Magic: The Blogging

Magic: The Blogging Returns

2010-04-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

Magic The Blogging has now officially moved to www.magictheblogging.com. It's actively posting, and is now better than ever. It's also got the best posts from this site, so feel free to head over!

Doubling Planeswalkers!

2009-12-18T04:42:00.000-08:00

Note: The Miniseries 2 will not be airing for a while, due to Worldwake about to consume every post in this blog for about a month. In the meantime, enjoy this random-ass Extended deck.

Have you ever felt like Planeswalkers would be more awesome if you could use their ultimate as soon as you played it? I have. And now, there is a way.

Before anyone asks, this does, in fact, work within the rules. Behold the comprehensive rules excerpt that proves it:

306.5b A planeswalker is treated as if its text box included, "This permanent enters the battlefield with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to its printed loyalty number." This ability creates a replacement effect (see rule 613.1c).

Thus, as it's a replacement effect that adds the counters, Doubling Season works as another replacement effect to instead put more counters on. I scoured the planeswalkers to find the ones that could end the game basically by themselves with an Ultimate activation and found these:

Chandra Nalaar

Sarkhan Vol

Ajani Goldmane

Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker

Nicol Bolas was out, way too expensive, but the other three work well. Chandra Wraths the board and takes 10 life from them, Sarkhan makes 10 4/4 fliers and Ajani makes two gigantic dudes (remember, Doubling Season!) Together, they provide enough consistency that I am near certain to draw one.

Doubling Season doesn't have that, so I added it's good friend Idyllic Tutor.

Here's the decklist I ended up with:

Lands (22)

4 Arid Mesa

3 Forest

2 Ghost Quarter

2 Mountain

2 Plains

3 Sacred Foundry

3 Stomping Ground

3 Temple Garden

Creatures (8)

4 Birds of Paradise

4 Noble Hierarch

Spells (30)

4 Ajani Goldmane

4 Chandra Nalaar

4 Chrome Mox

4 Idyllic Tutor

4 Naya Charm

2 Path to Exile

4 Sarkhan Vol

Sideboard (15)

4 Chalice of the Void

4 Engineered Explosives

2 Guttural Response

3 Krosan Grip

2 Path to Exile

Basically the idea is simple.

Step 1: Ramp into a Doubling Season.
Step 2: Drop a planeswalker.
Step 3: Win the game.

I don't think it's Tier 1, but it's a nice little strategy. If you already play Extended, you'll have all the expensive cards, and people will often think you're playing Zoo until it's too late.

I'll have some basic testing of the deck up tomorrow, as well as the rudiments of a sideboard plan. Enjoy!

Miniseries Series 2!

2009-12-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

You may remember my first miniseries which was devoted to W/U Control. Now I've decided to do a new one. To reiterate the rules:

The miniseries will have three articles: a theory article, a deckbuilding article, and a deck testing article. The topic must be able to support all three articles. For example, a miniseries on tiebreakers wouldn't work, since deckbuilding and testing for that is basically ridiculous.

I will pick the one I like best from the ones given.

The topic will be chosen in 24 hours, or 48 if no satisfactory topics are received in 24.

Good luck, and pick a good idea!

What If: Cascade Was Never Invented?

2009-12-10T05:11:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Zendikar's been out for a while, so now we're going to do a metagame breakdown of Standard. Aggro is still powerful but Control certainly has a good presence as well. Let's see what we have...

Boros Bushwhacker

Maindeck:

Creatures
3 Elite Vanguard
2 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Guide
3 Kor Skyfisher
4 Plated Geopede
4 Ranger Of Eos
4 Steppe Lynx

Instants
2 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path To Exile

Planeswalkers
2 Elspeth, Knight-errant

Basic Lands
4 Mountain
6 Plains

Lands
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Teetering Peaks

Sideboard:
2 Baneslayer Angel
4 Manabarbs
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Burst Lightning
4 Celestial Purge

Boros Bushwhacker is still one of the top decks in Standard. It kills most Control decks before they get online, but has a bad matchup against Eldrazi Green, which sweeped a few States tournaments.

Eldrazi Green

Maindeck:

Artifacts
3 Eldrazi Monument

Creatures
3 Ant Queen
4 Elvish Archdruid
4 Elvish Visionary
3 Great Sable Stag
4 Llanowar Elves
2 Master Of The Wild Hunt
4 Nissa's Chosen
2 Noble Hierarch

Planeswalkers
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Nissa Revane

Basic Lands
20 Forest

Lands
4 Oran-rief, The Vastwood

Sideboard:
1 Eldrazi Monument
3 Pithing Needle
3 Great Sable Stag
3 Mold Shambler
3 Mycoloth
2 Windstorm

Eldrazi Green plays out a lot of "must-deal-with" threats, and it's a pretty good deck. Against these decks are the control decks:

RWU Planeswalker Control

Artifacts
4 Courier's Capsule
1 Obelisk Of Alara

Creatures
3 Sphinx Of Jwar Isle

Instants
1 Essence Scatter
2 Flashfreeze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path To Exile
1 Swerve

Planeswalkers
4 Ajani Vengeant
1 Chandra Nalaar
2 Elspeth, Knight-errant

Sorceries
4 Day Of Judgment
3 Mind Spring

Basic Lands
3 Island
2 Mountain
3 Plains

Lands
3 Arid Mesa
2 Crumbling Necropolis
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Jungle Shrine
3 Scalding Tarn
4 Sejiri Refuge

Sideboard:
1 Pithing Needle
3 Celestial Purge
2 Essence Scatter
3 Flashfreeze
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Earthquake

This is one of the 'decks to beat' at the moment, since there are few ways to gain card advantage in Standard at the moment, and planeswalkers are a big one.

That's all we have time for today! Tomorrow we'll talk about W/U Control, Red Deck Wins, and Emeria decks. See you tomorrow!

White Weenie in Standard

2009-12-06T05:22:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I've recently got into MODO. Because I didn't have much money to start, I decided the most competitive budget deck I could have was a mono-colored one. I didn't want Red, since I want some interaction, so I went with White Weenie (sans Baneslayers).

