you attack with a Schoolmaster, screw up combat, or slow down your opponent.
#10 Negate - I generally only play this maindeck if I'm short on spells. You will want one or two in the sideboard for non creature bombs or removal. Countering a Violet Pall with this is well worth two mana.

The rest of the UW commons are not cards you'd want to play. A few are mildly useful out of the sideboard but very rarely.

I'll update this post tomorrow with uncommons pick order and some example decklists. For now its time to finish Kung Fu Hustle then get to bed so I can wake up for 7am PE tomorrow.

More Fae Ovb

2008-06-03T12:01:00.004-04:00

T8'd a Standard PE last night with faeries. Six rounds of swiss went WWLWWW then lost in quarter finals. No IDs make PEs pretty weird as I was playing round six at 4-1 when I think I was in regardless on breakers.

Round one: mono black rouges 13xx - um yeah won this one
Round two: GB Elves 18xx - He took game one but I got the next two. He sideboarded like ass having both Nameless and Terror in post board. This let me get him by just killing the few creatures he played and two for oneing his removal with Spellstutter Sprites.
Round three: Merfolk 17xx - Game one he had one turn to play Lord of Atlantis ftw. He did and I died with a hand of two land. Game two I kept a two lander, nine cards later still had two land. I played two spells that game. Had 3 Terror effects in hand but no land to turn on River of Tears. Only loss of the swiss can be blamed on awful draws.
Round four: Merfolk 16xx - Game one he got me with drawing four lords and I only answered three. Games two and three I played control and didn't play Islands.
Round five: Mirror 17xx - Game one I Thoughtseize away his Bitterblossom. I get some beats in with 1/1s and Mutavaults. I cast a Mistbind on my turn while he is tapped out and Terror his attempts to Scion it. Game two I again Thoughtseize his Bitterblossom. He has a Peppersmoke in hand but I had sided out my Scions so I never give him a chance to use it. Mind Spring was key in game two, drawing me four cards while he was tapped out. Winning the mirror 2-0 when I drew 0 Blossoms and he drew 4 is pretty sweet.
Round six: Mirror 18xx - Like round five I Thoughtseize on the draw game one. His hand is awful and I take one of his Scions. Turn two I draw a second Ancestral and suspend both.
He is never really in this game. Game two I keep a hand with Ancestral, Thoughtseize, and Bitterblossom, but no black source. He does nothing for the first turn. Turn two he drops a second Island then suspends Ancestral. Turn three he misses his third land. Turn three I draw a black source and Bitterblossom. The next turn I Thoughtseize him and take his Bitterblossom. That pretty much wrapped the game up. He was pissed when he lost it but honestly it was his fault. Keeping a two land hand with no Ancestral and no way to cast Bitterblossom is a mistake in the mirror.
Quarter Finals: UWr Revillark - Game one he has a fast draw and I'm stuck on lands. I'm trying to race him. Turn eight or so I draw my fifth land and see a way to win. If I Thoughtseize him then cryptic tappting his team I can swing for the win. Thoughtseize reveals both Rune Snag and Pact of Negation, I loose. Game two I draw two Spellstutter Sprites, and no other countermagic (or Bitterblossoms.) He has two Rune Snags and is able to resolve his spells and combos me out.

Loosing to Revillark sucks but when they draw more counters than you it is what happens. For regionals I'm thinking of running Faerie Macabre to improve the matchup versus the new 'lark decks. The old deck had trouble with Terror, this new version does not.

Tentative regoinals sideboard:
3 Damnation
3 Masticore
2 Redcap
1 Mindspring
3 Nameless Inversion
1 Thoughtseize
2 Faerie Macbare

The Redcap and Macbre are the parts of that I like the least as I can only fit two of each and each is only useful in one matchup. We'll see kinda want Pithing Needle as another 2x. Turn one Needle on Treetop Village should make beating elves simpler but who knows if it is worth it.

PT Hollywood Fallout

2008-05-28T14:02:00.002-04:00

I don't think I'm the only one surprised at the lack of success by faeries last weekend. That said, as a faerie player the outcome couldn't have been better for me. If people lay off the Riftsweepers or switch to 'lark things will look pretty good come regionals. I do really like the five color control deck but won't consider playing it at regionals because I can't test it on MODO and I have countless faerie matches under my belt.

Speaking of my playing faeries it has been a bad week. Last friday I picked up the first loss with the deck at FNM loosing in round two to Revelliark, 0-2. It was quite frustrating but what can you do. FNM faeries record: 16-1. Last night I went 4-6 on modo with faeries, by far my worst performance with the deck. At least half of my game losses were to mana problems, usually never drawing a land or black source. I did get "lucky" one game and draw 18 lands. I cut back to 25 lands as it seems I'll get mana screwed ether way so might as well try and get lucky.

I'm starting to play around with the maindeck, I tried Ponder as per a SCG article but honestly in the six or seven games I played with that list I was unimpressed. I'll try and get more testing in with it but can't be sure. I think I will next try maindeck Thoughtseize cutting the three Nameless Inversions for a trio of the sorcery. This means I have to juggle the sideboard around I'm thinking:

1 Thoughtseize
3 Damnation
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Nameless Inversion
2 Slaughter Pact
4 Flashfreeze

In paper I do like the Murderous Redcap tech and will probably cut the Slaughter Pacts for them along with a Flashfreeze for a Nameless Inversion.

I hate mana

2008-05-28T01:20:00.002-04:00

So tonight i'm 2-5 in sanctioned modo matches with Faeries. This is pretty much the worst I've ever done with the deck. The PE I'm in right now I'm 0-2, gonna stick in it for ratings points (one can hope). Round one I loose to Merfolk seeing an average of one Terror/Nameless Inversion per game each of which he sees about 5 lords. Game three he also countered my turn one Ancestral Visions with Sage's Dowsing. I kept a two lander on the draw and had two lands come turn five's upkeep... Round two I smash elves g1, loose a game two I had on lock down due to a couple irrelevant draws in a row, game three I have a strong hand but predictably I draw five black cards and zero black sources on my way to getting smashed.

And I thought this faeries deck had a good manabase...

Triple Post & Ponder

2008-05-23T08:16:00.002-04:00

This is getting excessive but I blame waking up at 6am. I'm pretty sure Sean McKeown posted his most relevant article ever here. Basically it cuts land and spells in faeries for Ponder. I was against Ponder in general but it seems a great way to get the mirror edge (more-so in g1). Read the article, it is not conclusive but seems very relevant. I don't have time to test on MODO so unclear if I will Ponder tonight at FNM. If I do I'll run this list:

4x Bitterblossom
4x Ancestral
4x Scion
4x Mistbind Clique
4x Spellstutter
4x Cryptic Command
4x Rune Snag
4x Terror
4x Ponder
4x Glen
4x River of Tears
4x Underground River
4x Mutavault
2x Conclave
1x Pendelhaven
5x Island

Changes from current list:
-2 Nameless Inversion
-2 Faerie Conclave
-1 Pendelhaven
+4 Ponder
+1 Island

I'm unsure on the one Pendelhaven but I know at FNM there are few faerie players and I have a HUGE playskill advantage on them. Ponder really excites me by helping draw sideboard cards.

Sideboard with Ponder:
3x Flashfreeze
3x Thoughtseize
3x Nameless Inversion
4x Bottle Gnomes
2x Razormane Masticore

The 3x Thoughtseize are another concession to local metagame, odds I play faeries are low and I don't want 4x for anything but mirror. 2x Razormane with Ponder seems perfect as I never like running 3x but with 2x it is hard to find one when you need it.

I'm so excited by this list I think I have to run it. Could cut Bottle Gnomes for stuff to help other matchups but whatever. Loosing two mana lands might be the biggest hit but not much can be done about that. Turn one Ponder beats tapped Faerie Conclave. If I run this at FNM will post on how it went.

Block

2008-05-23T07:45:00.003-04:00

Wizards has set up a semi-awkward situation. PT Hollywood is this weekend, next up is Regionals in a few weeks. They will be Standard and I assume we'll see the impact (whatever it might be) of Hollywood. However also starting in a couple weeks is PT Berlin PTQ season which is block. Block right now is virtually unexplored. MODO has no Shadowmoor or PEs and there have been no large block events. The only large block event in the near term will be GP Birmingham at the end of the month. Honestly it comes at a bad time as most pros devoted all their time to Hollywood so I don't expect too much work to have been done on the format.

Faeries will be the default deck based on its place in Standard. This is bad for me. I think Faeries is utterly busted in Standard but it looses a lot in block. However because block is unknown at the start of the season everyone will be gunning for faeries. I'm not sure if they can take the heat in block.

I want to play fae in block because I have the deck, know it well, and play it well. Hopefully it will be a viable and strong deck but we just can't tell yet. What is also unclear is what the proper block faerie decklist will look like. First I'll look at auto includes at 4x.

4x Bitterblossom
4x Scion of Oona
4x Mistbind Clique
4x Cryptic Command
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Secluded Glen
4x Sunken Ruins
4x Mutavault

This leaves us with 32 cards, 20 spells 12 land. Lets base the deck off 24 land and no more non basics. That gives us 12 more cards putting us to 44 cards, room for 16 more spells. Spells that leap to mind:

Thoughtseize
Ponder
Broken Ambitions
Pestermite
Vendillion Clique
Wydwyn the Bitting Gale
Profane Command
Eyeblight's Ending
Peppersmoke

As the deck stands there are no one drops. I want to run Ponder and Thoughtseize to give the deck early game. Thoughtseize as a 4x might not work maindeck so I think I want to start with three. Broken Ambitions will have to stand in for Rune Snag and should do a fine job of that.

3x Thoughtseize
4x Ponder
4x Broken Ambitions

This brings us to 55 spells. We have five slots left, these could be used for more removal or more creatures. To start I might want to try a split.

3x Peppersmoke
2x Pestermite

So the list comes to:

4x Bitterblossom
4x Scion of Oona
4x Mistbind Clique
4x Cryptic Command
4x Nameless Inversion
4x Secluded Glen
4x Sunken Ruins
4x Mutavault
8x Island
4x Swamp
3x Thoughtseize
4x Ponder
4x Broken Ambitions
3x Peppersmoke
2x Pestermite

Clearly weaker than Standard but I think this should hold up in block. I think Peppersmoke might be an all-star against decks like Elementals. Will probably sleeve this up soon and try to get some paper testing in.

PT Hollywood

2008-05-23T07:36:00.003-04:00

T8 predictions:

5 Faerie decks
1 Elf deck
1 Red deck
1 Random deck

2 French, 1 Japanese, 3 American, and two unknown for t8. Three French players seems easy as Wafo-Tapa and Nassif are probably gonna t8.

I honestly don't think there will be a "Dragonstorm" this event. Unlike the last PT, Worlds there is a deck that is head and shoulders above the others. Faerie hate decks have two issues #1 they don't beat faeries every match #2 all the ones I've seen scoop to Forests. I wouldn't be surprised at a solid Rakdos deck (probably from Chapin's crew). I do think that this PT will advance faeries mirror technology by leaps and bounds.

Faeriesing at FNM again this week, seeing if I can improve the deck's record to 15-0 there. People are really starting to hate it, not that that changes things. Last week I won round three with Mutavault beats mostly before bouncing his Raking Canopy.

Faerie hate cards ranked by effectiveness:
#1 Riftsweeper
#2 Squall Line
#3 Cloudthresher
#4 Sulfurious Blast
#5 Hurricane
#6 Firespout
#7 Pyroclasm
#8 Raking Canopy

#'s 5-8 are pretty unplayable. Thresher is better than Squall Line in slow decks with no pressure. That said those decks can't beat Faeries anyway.