Here's the list I've been using:

Lands (24)

3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
21 Plains

Creatures (20)

4 Elite Vanguard
4 Emeria Angel
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Veteran Armorsmith
4 Veteran Swordsmith

Spells (16)

4 Brave the Elements
4 Conqueror's Pledge
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Path to Exile

Sideboard (15)

4 Celestial Purge
3 Devout Lightcaster
2 Luminarch Ascension
4 Oblivion Ring
2 White Knight

The deck has turned out to be quite good, and so I decided to make a brief primer for this budget deck (the entire deck can be built for less than 50 tickets: quite good compared to Jund or Boros, which are much more expensive).

Vs Jund:

Sideboarding:

+4 Celestial Purge
+3 Devout Lightcaster
+2 White Knight

-4 Elite Vanguard
-4 Veteran Swordsmith
-1 Conqueror's Pledge

Pre-board, your best friend is Honor of the Pure. I mentioned a few months back that Pulsing Honor of the Pure was your best bet as Jund, yet people rarely do this. It allows for your Blademasters, Emeria Angels, and Armorsmiths to all be 3/3 resistant, and the latter two to be X/4's, and unable to be Bolted. Conqueror's Pledge is generally weak against them as they have Pulse, but if you play it, and they don't have it, they lose.

Post-board, they almost certainly have Jund Charm. To combat this, you have 5 Pro-black cards, and one less Pledge. You've also taken out some easily killed cards. Now your objective is to win with hard-to-kill cards and protect the ones you do with Brave the Elements. Often I can Lightcaster a Thrinax, drop Emeria Angel, and hold a Brave the Elements in hand with a winning position.

Vs Boros

+2 White Knight

-2 Veteran Swordsmith

Here, you are the defender. In both games, your aim is to play 2/3's and first strikers. Save your removal for his Skyfishers, which you can't block. You aim to make a nearly unassailable position with 2-3 creatures. Sandbag some, as Boros runs Earthquake now.

Vs Vampires

+4 Celestial Purge
+3 Devout Lightcaster
+2 White Knight

-4 Elite Vanguard
-4 Brave the Elements
-1 Veteran Swordsmith

This match is nearly an auto-win for you unless they draw multiple Bloodwitches. Game 1, save your removal for Nocturnus, try to get Honor of the Pure (they can't kill it) and play 3/3 first strikers and 3/4's to gum up the ground.

Games 2 and 3, you aim to kill all their relevant threats and win with pro-black guys. It's quite easy to win if you have 5 cards they can't stop in any way. Make sure you race their Bloodwitches.

That's all the major testing I've done so far.

Various tips:

Emeria Angel is a 5-drop. Drop her and then drop a land afterwards. She's also amazing with Honor of the Pure. a 4/4 and a 2/2 is hard to kill with one card.

Conqueror's Pledge is a last-ditch resort unless you have Honor, in which case it can swing the game if you KNOW the opponent doesn't have Wraths.

Armorsmiths are your best friend against red decks.

If you have a good board presence, always keep a mana open for Brave, even if you don't have it, unless you NEED all that mana.

That's all I've got for today! I'll do some more testing soon, and perhaps compete in a Standard event, and we'll see how I go!

(Also, draft is going great! I started with 3 packs. 3 drafts later, I still have 3 packs.)

See ya!

Adventures In Pauper

2009-12-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

So I found myself on MTGO, which I've just recently got into, with 20 bucks to spare and a promise that I'd draft Nix Tix M10 tonight (I won 2 packs and got a Master of the Wild Hunt, so happy me). So I had about 8 bucks. What can you do on MODO for 8 bucks?

The answer is Pauper. Pauper is a format that only permits commons (or to be specific, cards that were printed as common at one point). There's a wide variety of Tier 1 and 2 strategies, as can be seen at this webpage.

I decided to go for Classic Pauper, and I decided to go for G/W Slivers. Unfortunately the Muscle Slivers would have taken up my 8 bucks right there, so my second choice was the old-school Orzhov Blink, which has fallen out of favor since M10.

The deck cost a grand total of 6 tix of clever bot-buying, and here's what I ran:

4 Blind Hunter
4 Chittering Rats
3 Phyrexian Rager
4 Ravenous Rats
3 Aven Riftwatcher
3 Mulldrifter
3 Shrieking Grotesque

Spells
4 Duress
4 Echoing Decay
4 Momentary Blink

Lands
9 Swamp
4 Orzhov Basilica
4 Plains
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Island

SIDEBOARD
4 Circle of Protection: Black
4 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Aven Riftwatcher
1 Mulldrifter

The only change I made from the list I started with was -1 Phyrexian Rager and +1 Shrieking Grotesque, and I'm fairly happy with the choice. Pauper can descend into creature stalls, and when 2/X's are the norm, races take a while. So a critical mass of fliers was pretty good.

I haven't got any matchups at the moment, but I have been enjoying it. One addition I'd like to make to the deck is Soul Stair Expedition, since it seems very powerful in this deck. They finally kill your blinkers, and you simply bring them back again. The ultimate recursion package.

Last Gasp and Okiba-Gang Shinobi were two cards I also purchased, since I figured they might be useful. I'm considering Duress in the side over Relic, and putting Last Gasp in main, since Kor Skyfisher shuts down a lot of my offence.

What I like about Pauper is that it's both very cheap, and it's competitive. It also seems to speak to the 'core' of Magic, since the commons are very in tune with the color pie.

Orzhov Blink is a deck of advantages. Gaining life, draining life, and gaining card advantage with Ravenous Rats and Mulldrifter, it's a strange kind of control deck, but a fun one to play. I think my next move will be to take out the Chittering Rats (which put a strain on the manabase) and the Duresses in order to add Last Gasp and Soul Stair Expedition, and see how it goes.

I think you'll be seeing a few more posts about Pauper in the upcoming weeks, since it's certainly piqued my interest. I'd also like to play a U/B Control list I saw floating around the tournament practice room, and if I want to, I can purchase it for the price of a lunch (as long as I don't add Daze to the deck).

So if you're on MTGO, give Pauper a try. It's great fun, and very cheap to get started. And you never know what fun you could have!