Faeries Mirror

2008-05-22T11:28:00.001-04:00

Just beat Faeries in round one of an 8 man. I can honestly say that nether of us really effected the outcome of the match. Games one and three my draw blew him out, game two he blew me out. He ran Mawcor but honestly I'm not impressed by it or Peppersmoke. I'm thinking that maybe a 3rd Pendelhaven in the sideboard might be the right call, Pendelhaven advantage can be huge in the mirror. We'll see but I might try that out.

Standard and Stuff

2008-05-21T23:52:00.005-04:00

Have not posted in a while having a job and getting my ass kicked by allergies can do that. MODO had more PE tests today I didn't get into one which is sucky but after waiting 45 minutes an 8 man fired. Beat RG mana ramp round one and waiting on round two. With Flashfreeze in the board the matchup is basically a bye. They put zero pressure on you while they ramp up their mana. The problem is your spells are better than theirs and cheaper. Game one I drew very few counters and he drew tons of sweepers so I had to beat him down with man lands. Eventually he went for the Skred on a Mutavault which let me play my Scion that had been in my hand the past twelve turns for the win. Game two he drew lots of stuff but I had counters, Bitterblossom, and Rune Snag.

RG mana ramp sideboarding: -4 Scion -2 Nameless Inversion +3 Thoughtseize +3 Flashfreeze

Waiting for round two will post on it when done. I love the 5-3-2-2s because with that quick 2-0 I've already made a profit.

Well my opponent decided to show up nine minutes into the round and then do nothing but run his clock down some more.

He was playing RDW. Game one he draws more lands than me which is an issue for both of us. He runs out of gas with me on three life only problem being I have a hand of double Mistbind, four Terror, and one Rune Snag. I mistbind him two turns in a row, second turn he Sulf Blasts putting me to one. He then gets greedy on Gargadon which eats a Terror and his one land left turns on my Rune Snage to stop a Mogg Fanatic the turn before I win.

RDW Sideboarding (varies): -4 Scion -4 Bitterblossom -1 Nameless Inversion +2 Masticore +3 Flashfreeze +4 Peppersmoke

Game two he has a very strong creature heavy draw and I see only one removal spell.

-1 Mistbind Clique +1 Nameless Inversion

Game three my hand is 2x Mutavault, River of Tears, Island, Nameless Inversion, Rune Snag, Masticore. This is not what I'm looking for but will do. He then proceeds to shoot my face for a ton while I draw all removal and no counters. Thankfully he has to kill my Masticore which keeps me alive for Mutavault beats to get him. He did play a Countryside Crusher with a suspended Gargadon and three lands. I decided Invert it because my hand was Inversion, Terror, Snag, and the Gargadon still had 6 or 7 counters on it. He sacced a land to save it which meant Snag hits anything but a Gargadon with floated mana. Next turn I draw another Terror and use one on the Crusher.

Finals is the mirror match. Game one I have Ancestral+BB to start but draw no lands. The bigger problem is he drew 3 Spellstutter Sprites and Pendelhaven so I was pretty much blown out. Game two we go back and forth and I manage to counter his Ancestral and draw my own. Many turns later things are pretty much wrapped up. Game three I mulligan into a bad triple Thoughtsize hand. He suspends Ancestral turn one which screws me, more so when I draw no counterspells before it goes off. I end up drawing lots of Bitterblossoms and few removal spells and die to triple Mutavault beats.

Vintage for P9

2008-05-09T12:45:00.003-04:00

Still unclear on what I'm going to play in terms of formats on Saturday but I think my Vintage deck of choice might be changing. The most recent decent sized Vintage Tournament, an ICBM Open was won by Painter's Servant combo. The winning list:

1 Library of Alexandria
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Volcanic Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Badlands
1 Island
1 Tolarian Academy
5 Moxen
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Merchant Scroll
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Pyroblast
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Gifts Ungiven
4 Painter's Servant
2 Grindstone
1 Echoing Truth
1 Tinker
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Demonic Consultation

SB:
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Tormod's Crypt
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Rack and Ruin
1 Trickbind
3 Thoughtseize
2 Pyroclasm

Now I love this deck but don't understand some parts of it. First I dislike it for being narrow. It can win with Grindstone and Servant or Tinker->DSC. This is fine but far from impressive in a field of turn one kills and Oath decks casting Tendrils for 20. The deck runs Merchant Scroll which also makes little sense to me. It runs 8 Blasts and 4 FoWs, will it need to scroll up more countermagic? Well of course it can tutor for its combo right? No, not really. It can scroll for Mystical for Vampiric or Tinker but that is all, seems slow. Lastly I see little reason to run Demonic Consultation over Imperial Seal, the Seal is both more reliable and flexible if a bit slower. The Gifts/Will package is okay but unless you have a Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, or Black Lotus you won't be doing anything quickly.

So with less than 24 hours before the event I decided I should make up a decklist that I like for testing tonight.

4 Painter's Servant
2 Trinket Mage
4 Dark Confidant
1 DSC
2 Grindstone
1 Tinker
3 Thoughtseize
6 Blast
8 Power
4 FoW
4 Brainstorm
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Crypt
4 Delta
2 Mire
2 Volc
2 Sea
1 Badlands
1 Island
1 Library
1 Academy
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Echoing Truth
1 Tormod's Crypt

The most striking change is going from five creatures to eleven. This makes beating down with 2/x's a viable plan or at least reduces your DSC clock to one turn. Unanswered a turn one Bob will win most games of Vintage by drawing you ether into your combo or more control spells. The original deck sideboarded Duress effects, I find this a bit silly why wouldn't you want Thoughtseize maindeck? They are only bad versus balls to the wall aggro decks and Ichorid. Most of your cards are bad versus those decks, blasts certainly are. I also cut the blasts from eight to six, sometimes (rarely) they will be dead cards and having two or three in hand in those situations will suck. Also Dark Confidant will help you dig into more of them. Lastly, the deck only has four permanent sources of red mana so often you won't be able to cast many in one turn, again making them weak in multiples.

Tormod's Crypt is I think a worthwhile maindeck addition. Flash, Oath, Storm, and Ichorid are all popular decks that rely on the graveyard to win games. If you draw it in an irrelevant matchup you can Brainstorm or Tinker it away. Echoing Truth is a necessary evil giving you an answer to any number of problem spells. It might be worth replacing this with Engineered Explosives for better synergy.

The manabase is good but a bit light. All the artifact mana means that fitting in more than 14 lands is almost impossible but the 14 lands that are in it are solid. Honestly one or two more basics would be nice and I'm not above putting them in the sideboard.

Painter's Servant is a very exciting card and I'm sure it will cause more judge calls than any other card this weekend. When it is in play naming blue suddenly you can pitch a Mox to Force of Will (or Misdirection which I would love to fit in). I partly want to play this deck to see an opponent equip Sword of Fire and Ice to a creature. Here is a hint: it falls off.

I think this is a very strong deck that can play the control, beatdown, or combo roll depending on your hand and matchup. Having a two-card "I win" combo is invaluable in this metagame. Often opposing decks can demolish Flash's hand but unless they have a quick clock or massive card advantage a couple of good topdecks and they'll be seeing Flash->Hulk. I like this deck because it is very disruptive like a Fish deck or DeezNoughts but can pull off quicker kills than ether of those decks while using fewer cards.

I might skip playing in FNM to test Standard and Vintage tonight, will have to see. Then tomorrow I'll be up bright and early to drive down to Richmond for a weekend of Magic.

Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block Constructed

2008-05-06T12:05:00.001-04:00

One side effect of MODO not having PEs is that Block play has gone no where. Thanks to deckcheck.net a few Block events have been posted. Only one post Shadowmoor event has happened, a GPT for GP Birmingham in Brussels. Only the top three decks are available but they are what I would have expected knowing nothing about the format.

First Place - Alexander Kreuz with Faeries

Mainboard:

4 Scion of Oona
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Pestermite
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Cryptic Command
4 Thoughtseize
4 Bitterblossom
4 Sunken Ruins
4 Secluded Glen
4 Mutavault
2 Reflecting Pool
7 Island
3 Swamp

Sideboard:

2 Notorious Throng
4 Peppersmoke
1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
2 Sower of Temptation
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Profane Command
3 Jace Beleren

A list that I assume will be pretty typical. In Block faeries looses many of its support spells making the 4x Thoughtseize maindeck pretty appealing. This list only runs 24 lands which is wrong.

Second Place - Mono Red Aggro by Maxime Gosse

Mainboard:

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Tarfire
4 Lash Out
4 Bloodmark Mentor
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
2 Countryside Crusher
4 Flame Javelin
4 Murderous Redcap
4 Demigod of Revenge
2 Vexing Shusher
24 Mountain

Sideboard:

4 Pyre Charger
2 Deus of Calamity
4 Sootstoke Kindler
4 Ashenmoor Gouger
1 Tyrannize

This is an interesting mono red list. Demigod of Revenge stops the deck from running Mutavault which also helps with Flame Javelin. Honestly, I don't understand the sideboard as it is mostly creatures that are sometimes better than what is in the maindeck. The singleton Tyrannize also doesn't make sense to me, I think that Mind Shatter is generally better even in an aggressive deck. Bloodmark Mentor seems just awful to me. He would be nice in the mirror but in any situation where he is relevant the opponent could burn him out. I think there are better 2 drop options.

Third Place - Elementals by David D.

4 Nameless Inversion
3 Shriekmaw
4 Firespout
4 Chameleon Colossus
4 Incandescent Soulstoke
4 Flamekin Harbinger
4 Smokebraider
3 Cloudthresher
2 Nova Chaser
4 Mulldrifter
4 Forest
6 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
4 Primal Beyond
3 Vivid Grove

Sideboard:

3 Wispmare
2 Reveillark
2 Chandra Nalaar
4 Pyroclast Consul
4 Spitebellows

Zero Reflecting Pool?? Did David know the interaction between it and Vivid lands or Primal Beyond? Aside from that the deck looks pretty sweet. It is clearly aiming for Faeries with several of its maindeck and sideboard cards which makes sense to me.

Block right now seems wide open and I don't think we will have much information on it until GP Birmingham at the end of May. A week later PTQs for PT Berlin start which will be Block constructed. Be interesting to see where this season takes us. There will obviously be other decks, I expect Doran Rock, Elves, Warriors, and Kithkin to all make showings. There might also be a good Rakdos deck as clearly the B/R hybrid cards are some of the most powerful.

Current Faeries List

2008-05-06T11:58:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update, Terror is a fine maindeck card and the Masticore is sick in the sideboard. Sower of Temptation is on the watch list to cut from the sideboard, I almost never bring it in. That said I think it might be good post Shadowmoor versus some of the stupid decks people have been talking about.

4 River of Tears
4 Underground River
4 Secluded Glenn
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
2 Sunken Ruins
1 Pendelhaven
3 Island
4 Bitterblossom
4 Scion of Oona
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Terror
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Nameless Inversion

Sideboard:
3 Razormane Masticore
2 Nameless Inversion
3 Flashfreeze
3 Peppersmoke
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Thoughtseize

Shadowmoor Sealed Deck

2008-05-05T14:34:00.001-04:00

This weekend I played in FNM and two Shadowmoor release events. Went 3-0 at FNM, 2-2 at first release event and, 3-1 at second release event. Over 11 matches this weekend I played 23 games and that was only due to me punting a game two at an FNM. Of the 22 games I'd guess 14 or so were blow outs in one direction or the other.

Shadowmoor is a relatively underpowered limited set from what I've seen so far. Hill Giants are fine and bears are pretty good. This lack or power is partly due to the limited amounts of removal in the set. Combat tricks are also few and far between. This means that auras are better than they've ever been before.

A side effect of the low over-all power and limited removal is that bomb cards have a huge impact. The only match I lost on Sunday was to Armored Accention in both games where I didn't draw an answer to a huge flier. On Saturday I got blow out in the first two rounds by two amazing decks before blowing out my opponents in the next two rounds. Round four Knollspine invocation came down turn three in game one and turn four in game two. I won both games dealing a total of three damage to my opponent during the combat step. He didn't have a way to kill the enchantment and just lost.