Playing To Win At Magic: The Gathering

2009-12-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

A good part of this article is inspired by David Sirlin's excellent book Playing To Win, which can be viewed for free online at www.sirlin.net/ptw. This article will have many of the same concepts, but also has my own ideas and examples specific to Magic: The Gathering. Reading Playing To Win is not required to understand this text.

Playing To Win At Magic: The Gathering

An article by Jay Bailey (mtgsalivanth)

Introduction

Many of the concepts found in these texts will be ones that you do not agree with. If you wish to argue them, I'll make it easier on you by providing my e-mail address (www.salivanth@live.com) and my Twitter account. (mtgsalivanth). I routinely check both of these.

With that out of the way, let's move on to the meat of the article: Playing to win at this game. Some of you do not want to play to win. Some of you play casually, and don't want to progress past the level you are at right now. That's fine: these concepts do not apply to you. I speak to the ones who aim to improve their game.

Magic: The Gathering is a game, and the first thing you must accept is the following:

Magic: The Gathering must be treated like Magic: The Gathering.

This means that no tournament-legal card, deck, or strategy is cheap, wrong, or should not be used for reasons other than 'It will not help me win'. If you are playing casually, play casually, but in tournaments, PLAY TO WIN.

This means accepting truths about the game. A combo deck is not cheap because it does not interact with the opponent. It's not a deck that 'does not 'play' Magic'. It does not interact with the opponent because it's not designed to. If you think that's wrong, you're not playing Magic: The Gathering. You're playing a different version of the game, and you must play the version that the tournament is playing.

If a deck is going to cost several hundred dollars to build and you can't afford it, fine. But don't whinge about the fact that you can't afford it. If you cannot remain competitive with your budget, then you should set your sights to other places other than improving at the game and playing at higher levels.

Counterspells are a valid strategy. Discard is a valid strategy. Land destruction is a valid strategy. (Note that I'm not saying these are valid as in 'They are competitive' for they may not be at the time of your reading. However, it is valid as in if it is a competitive strategy, you should not refrain from using it because it's 'cheap' 'dishonorable' or 'no fun'.)

I believe David Sirlin himself said it best.

"The game knows no rules of "honor" or of "cheapness." The game only knows winning and losing".

- David Sirlin, author of Playing To Win.

I could give many other examples. Netdecking, metagaming, rules lawyering...but the principle is the same. If you want to win, you must accept that every tournament-legal strategy is fair game if it increases your chance of winning.

You do not decide what is fair and what is not. Wizards of the Coast does. If they say it can be done (by not banning or restricting it) then it can (and if it is good, will) be done. End of story.

Sir Scrub

Let's introduce a player I call Sir Scrub. Sir Scrub has many names and many guises. He may appear at your table or your FNM. If you haven't met him, or have met him in a large tournament where you do not have to put up with him again, be grateful.

You can never outplay Sir Scrub. Ever. You can beat him, of course, but it's always due to luck. You drew better or he drew worse. He was mana screwed or mana flooded. You got a lucky cascade, he never did. Sir Scrub is cursed with terrible luck, but at least he plays with honor.

Sir Scrub is the guy who draws cards off the top when he loses and then says 'In 3 turns, I would have had you.' The fact that you made sure the game DIDN'T last longer than it had to doesn't seem to resonate with Sir Scrub. He still had all these in his deck, he just never drew them.

Do you recognise him? You probably do, and if not, it's a good thing, too.

You

The previous section seemed to make no sense. It offers no advice on winning, and just bashes people. I wrote that section to show you the opposite of what you should be.

You should not chalk matches up to luck. Sometimes you WERE mana-screwed or mana-flooded. But could you have prevented it? By saying that mana-screw cost you the game, you're saying that:

A) You fully randomised your deck.

B) You made the correct mulliganing decisions.

C) You played perfectly.

D) There was no way you could have psyched your opponent into thinking you had something to stop him doing what he did to win.

Only if all of these are true can you blame mana-screw or mana-flood, or any other luck-based occurence.

When you lose, be humble. How could you have performed better, played more tightly, anticipated your opponent's moves better? Was his lucky topdeck lucky or was he holding you off until he could draw it? Did you push him as hard as you could, or in control, did you defend and prioritise threats to the best of your ability?

You must trust your decisions and your deck. A classic example is mulliganing. Do you, after mulliganing, look at the top card to see if you would have drawn the card you need? Okay, so there WAS that third land off the top. Who cares? You still made the right decision. This is something I consciously stopped doing, since by doing so, I basically say 'I don't trust that I made the mathematically correct move.' You must trust your decisions after you make them.

You must do everything you can to win. If you need a certain card, did you aggressively mulligan to find it? Did you defend as best you could to attempt to draw the card? Did you overextend into your opponent's sweeper? These are things that could cost you the game, but can be hard to notice. A 5-land hand against your opponent's Black-Red deck in Zendikar draft can very well be suicide, even if it looks good against a slower deck. If you don't know what your opponent is playing, that's one thing, but Game 2 you should not make that mistake.

Did you do your research? You didn't know what to do in that situation. Perhaps you should have tested more.

Essentially, there are a thousand things that you probably could have done, but did not, that can contribute to your loss, a lot more than mere luck. If you're not trying your best in a situation, luck merely helped your opponent win, not sealed it for them.

Conclusion

A great deal of my blog and many other hands have written about how to improve your play skill at Magic, so I shall leave that to other articles and other hands. This is the mindset you MUST take into any serious tournament, and if you do not, you may as well not go. If you still disagree with me, as some of you probably will, my e-mail is once again www.salivanth@live.com. My Twitter account is mtgsalivanth. Feel free to argue as much as you like, but in the end, as I have come to realise: this is the mindset that counts when you want to win.

Bad Deck Baz Presents It's A Wonderful Life!

2009-11-29T05:06:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to the final installment of the Bad Deck Baz series. We've raced a 5/5 flying shrouded sphinx and out-milled a mill deck. Now let's see what we can do with It's A Wonderful Life!