I've enjoyed Shadowmoor sealed play though I still have reservations because from what I've seen many fewer games than normal are close. This could just be based on the small sample size of games I've played or could be a wider trend.

The Weekend

2008-05-03T17:32:00.000-04:00

Don't think I'll be able to post much this weekend. Went 3-0 at FNM followed by a weird-ass dinner at Fridays. Went to Shadowmoor release event in Urbana about 30 minutes away. Went 2-2 in 8 games getting demolished in r1&2 by two insane decks and then crushing people in the next two rounds. MVP of the day was Knollspine Invocation. This actually might make the cube where I originally dismissed it. In round four it dealt over 40 damage.

Another release event tomorrow and then a week to relax from Magic before heading down to Richmond for StarCity Game's 5k/P9.

Faeries & Standard

2008-05-01T10:49:00.000-04:00

Faeries is a silly deck. My record with it in FNM/City Champ paper events is 11-1 (8k events really suck 9-0 at FNM and it has gained me 30ish ratings points and only that many because my rating sucks). Sadly it seems R&D is sick of blue being the best color in Magic. Shadowmoor added a land to Faeries and that is pretty much it. Personally I think Faeries might still be a good deck call as it is still the most powerful deck in the format and beats any deck not preparing for the matchup. I expect Vexing Shusher to see tons of play for the next month or so. I think people will take decks that loose to Faeries, add 4x Shusher and call it a good matchup.

I'm okay with that my current Faerie list:

4 River of Tears
4 Underground River
4 Secluded Glenn
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
2 Sunken Ruins
1 Pendelhaven
3 Island
4 Bitterblossom
4 Scion of Oona
4 Spellstutter Sprite
4 Mistbind Clique
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Rune Snag
4 Cryptic Command
4 Ancestral Vision
2 Thoughtseize

Sideboard:
4 Bottle Gnomes
3 Terror
3 Flashfreeze
3 Peppersmoke
2 Sower of Temptation

As I've played the deck I've cut more and more Faeries from it. First went the 2x Oona's Blackguards, then the Pestermites, then the Sower of Temptations, and finally the Vendillion Cliques. I would love to cut a Mistbind Clique or two but they are very important in many matchups. Being able to play a Bitterblossom, get a token or two and then RFG the blossom is a key strategy in beating Red Decks. At this point I'd like to add more creature removal to the maindeck but I'm not sure how I can make room.

It is possible that the format will become to hostile to counterspells and Rune Snag will too often be a dead card. In that case it will come out. The addional creature removal spells are up in the air. Terror and Eyeblight's Ending seem the best options but I don't want dead maindeck cards which both of them can be. Terror might get the nod if for no other reason because it kills Mutavault and Vexing Shusher. Slaugter Pact seemed like a nice idea but tapping mana on your own upkeep seems awful. What would make this deck unbeatable again is an instant-speed edict. Cruel Edict might be playable but the sorcery speed aspect really blows.

Oona, Queen of the Fae is a card I was not very excited about early on but seems really good to me now. If the Rune Snags come out I could see this as a random 1x or possibly sideboard material. A 5/5 that makes tons of 1/1s seems very good versus the red or green decks running around.

The card that scares me the most in Shadowmoor as a Faeries player is not Vexing Shusher but Guttural Response. You know when the Shusher is coming, you can play around it. The Response shuts down Crpytic Command. No longer can you plan on casting it unimpeded turn four as the opponent could cast a three-drop and have mana to kill your Command. I think at first the Shusher will see much more play than Response so this is a more long-term issue.

Despite the additional weaknesses created by the new set I think Faeries will still be the best deck. I think the number of people playing it will be lower than pre-Shadowmoor so that the mirror is less important. I still think Peppersmoke is worth the sideboard place due to the number of x/1s in the format. I plan in playing in the trials next Friday for SCG's 5k Standard event. If I win some byes I'll play Standard on Saturday, Vintage Sunday. If no byes I will probably play Vintage both days.

Project: Restrict Skullclamp Part 1 - ElfClamp

2008-04-29T16:35:00.000-04:00

Everyone pretty much agrees Mirrodin was a broken block. From Arcbound Ravager to Aether Vial the powerlevel was over the top. I don't think there is much debate as to the most broken card in the set, it is Skullclamp. It is cheap to cast and equip and provides absurd card advantage.

However after it was banned in Block, Standard, Extended, and Legacy it has not seen much play. The two official formats it is still legal in are Vintage and Classic. It does see some Vintage play in Goblins, RG Beats, Fish, and DeezNoughts. The fact of the matter is that in Vintage it is a bit slow and there are few chances for your creatures to hit the graveyard if +1/-1 doesn't get them there.

Classic on the other hand is another matter. Most of the top Classic decks rely on creatures and Skullclamp can be very relevant. Skullclamp is a fine addition to most aggressive decks and is amazing in decks like Affinity or Goblins. However Skullclamp is not an amazing card, it is a broken card and I intend to break it.

One archtype that has shown up recently in Classic is BG ElfClamp. The deck runs plenty of mana elves along with Essence Warden as clamp targets. This is backed up with Tarmogoyf and discard for the win.

Under the Hammer's BG Elfclamp

4	Tarmogoyf
4	Essence Warden
3	Eternal Witness
2	Mesmeric Fiend
4	Llanowar Elves
3	Elves of Deep Shadow
3	Fyndhorn Elves
1	Vampiric Tutor
1	Krosan Grip
2	Slaughter Pact
1	Putrefy
4	Skullclamp
2	Umezawa's Jitte
4	Thoughtseize
4	Hymn to Tourach
5	Forest
1	Gilt-Leaf Palace
3	Overgrown Tomb
2	Pendelhaven
2	Swamp
4	Windswept Heath
2	Wooded Foothills

Sideboard

2	Caller of the Claw
1	Eternal Witness
4	Leyline of the Void
1	Putrefy
4	Tormod's Crypt
3	Krosan Grip

Essence Warden was partly in the deck because of Flash. The previous Flash kill (Disciple of the Vault & X cost artifact creatures) could not kill an opponent with an Essence Warden out. This anti-flash tech has become outdated with the addition of Morningtide. The Reveliark kill couldn't care less about Essence Warden as Mogg Fanatic will just shoot it (a good reason not to run Bile Urchin over Fanatic.)