It's a Wonderful Life!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

10 Plains

2 Forest

4 Sunpetal Grove

4 Kabira Crossroads

4 Graypelt Refuge

4 Battlegrace Angel

4 Mycoid Shepherd

4 Grazing Gladehart

2 Sunseed Nurturer

2 Mesa Enchantress

2 Lifelink

1 Landbind Ritual

3 Sylvan Bounty

3 Cradle of Vitality

4 Soul's Grace

2 Celestial Mantle

2 Sunspring Expedition

3 Angel's Mercy

Sideboard

3 Felidar Sovereign

3 Wall of Reverence

2 Captured Sunlight

4 Solemn Offering

3 Ajani Goldmane

As you can see here, Baz has definitely taken this lifegain theme to heart, with 73/75 cards gaining life, or having the potential to do so. Let's see how it goes.

Round 1: It's A Wonderful Life for Bant!

He gets Hierarch, Borderland Ranger, Ranger of Eos, Hierarch before I manage my first spell: a Sunseed Nurturer. I drop a Mesa Enchantress and Landbind Ritual, but I've already noticed a problem with this deck: without Wrath effects, the opponent can and will keep scaling up their threats until your lifegain can't keep up. He drops a Scute Mob and a Sphinx, and mows me down.

Game 2 is a near instant replay. Hierarch, Borderland Ranger, Dauntless Escort. I do put up some resistance this game. My Wall of Reverence meets a Path, my Gladehart has to chump, and my Ajani has no defenders. I get slammed again.

0-1

Round 2: It's A Wonderful Life for Grixis Control!

I drop Gladehart, and Mycoid Shepherd. The latter gets hit by Double Negative. I land a second, and he Quakes for 4. He Cruels me, and I Soul's Grace my last Shepherd in response. My hand and board are decimated, but I'm at 35 life. A Sphinx of Jwar Isle and a Siege-Gang Commander decimate that pretty fast though. I drop a Battlegrace Angel which meets a Terminate. He then kills me.

Game 2 I get stuck on 3 lands. Against a Siege-Gang Commander. I never find land 4. It isn't pretty.

0-2

Round 3: It's A Wondeful Life for Mono-White Lifegain! (no really!)

He gets Knight of the White Orchid, which my Gladehart is able to stem the wounds of. I drop Battlegrace and attack with my 3/3 lifelink Deer of Death. We keep going back and forth with two Knights vs. Battlegrace, and then I drop Cradle of Vitality. It meets Oblivion Ring. I drop another one, to make a 4/4 Gladehart thanks to Landfall. His Knight Trio slams me. (3 Knights of the White Orchid). He then drops an Elspeth and an Ajani. His Knights slay me, despite my 6/6 and growing Gladehart. I actually manage to drop an 11/11 Sunseed Nurturer and crack 60 life, but Elspeth's ultimate ensures my eventual defeat.

Game 2 I come out strong with Sunspring Expeditions. Ajani clashes with the Knight, and he drops Wall of Reverence. I drop Mycoid Shepherd, he drops Oblivion Ring on Ajani. He drops Emeria, the Sky Ruin. I drop Cradle, he names it with Pithing Needle. I Solemn Offering his O-Ring, but Baneslayer re-kills Ajani. I attack with the Shepherd, crack an Expedition, and make a 13/12. He says I can't do that, but I point out that Cradle's ability is triggered, not activated.

He plays another Wall and starts gaining 10 life a turn. He soon gets Emeria the Sky Ruin active. He gains a lot of life and casts Day of Judgement to kill my creatures which I can't bring back. However, I drop a Cradle of Vitality, Mycoid Shepherd, and Wall of Reverence. This combo allows me to make a very very large Wall, but his guys keep coming back so I can't attack without trample, which the deck does not have. I get 2 500+ P/T creatures and 850 life, but he finds his Felidar Sovereign before I find mine and the game is over.

0-3

Round 4: It's A Wonderful Life for Time Sieve!

Turn 4 I get a Mycoid Shepherd while he gets Kaleidostone and Howling Mine. He's wary of my one trick: gaining life to foil his attack. Therefore when he comboes off he makes sure he hits me for about 20 above my life total, and I fold.

Game 2 I get a Cradle and a Battlegrace. I also Solemn Offering his Howling Mine. In a long, boring game, he attacks for 13 with a Hulk, and I triple Soul's Grace, hoping he'll deck himself trying to deal 60 damage. Unfortunately, he does not.

0-4

And that ends the Bad Deck Baz series! With my stellar 2-10 record I now depart for greener pastures where I can go 3-1 once again. Join me next time as I explore a concept that is incredibly important to playing Magic competitively: even if you hate me for believing it.

Bad Deck Baz Presents Blisters On Your Fingers!

2009-11-26T05:24:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to the second of the Bad Deck Baz posts. Last time, we looked at IT'S A TRAP!, which I piloted to a 1-3 record: not too bad given the deck. Let's see if I can repeat myself with this deck: Blisters on Your Fingers.

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

14 Island

2 Swamp

4 Jwar Isle Refuge

4 Drowned Catacomb

4 Alluring Siren

4 Wall of Frost

4 Sphinx Ambassador

4 Cosi's Trickster

4 Gomazoa

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

3 Sadistic Sacrament

4 Telemin Performance

4 Polymorph

3 Haunting Echoes

Sideboard

1 Platinum Angel

3 Marsh Casualties

4 Kathari Remnant

3 Deny Reality

4 Flashfreeze

Blisters On Your Fingers is a shuffling-based deck, with cards like Polymorph, Haunting Echoes, Gomozoa, and Cosi's Trickster. The alternate aim is to win with a Sphinx Ambassador.

The deck also has a library exiling theme, where you get rid of the opponent's bad creatures to Telemin them, or their good creatures to Polymorph them.

Let's get to testing!

Round 1: Blisters on Creatureless Control's fingers!

I don't really know how to classify this control deck, but as a creatureless deck I was hoping for a random Telemin win.

Game 1 I play Alluring Siren and Gomozoa. I take a few points off him before he casts a Day of Judgment. I drop Sphinx Ambassador and he retaliates with Martial Coup. I drop another one. Next turn I swing. I reveal no creatures, but plenty of planeswalkers and controllish cards. He's on 8 life.

He uses Vengeant to keep my Sphinx tapped. I try to resist, but he gets me to 10, then a combination Ajani Helix and Earthquake for 7 clinches it for him.

0-1

Round 2: Blisters on WBR Midrange's Fingers!

Game 1 I play two Tricksters. He cracks an Armillary Sphere, and I start swinging. He drops Day of Judgment. He then drops Blightning, Sorin, and Siege-Gang, and slaughters me. At 1 life I drop a Polymorph to see a bit more of his deck.

Game 2 is rather anti-climactic. I get mana-screwed, he gets a Turn 5 Siege-Gang Commander. I never offer any real resistance.

0-2

Round 3: Blisters on White Weenie's Fingers!

I drop Trickster, he drops Knight of the White Orchid. I drop Gomozoa, he Paths it. He plays Conqueror's Pledge and Elspeth. He gets a quick win.

Game 2 he plays: Kazandu Blademaster, Knight of the White Orchid, Veteran Swordsmith. He then gets Behemoth Sledge and Elspeth. I Polymorph the Blademaster into an Armorsmith, and Telemin into a Captain of the Watch. I'm on 8 life, but he equips the Sledge to his Swordsmith, pumps it with Elspeth, and swings for 8 in the air :(

0-3

Round 4: Blisters on Jacerator's Fingers!

I drop two Cosi's Tricksters, he drops Howling Mine and Jace. I correctly figure he's playing Jacerator. I wait for him to tap most of his mana for a Font of Mythos, then I untap, cast Telemin Performance, and kill him in a single blow. Booyah.

Game 2 he drops an early Wall of Denial (Better than Baneslayer against Telemin). He drops Jace as well, and ramps it up. I play Telemin Performance, which gets Negated. He drops a Font, and I drop a Telemin Performance. He mills me for 20, but unfortunately he has less cards than me now and no answer in his deck. He loses the game to mill.

1-3 (Random win! Woot!)

And that ends Blisters On Your Fingers. Join me next time I get a post up (which might not be until Sunday, but hopefully is before that) for the results of It's A Wonderful Life!

See ya!

The Ten Commandments of Magic: The Gathering

2009-11-25T04:15:00.000-08:00

And then yay, Maro descended from the heavens, his hands bound by the tomes of prophecy, and he spake: These commandments are handed down to me by Richard Garfield, and they are to be obeyed, now and forever.

1. Magic is the first TCG, and the harbinger of all TCG's. Thou shalt claim no other trading card game came before me.
2. While thou shalt play other card games, thou shalt not claim any TCG be greater than Magic, whether it be Huntik or Yu-gi-oh, whether it be old or new, whether it be simple or complex, for I, the designer, am a jealous one, visiting the inquiry of thy peers upon the people who seek to betray me and not keep my commandments.
3. Thou shalt not blame the designer for any problem with which the designer is not at fault, for many hands make up Magic, and blame shalt be apportioned to the proper areas.
4. Remember the casual day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou test, and do all thy optimisation, but the seventh day IS the day of the casuals, in it thou shalt not attempt to theorycraft, nor grief thy table with combo decks, for in six days all thy testing may be concluded, and casual multiplayer shalt be joined on the seventh day, and should be hallowed.
5. Honour all of thy formats, that thy days be long exploring the infinite variety that is all of Magic.
6. Thou shalt not cheat.
7. Thou shalt not deck-hop every week.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy opponent.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's deck, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's topdecking, nor his playskill, nor his drafting, nor his building, nor his collection, nor any thing that IS thy neighbour's.

Yes, I did base these off the real 10 commandments. One of them (3) was forced to change a lot, whereas one (8) was able to not change at all.

Yes, this is a very strange idea.

No, I don't believe these commandments are actually what anyone from Magic thinks, and I don't believe all of them should be followed, and as in the real bible, there is room for interpretation in it.

Also, this was a complete joke, so don't take any of it as actual gospel. Unless someone breaks 6, 8, or 9. Then Richard Garfield compels you to stone them to death.

Happy gaming, fellow initiates!

Bad Deck Baz Presents IT'S A TRAP!

2009-11-24T04:42:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to the first of three Bad Deck Baz posts. Baz, also known as ThatDamnAussie from Twitter, has happily made three decks for me to play that are all, in their own way, terrible, but are also very interesting to play. I'm happy that he's been very creative in the theme rather than 40 5-7 drops and 20 lands and calling it a 'bad' deck.

The first deck, as featured in the previous post, is U/R Trap Control, or as Baz calls it:

IT'S A TRAP!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

9 Island

11 Mountain

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Goblin Artillery

3 Reckless Scholar

3 Runeflare Trap

2 Lethargy Trap

2 Mindbreak Trap

4 Lavaball Trap

2 Whiplash Trap

4 Inferno Trap

4 Trapmaker's Snare

2 Trapfinder's Trick

3 Burning Inquiry

2 Chandra Ablaze

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

Sideboard

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Jace Beleren

3 Font of Mythos

2 Pyromancer Ascension

1 Runeflare Trap

1 Burning Inquiry

1 Chandra Ablaze

1 Mindbreak Trap

This deck has a lot of cool interactions, and yet still manages to be outmatched. As I was quick to find out, Chandra or Runeflare Trap was my only hope of ever winning.

EVER.

Round 1: IT'S A TRAP for Boros Bushwhacker!

He curves out fast, Goblin Guide, 2 Geopedes and a Skyfisher. To match this armada, I have a Goblin Artillery, which is a bit like shooting yourself in the foot so someone else doesn't do it for you. I quickly fall to 7 life, then to 1. His creatures overwhelm me, though it's worth saying if I had another mana I could have played Lethargy Trap to live another turn.

Game 2 I Bolt his Steppe Lynx and drop an Artillery to match his Skyfisher. I kill 3 guys of his in one turn, blocking a Vanguard, shooting another, and Inferno Trapping the third (which he Paths to find a land). He drops some more guys, and I shoot them. He Paths my Artillery and starts pinging me with a Geopede. I hold on a bit longer, but he burns me out.

0-1

Round 2: IT'S A TRAP for Sigil of the Empty Throne.dec!

He drops Sunspring Expedition and Ardent Plea into Trace of Abundance. He gets a Sigil of the Empty Throne, I get Reckless Scholar. Numerous 4/4 angels beat a lone 2/1 looter. Who knew?