Morningtide however gave the deck a huge boost in the form of Bitterblossom. This two mana enchantment spits out 1/1s and seems almost custom-made for Skullclamp shenanigans. Bitterblossom works very well with Essence Warden, you break even on life with one Warden and can even gain life off two. Taking this into account I set about building a new Elfclamp deck.

Auto-Includes:
4 Skullclamp
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Vampiric Tutor
4 Bitterblossom
4 Essence Warden
4 Cabal Therapy

This is 21 slots leaving us with 39 spaces to fill. I'll start off with a bit more discard to improve your chances versus combo and control:

3 Thoughtseize
2 Hymn to Tourach

I'll only going with two Hymns for now as I don't think this deck wants 11 or 12 discard spells. Next up I need to decide on the other one drops. Birds of Paradise will be best for the mana base but don't work with Pendelhaven or Gilt-Leaf Palace. Llanowar Elves and Fyndhorn Elves are the exact same so if I run them it will be a split of the two to avoid getting 2 for 1'd on Cabal Therapy. Elves of the Deep Shadow are nice if I need black mana on turn two for a Cabal Therapy or other spell. For now I think I want 8 mana elves so I'll go with a 3/3/2 split of the elves.

3 Llanowar Elves
3 Fyndhorn Elves
2 Elves of the Deep Shadow

We're up to 34 cards leaving 26 spots, almost all of which will be land. Right now we have 16 creatures plus the Bitterblossoms, 11 discard spells, and the Clamps and Vamp Tutor. Eternal Witness can provide the deck with a backup card advantage plan to the Skullclamps and retrieve one that has been destroyed. Two Witnesses will round out the creature base. Aside from Tarmogoyf all the creatures in the deck are small Umezawa's Jitte has proven to be effective in this type of deck to create pressure, the lifegain is also welcome versus burn decks and your won Bitterblossoms.

2 Eternal Witness
2 Umezawa's Jitte

22 slots are left, time to figure out how many lands the deck wants.
1 drops - 24
2 drops - 12
3 drops - 2

This is a pretty low curve and features 8 mana elves. However if the deck is operating how you want it to it can be surprisingly mana hungry, not to mention the mana elves die. Running 22 lands would allow this deck to have two Pendelhavens along with a set of Mishra's Factories. The deck has 12 elves making Gilt-Leaf Palace a bit of a stretch. Oh Eternal Witness, why are you a Human Shaman? One option is to run only one Pendlehaven and to run a Nameless Inversion. Nameless Inversion is not a great card in Classic but it does two things, first it ups our Elf count, second it pumps our goyfs. While it can't kill opposing goyfs it kills almost every other creature in the format including Dark Confidant which can be a problem for these decks. Vampiric Tutor also allows us to find our singleton removal spell. It should also be mentioned that a well-timed Nameless Inversion can win the game by pumping Tarmogoyf up by +4/-2.

1 Nameless Inversion
1 Pendelhaven
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Overgrown Tomb
2 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
2 Forest
1 Swamp

So the decklist (finally)

iceage ElfClamp
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Nameless Inversion
2 Eternal Witness
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Elves of the Deep Shadow
3 Thoughtseize
3 Llanowar Elves
3 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Skullclamp
4 Essence Warden
4 Bitterblossom
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Pendelhaven
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Swamp
2 Forest
2 Windswept Heath
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Overgrown Tomb

There you have it, not sure exactly what the sideboard needs so I'll go with some staple GB sideboard cards for now:
4 Leyline of the Void
3 Krosan Grip
3 Extirpate
3 Seeds of Innocence
2 Spike Feeder (Kitchen Finks once we have Shadowmoor online)

I'll be testing this deck and will post again with results and changes.

All Your Mana Base Are Belong To Us

2008-04-29T00:31:00.000-04:00

Ravnica's mana fixing has left the format but that does not seem to be a problem to the determined Standard deckbuilder. There are an incredible number of high quality dual lands in the Standard environment right now.

First lets look at my preferred manabase for Faeries at the moment:

4 River of Tears
4 Underground River
4 Secluded Glen
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
1 Pendlehaven
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
4 Snow-Covered Island

This is one incredible manabase, it is shockingly consistent and has eight manlands that can go on the offensive. However it is only set to improve in the coming weeks with the advent of Shadowmoor. Shadowmoor gives the deck Sunken Ruins and (possibly) Reflecting Pool. My first draft of the manabase is:

4 River of Tears
4 Underground River
4 Secluded Glen
4 Faerie Conclave
4 Mutavault
1 Pendlehaven
3 Snow-Covered Island
2 Sunken Ruins

But honestly that is just an idea I might change things around a great deal. I've told several people that if I find a way to sideboard Kitchen Finks in Faeries the deck will be unbeatable, I've only been half joking.

4 River of Tears
4 Underground River
4 Secluded Glen
3 Faerie Conclave
2 Mutavault
1 Pendelhaven
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Sunken Ruins
2 Reflecting Pool
4 Mystic Gate

A blue source + Mystic Gate can cast the Finks as can Pendlehaven + Reflecting Pool, or several other combinations of cards. This is far from the best manabase for accomplishing my goal but I think it shows my point. Mark my words, hybrid mana and filter lands could make for some crazy decks.