Game 2 he drops a Luminarch Ascension. I am literally unable to apply pressure, and am slaughtered in 4 minutes according to the time logs.

0-2

Round 3: IT'S A TRAP for Conley's Land Destruction!

Game 1 he plays a Turn 2 Lotus Cobra. I know this will not end well. He gains approximately seventeen thousand lands next turn, and kicks a Mold Shambler. Fortunately it's his third spell of the turn, so I tutor up a Mindbreak Trap to stop it. I get stuck on 3 land. He drops an Acidic Slime. I ask if he has any more LD, he reveals a second Mold Shambler, and I scoop it up.

Game 2 is a lot better. He drops double Khalni Heart to my nothing. His Ruinblasters do very little against my all-basic-and-fetch deck. He drops Lotus Cobra. I try to bolt it, and he sacrifices his Khalni Hearts. Four hours later, my Bolt resolves to kill his Cobra after he gets about five lands. He drops an Acidic Slime, and I Mindbreak Trap an Ob Nixilis. I use Inferno Traps and trades to take out his guys, and Snare into a Mindbreak Trap to take a Rampaging Baloths.

We have a back and forth until I run out of counters and removal. He then Violent Ultimatums me to 4 lands, then again next turn to 1 land. Yeah, that'll do it.

0-3

Round 4: IT'S A TRAP for Grixis Control!

The first game went by fast. He dropped a Turn 3 Blightning, Turn 4 Blightning, and Turn 6 Sphinx of Jwar Isle, a creature to which I literally have no answer except for double Lavaball Trap. (Yeah.) I do a pathetic attempt at racing, but the Sphinx crushes me.

Game 2 he gets Sedraxis Specter and Blightning. I scoop my brains back in and start to fight back. I drop the key to this whole match: Chandra. Unlike Jund or other Pulse-endowed decks, Grixis Control has no way to kill a planeswalker outside of combat damage. I make us both draw two, and he Bolts Chandra.

What was that I said earlier? I meant to say "Except for Lightning Bolt."

I do a killer Inquiry, discarding two lands and Whiplash Trap to his tri-land, Terminate, and Sphinx (yes!). He gets double unearth on Specters, I tutor up a Lethargy Trap and use it. I drop another Chandra to draw 3. I bolt his counterattacking Specter, and Inferno Trap when he unearths the Specter. He drops Vampire Nighthawk and I tutor for a trap to kill it with. I then drop Jace, empty my hand, draw three with Chandra, and draw with Jace.

I love planeswalkers.

He uses Blightning to take down Chandra. I start powering Jace up, noticing he only has about 25 cards in his deck by now. If I can mill him that's gg. I want to steal one game with this deck. He uses Magma Phoenix to drop Jace to 5. I'm forced to kill it, and Jace goes to 4. Sedraxis Specter drops him to 2, but all the card-draw has worked in a different way. I drop him from 16 to 9 with Runeflare Trap at EOT, then Reckless Scholar attacks, then Runeflare Trap him again for the win. Random!

Game 3 he gets Blightning, I get Reckless Scholar. The Scholar, like the Looter, actually just wins games if left unchecked: which people always do. Turn 6 he plays Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Remember him? That card I have no answer to? I changed my mind. I have one answer. RACE HIM. I declare in the chat that I will race that 5/5 flier and win.

I then drop Chandra Ablaze. Game on.

I get her to 6 counters to drop my opponent to 16. He hits me to 11 and drops a Nighthawk. I draw a card with the Scholar and EOT Bolt it. He uses Double Negative. I Snare for an Inferno Trap and use that to kill it in my turn. And by 'use it to kill it' I mean that I pitch it to Chandra for an identical effect. (7 counters). He drops Chandra to 2 counters with the Sphinx. I drop a Jace, drawing a card which I then pitch to take him down to 12 life.

He slaughters Jace with a single blow. I then pitch another card to Chandra. I'm looting all this time, which is the only reason I keep drawing red cards. He's on 8 life. He then makes a big misplay, by knocking me down to 6 and not killing Chandra. I guess he fears a lot of burn.

I then think for a moment. The card in my hand is Lightning Bolt. There's no point looting since it's the best card in my deck to hold at that moment. So instead, I throw it at his face and then go down to 2 with Chandra to draw three. I draw a Lightning Bolt and Inferno Trap. Oh yeah.

He then swings me to 1, and then plays Nighthawk and Magma Phoenix. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're ever in the position of having lethal damage next turn regardless of whether or not you kill a planeswalker this turn, kill it. Else you might just lose to a Baz deck :p

I drop him to 2 with bolt, untap, and pitch the Inferno Trap. GOOD. GAME.

1-3.

And that's IT'S A TRAP! in all it's glory. Join me next time as we preview Blisters on Your Fingers and try to get a certain Merfolk up to godly sizes.

See you!

Bad Deck Baz Presents...

2009-11-22T01:57:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. Jay here. Due to my very limited Internet time this weekend, I have asked ThatDamnAussie, a.k.a Baz to write a guest post about the three "bad decks" that he designed for my upcoming article series. I'll be playing each of these in a seperate post.

Now, without further ado, here's Baz to introduce the decks. Enjoy.

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G'day everyone, I am Baz, I'm also ThatDamnAussie on Twitter, BazD on MTGO and I guess now I'm also known as Bad Deck Baz. Jay put out a challenge on Twitter and as always I usually take his challenges and turn it up to eleven. I created a large number of Achievements that Jay used in a post around the time Zendikar came out.

Ironically, I'm a “limited” sort of player and I rarely delve into the realm of Constructed, unless I have an idea that makes me laugh. Thankfully, Jay provided me with all the inspiration I needed.

The Challenge:

Build a “bad deck” for Standard, and win games/matches with it.

Now, I took the phrase “bad deck” a little more literally than I believe Jay wanted me to, I actually built decks, that feature bad cards. As you'll see in these 3 decklists, sometimes a combo of bad cards can lead into something good. Although, I mostly just wanted Jay to suffer a whole lot.