Bonus: Complete list of muticolored lands for post-Shadowmoor Standard

U/W
Adarkar Wastes
Nimbus Maze
Wanderwine Hub
Mystic Gate
Boreal Shelf

W/B
Caves of Koilos

W/R
Battlefield Forge
Ancient Amphitheater

W/G
Brushland
Horizon Canopy
Wooded Bastion
Arctic Flats

U/B
Underground River
River of Tears
Secluded Glen
Sunken Ruins
Frost Marsh

U/R
Shivan Reef

U/G
Yavimaya Coast

B/R
Sulfurous Springs
Graven Carins
Auntie's Hovel
Tresserhorn Sinks

B/G
Llanowar Wastes
Gilt-Leaf Palace

R/G
Karplusan Forest
Grove of the Burnwillows
Fit-Lit Thicket
Highland Weald

5 Color
Primal Beyond
Reflecting Pool
Terramoprhic Expanse

Other
Murmuring Bosk

WUBRG For Fun and Profit

2007-09-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

This Sunday Prismatic players have been graced with (sarcasm) a second 3x Premiere Event. I forget my exact results from the last event but I think I went x-2 loosing to Flash, and Control. A few of us on the WOTC forums had been quite loud in demanding another Prismatic PE, and honestly I'm happy Wizards gave it to us. Much like last weekend's Classic event this will be for a lame-duck format. Next week we see the release of Master's Edition sure to give many new options to Prismatic players, and two weeks later Flash is banned in the format. This is the deck I ran last time, which was not ideal but I don't own every card so it was the best I could put together (click on image for full-size). It is a very Red and burn heavy Prismatic aggro deck. I figured Flash would be the strongest deck at the event but I lacked the cards to build it. It is very much a Zoo deck, 1/3 land, 1/3 creatures, 1/3 burn or other enhancements. I played 4x Aven Mindcensor main deck to combat Flash. The fifteen cards on the right hand side of the image is the sideboard with Swords and Baloths for creature decks and Cranial Extraction, Stifle, and Swords for Flash decks. Didn't feel I needed help versus control and was pretty disappointed to loose to one control deck.

I have not had much time to playtest Prismatic but I plan to change that over the next few days. Not going to talk too much about that though needless to say Xth added alot of nice cards for aggro. I think after the banning of Flash the Prismatic format will revert to aggro being the only viable deck. It gains alot of cards and options from MED while control also gains some I think it still gets the short-end of the stick. Of course I think many of these smaller, online formats just become inbred. If aggro does become the only viable tournament deck a mid-range deck loaded with 4/4s and lifegain should be able to keep it in check. Tolaria West and Trinket Mage however both improve a great deal in the aggro matchup with the addition of MED. Ivory Tower and Zuran Orb are both fine additions to an anti-aggro suite. Tolaria West is an incredibly powerful card at the moment with Pacts, man-lands, ect and I wouldn't be shocked to see it banned at some point. I don't think it should be but that is another topic. Anyone interested in testing Prismatic shoot me a PM in game.

I really enjoy Prismatic both competitive and casual (feel free to PM me for a casual game also). I hope that Wizards continues with doing one 3x event per month, this will ensure decent attendance and keep people interested in the format. I'd love to see weekly events but I don't think the Prismatic community can support that.

A short note on WUBRG: In case you did not know it is pronounced woo-berg and is the five colors of Magic.

For more info on Prismatic and some (better) decklists check out this article by Shaver/Little Shaves/Scott Tucker* on StarCity Games.

*Note to selfc get more aliases.

The Iceman Plays Standard Pt I

2007-09-05T00:55:00.000-04:00

I was reading Karsten's coverage of the Dutch nationals and noticed the U/W Martyr of Sands deck he linked here. I thought it looked awesome but untuned. Lucky me a couple Page Down's later we find this spicy number:

Olaf Koster's U/W Martyr

2007 Dutch Nationals

Main Deck

60 cards

3 Nimbus Maze
4 Hallowed Fountain
7 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Tolaria West
1 Mouth of Ronom
1 Urza's Factory
2 Azorius Chancery
2 Adarkar Wastes
2 Snow-Covered Island

24 lands

4 Martyr of Sands
3 Aeon Chronicler

7 creatures

2 Sacred Mesa
2 Beacon of Immortality
3 Proclamation of Rebirth
4 Wrath of God
3 Story Circle
4 Condemn
3 Foresee
1 Pact of Negation
4 Mind Stone
3 Azorius Signet

29 other spells

It has everything a man could dream of; a great aggro matchup, a combo that doesn't win you the game but helps a great deal, and mirror matches that will drive grown men to tears. I checked ye ole' MODO account to see what I needed. Short a few cards here and there but nothing that is too expensive or will stop me from testing.

I save my deck and head for the Tournament Practice room. I hop in a game, win the die roll and elect to play. I'm greeted with this not optimal but quite playable hand:
I pass the turn and face an opening from my opponent that is dreaded by mages world-wide. Oh wait this isn't Standard Vanguard and he isn't running the Mirri Avatar? Hmmm, guess he is just running some janky Thallid deck then. And a janky Thallid deck it was. On my second turn I mised an Snow-Covered Plains so I could start accelerating my mana. He played some more bad Thallids while I developed my mana. I then cast Foresee flipping the following four cards: Hallowed Fountain, Tolaria West, Proclamation of Rebirth, and Martyr of Sands. This was a very easy choice as I had three lands in hand along with a Proclamtion. I happily drew the Martyr sending the rest of the cards to the bottom of my deck and drawing a Condem while I was at it. The rest of the game is pretty much a joke as I draw a second Foresee finding me a Wrath of God. A pair of fat Cronics finish him off with me just shy of 50 life. He saved me the trouble and conceded the match.