First up, I'll introduce each deck Jay will be playing in his upcoming mini-series and I'll talk about some of the interactions I built into the deck and how I went about coming up with each of the deck ideas. Some are more interesting than others. I should inform you all that each deck was designed in a vacuum. None of these decks have been constructed purely for metagame reasons. Each one was built because they made me laugh.

IT'S A TRAP!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

9 Island

11 Mountain

4 Scalding Tarn

3 Goblin Artillery

3 Reckless Scholar

3 Runeflare Trap

2 Lethargy Trap

2 Mindbreak Trap

4 Lavaball Trap

2 Whiplash Trap

4 Inferno Trap

4 Trapmaker's Snare

2 Trapfinder's Trick

3 Burning Inquiry

2 Chandra Ablaze

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

Sideboard

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Jace Beleren

3 Font of Mythos

2 Pyromancer Ascension

1 Runeflare Trap

1 Burning Inquiry

1 Chandra Ablaze

1 Mindbreak Trap

IT'S A TRAP! is a very simple concept, a Blue/Red trap based

control deck. I was posting on Twitter about decking someone with Archive Trap and that made the AdmiralAckbar_ bot post “IT'S A TRAP!” This gave me the funny concept of a Trap based deck, especially in Standard. Jay's request for bad decks gave me the actual drive to build it.

Funny Interactions:

Inferno Trap doesn't care who owns the creatures that deal you damage. So you can Goblin Artillery yourself to complete half the requirements for a cheap Inferno Trap, it won't be a very efficient way to burn them out, but it's still worth a giggle for me. (Aside: most of the things I do are all about getting giggles).

Burning Inquiry makes your opponent draw 3 cards. Runeflare Trap gets cheaper if they've drawn 3 or more cards in a turn. I don't think I really need to spend lots of time explaining that interaction. I just think it's funny that it's in Standard.

Trapfinder's Trick with Chandra. Hey if you can't get those Traps out of your hand any other way, there's always forcing yourself to discard with Chandra. If you've got no traps, you can always use it as a 2 mana peek. Which I think is plenty bad enough.

Chandra on her own is still pretty hilarious in this deck. I mean seriously, you're firing out Runeflare Traps, Lavaball Traps, Inferno Traps (which targets things that get killed by the Lavaball Traps anyway). Not to mention you're casting an absolute truckload of Burning Inquiries, so not only are they drawing a load of cards, they probably won't have any lands left to cast them all with.

Other card choices:

Mindbreak Trap, Whiplash Trap, Lethargy Trap are all part of your Trapfinder's Snare tutor package.
Reckless Scholar in multiples is another way to force Runeflare Trap's trap cost. It's also a blocker.

With the sheer amount of graveyard action going on in this deck, being able to reload your deck while your opponent's graveyard is still filling up, adds a second “mill” win condition to the deck.

(Aside: I just realised the guts of this deck would make for a great Cerebral Vortex deck in Extended. Would probably improve it a whole lot.)

Sideboard Choices:

(Now, the sideboard doesn't have to constrain to the “bad deck” principle, which allows me to run some good cards.)

Lightning Bolt, Jace Beleren – I have to allow Jay some good cards don't I?

Font of Mythos – Hey, it turns on Runeflare Trap every one of your opponent's turn doesn't it?

Pyromancer Ascension – What the hell, it will randomly turn on some matches, not to mention its funny as hell to be Forking cards like Burning Inquiry.

The remaining cards are singletons just to fill up the numbers for certain matches while taking out useless cards.

Blisters on your Fingers

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

14 Island

2 Swamp

4 Jwar Isle Refuge

4 Drowned Catacomb

4 Alluring Siren

4 Wall of Frost

4 Sphinx Ambassador

4 Cosi's Trickster

4 Gomazoa

2 Quest for Ancient Secrets

3 Sadistic Sacrament

4 Telemin Performance

4 Polymorph

3 Haunting Echoes

Sideboard

1 Platinum Angel

3 Marsh Casualties

4 Kathari Remnant

3 Deny Reality

4 Flashfreeze

I don't think I really need to explain the key concept of the deck, beyond it's not as fun on Magic Online as it is in person. Forcing your opponent to just keep on shuffling their deck while your Cosi's Trickster just keeps getting bigger.

Key interactions:

Alluring Siren gets an absolute workout in this deck. Forcing them to attack into Wall of Frost or Gomazoa. Gomazoa is the preferred choice since that makes them shuffle up for the Trickster.

Sadistic Sacrament with Polymorph and Telemin Performance. Remove either the good stuff for when you Polymorph them, or remove the bad stuff for when you Telemin Performance them. Of course you can do the extreme route and kick Sadistic and remove every creature then you have a Blue “Doom Blade” or “Deck them” spell.

Quest for Ancient Secrets: Hey, can't complain with a jump through hoops card just to put a counter on Cosi's Trickster. Not to mention I'm a sucker for freaking out people who play a turn 1 Hedron Crab.

Sphinx Ambassador is a hilarious finisher. Sadistic lets you rummage through their deck to take notes on every creature in their deck so you always can think of the perfect card to name with the Ambassador ability.

The Sideboard isn't really worth mentioning.

It's a Wonderful Life!

A “Bad Deck Baz” Deck

10 Plains

2 Forest

4 Sunpetal Grove

4 Kabira Crossroads

4 Graypelt Refuge

4 Battlegrace Angel

4 Mycoid Shepherd

4 Grazing Gladehart

2 Sunseed Nurturer

2 Mesa Enchantress

2 Lifelink

1 Landbind Ritual

3 Sylvan Bounty

3 Cradle of Vitality

4 Soul's Grace

2 Celestial Mantle

2 Sunspring Expedition

3 Angel's Mercy

Sideboard

3 Felidar Sovereign

3 Wall of Reverence

2 Captured Sunlight

4 Solemn Offering

3 Ajani Goldmane

So some people complain I don't commit to an idea strongly enough. I'll have an idea that eventually I'll spin off in another direction and the original concept gets diluted. I took an original idea that made me laugh, and then made it. Not to mention I actually strained the concept. Besides the lands, only 2 cards in the deck and sideboard don't actually gain life.

The original concept: “Cradle of Vitality deck, with Felidar Sovereign in the sideboard” I had a chuckle when I thought of it. Probably doesn't seem as funny now that I've explained but people tell me I have a strange sense of humour.