/RANT ON
Why do people bring these awful piles into the TP room? Was this power-house of a mono Green Thallid deck terrorizing the casual room to the point of being chased out? Was this guy a noob thinking he has a shot at tournaments with this pile? It goes without saying that this deck from the seven or eight cards I saw was Block Constructed legal. I face idiots like this all the time in Classic TP games often with decks much like his. In matches like this I play game one to show the crushing difference in power-level between tuned decks for that format and casual decks for another format. Then I concede the match to save us both time. Moral of the story: casual decks=casual room, decks with a shot of winning a match in a PE=tournament practice room!
/RANT OFF

So can anything be learned from games versus joke.dec? A little but nothing we couldn't figure out by looking at the deck list. Unsurprisingly as a deck with light color requirements and running four cycles of dual lands, the mana is very consistent, think I'll be tweaking it some but even that isn't really needed. Mind Stone is grade A awesome as a card. It becomes A+ awesome in decks where you don't need color fixing. It becomes A++ in a deck that hits the Cronic. Third, Foresee is great for finding the card you need be it a Wrath, combo piece, or win condition. It is now almost 2am and I have class tomorrow morning. This means my first night of Standard testing has shown me that a tuned Standard deck can beat a casual block deck. Good to know. Tomorrow I plan on heading back to the TP room in search of real decks. I'll keep you posted.

2x OTJ Qualifier TPF Sealed

2007-09-03T11:21:00.000-04:00

So today is Labor Day and I'm pretty hung over. When you drink beer from 5pm to 1am it does a number on you. God bless those fat cat union gangsters for getting Americans a Monday off. I am going home to have dinner with dinner with my family but figured that a Sealed OTJ qualifier would be a good way to spend the day. It seems I was not the only one with this idea as 91 other people joined.

I was pretty happy with the pool I opened. I went with a W/R/u build playing my powerful W/R cards splashing Blue for evasion and removal. I liked my Green cards (Squall Line & Weatherseed Totem) but the color had very few cards and nothing splashable. Black had a few more cards but less quality, ruling it out. Blue also lacked depth but had cards perfect for a splash. The removal and bombs in R/W lead those to be my main colors. The deck:

(click for full-sized image)

Biggest problem is the mana, deck needs RRRWWWU to cast everything. The Prismatic Lens and Terramorphic Expanse should help though. It can also cast 19/23 spells with access to just one of each color of mana so shouldn't be too much of a problem. Looking at it now I might want to cut an Island for another Mountain, but I'll see.

Round one started rocky with these hands:

Nice hands. Then I noticed that not only was my opponent not in the game but he had a 105 card deck, mise.

After my "bye" round two started. My opponent had a decent start but I managed to kill most of his board. He then played approximately infinite 3/3 flyers. First a Serra Avenger, next Stormcloud Djinn, then a Vesuvan Shapeshifter copying the Djinn, then casting Resurrection on the Serra Avenger. Also a pair of 2/2 flyers. After I kill all those I'm on three life and he is on eight. I end up two mana short of being able to Whetwheel him (had 8 cards in deck and I could mill 7 on my turn). Games two and three were both blowouts so I was off to a solid 2-0 start for this seven round affair.

Round three saw me paired up versus a good U/G deck. Game one he beat me down with a Weatherseed Totem and I died turn before I would have drawn Ovinize, bad beats. Game two I'm behind on the board but manage to cast a turn 5 Desolation Giant off my lens, turn before my Ephemeron comes into play, gg. Game three I threw away, he murdered me on tempo I was on seven my last turn. I cast Tarox, leaving it back as a blocker. On his turn he snaps it back, casts Might of Old Krosa on his Riftwing Cloudskate and swings with his team ftw. So how did I blow this game? Take a look at this screen shot and you should see why.

(click for full-sized image)

Yeah I had 6 mana and Desolation Giant in hand, could have wiped his board, then with Tarox swung for 7 the turn after. Instead I lost the match. Awkward.

Well 2-1 going into round four, top 8 is possible but will be hard to make. Game one I manage to draw all of my plains, all but one of my mountains, 3 of my deck's four blue cards, and zero of my 5 blue sources. Died with an Ovinze and Ephemeron in hand (and a Shaper Parasite in the yard that could have saved itself from a Rift Bolt if I had an Island). Game two I buried him in card advantage from Candles and drew my bombs to back that up. Game three we trade removal for creatures and my sideboarded in Slipstream Serpent is nice and fat ftw. I said "ggs" (the first thing ether of us had said that game) and he PMs me:
"3:03 TankDaddy: ur a loser, u wont make top 8, have fun
wasting the rest of your labor day moron 3:03 Sorry, recipient has ignored your
message. 3:03 TankDaddy: go take a shower now, and ask mommy for some
greasy food "
Funny thing is he didn't drop at 2-2, and went on to play all 7 rounds having no shot at Top 8. Odd.

Round five I win game one. Game two I keep a hand of six land and Candles of Leng. Opponent was a B/R deck heavy on removal light on speed and creatures. I dealt with his two Castle Raptors, things were looking good. And then he played Kaervek the Merciless. I was out of removal and he was able to remove my creatures I was trying to race with. Almost got there with the six land hand. Game three I suspend the Ephemeron turn two. I pulled off what I think was a pretty solid bluff by not playing the two mountains I had in hand just playing Plains and Islands (I was very flooded this game). So while I looked mana screwed I was just holding back Whitemane Lion mana, which ended up saving the Ephemeron and winning me the game.

Now sitting at 4-1, making the blown game sting even more 8. Round six I am stuck on three lands until turn 7. I get him to three but Mindstab hbut just need two more wins for topas reduced me to topdecking. Even with Candles of Leng going I can't find anything and loose. Oh and 0 for 8 on red sources in 21 cards. Game two again can't get red sources, Mindstab again wrecks me. I topdeck Ephemeron with Lumithread Feild out it will be 4/5 and I figure his B/R/u deck won't have an answer to it. He plays an island and then Nicol Bolas. Now I don't think I've ever see him cast in limited but there he was. I topdeck Crookclaw Transmuter and play it after he declares attackers. I can't really race him because I'm on 14 life so two swings and I'm dead. I think about it for a minute and decide to double block as I can't deal with the 7/7 otherwise. I had another first this game, seeing Cradle to the Grave used as a combat trick turning my double block into a lonely 4/5 standing in front of a dragon.

So I end up going 4-2 drop. Best I could have managed was 10 or 11th place with my breakers so no reason to stay in. I felt I had a good deck, had some mana issues in one match I lost and I was at fault for loosing the other one.