As far as my Bad Deck Baz decks go, this one is probably the most linear and doesn't actually have any sort of strange, deep interactions like my other decks. It mostly just sits there and gains life while Cradle of Vitality is in play. I try and get the most bang for my buck so cards like Sunspring Expedition get featured (although now that Worlds is on, Sunspring Expedition isn't actually a bad card anymore) as a way to put 8 +1/+1 counters on a useless dude for 2 mana.

So there you have it, 3 bad decks to torture Jay with. I'm providing you, the audience, with your revenge on Jay for not keeping up to date with posts.

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I guess I sort of deserved that last quip.

See you next time!

Side Projects

2009-11-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a couple of side projects at the moment, so I'm going to be taking a break from posting for a few days. I should resume posting on Monday or Tuesday, but at the moment I'm in the initial phase of a couple of projects and the initial phase always takes the most work, so yeah.

Sorry for the wait, and I'll see you soon. I'll try to arrange some guest posts to fill the gap.

Seriously though, I'm glad that I have great readers like you guys. I'm sure you'll understand if I want to take a few days off every now and then. If I'm not back posting by Tuesday you can officially license a mafia intervention on me.

Peace,

Salivanth

Letting Your Proteges Go - Part 2

2009-11-18T04:55:00.000-08:00

Last time we covered my Magic story. It lasted longer than I thought it would so I split the post into two. Here's the second part.

After I was starting to get a new handle on the game, a pair of kids showed up: Matthew and Sarah. (I won't release last names for privacy reasons). Now, these were good kids. They were eager to learn and play. They only had two flaws:

A) Matthew was very, very irritating.
B) They both sucked.

So I set out to remedy B. I decided to teach the kids to play some good Magic. (Though I never talked Sarah out of that U/B Faeries deck...(This was a casual Faeries deck, not the Cryptic Command - Bitterblossom - Mistbind Clique concoction. It had Pestermites and Faerie Harbingers)).

Ironically, Matthew seemed more receptive. I came to the conclusion that he was a lot like me: he was young, and didn't KNOW when he was driving people up the wall. I gradually moved the kids up to Limited, I helped them with decks, I built their manabases in drafts every week. I took them under my wing.

And as karmic justice, guess what happened? I became a better player. Turns out when you have to explain how to build a sealed deck, you get a bit better at it. Same with many other concepts, like card advantage, life as a resource (Or, How To Not Chump Block a 3/3 at 18 Life 101) and drafting.

They got better. Matthew especially built new decks and got better at building them. He took my advice. Five-Color? Need less colors with that manabase. Bant? A bit too top-heavy and not consistent enough. Treefolk? Not bad. (It was able to beat my aggro decks a decent amount). Then before Zendikar came out he asked me to build him Mono-Black Control. All of a sudden he could beat me. His recent deck, Naya Cascade, is tough for me to beat. (I built that too). I wouldn't want to face that kid in a tournament with stuff on the line as much as I would have before.

As for Sarah, she improved her play but didn't change her deck. This kept her skill capped. But what happened when Zendikar came out? She built, with my tutelage, a Mono-White Emeria deck, and shot up. Both of them are now only a little below me.

And then there was Max. The third kid who only showed a few months ago. He really is a mini-me. He played the same class and race as me in World of Warcraft, he built a Jund deck like I did, and he even looks like me. I'm looking forward to sculpting him into a good player, once he learns what decks are possible and which are not.

It's time for me to let Matthew and Sarah find their own paths. I'll probably help Matt with his decks now and then, but I've taught them nearly as much as I can. I've still got Max, and I hope I keep having kids to teach. It's deeply rewarding, and makes you a better player. You can learn something from everybody.

From Sarah, I learnt to stick to a strategy. She played a deck for two years, and always drafts the same deck. She's so notorious for forcing it that nobody near her drafts it since they know she'll never quit. (Mono-White in Zendikar).

From Matt I learnt adaptability. I learnt that sometimes it's not bad cards, but bad decks. I also learnt the importance of trying different archetypes.

And from Max? I'm still looking forward to the lessons he has to teach, but he's looking like he'll end up a formidable player.

And this is my story, and some of the lessons I've learnt. I hope you find it informative.

Tomorrow, the Twitter community's best worst deck concept will be featured on this blog. I'll build it, test it, and probably fail miserably, but you learn a lot from failure.

Enjoy! See you tomorrow!

Letting Your Proteges Go - Part 2

2009-11-17T06:57:00.001-08:00

This post will be up sometime in the next 24 hours. Sorry for the delay!

Miniseries Series 1: W/U Control Part 3

2009-11-13T06:55:00.000-08:00

And we return to the final part of our W/U Control series. We've gone over the theory, we've designed the deck, now let's put it to the test.

The only change I made in the deck to test with was to take out a Plains and add an Island.

Now let's test.

Round 1 vs. Dark Naya

We go back and forth killing each other's creatures for a while. He then gets double Baneslayer and I get double Wall of Denial and my own Baneslayer. He gains a lot of life and I let him, since I aim to defeat him via decking him after he gets to about 50 life.

He eventually plays Day of Judgement, and gets a bunch of cards out which I kill. Finally, he gets Enlisted Wurm into Baneslayer and I can't find an answer. He beats me with 8 cards left in his library.

Game 2 I get a Luminarch, he gets a Pulse. I get a Wall, he uses DoJ. He plays 2 Baneslayers, I play 2 DoJs (he only plays one at a time). I play my own Baneslayer, which he O-Rings. I get another and get him down to 4 before he gets rid of it. I remark that that ended the chance of a quick game. I play most of my hand, then Mind Spring for 8. With this avalanche of cards I get a Luminarch and protect it until it comes online. I win shortly after.

Game 3 I get two Baneslayers, he O-Rings both, he gets two Bloodbraids, I kill them both. I go into control mode, killing or countering all his cards. I get a couple of Mind Springs though (that card is friggin insane) but he's able to kill my finishers, so I use another. Once again I use this avalanche of cards to protect a Luminarch, and win. Turns out the ability to draw 7 cards and make 4/4 fliers for 1W is good. Who knew?

1-0

Round 2 vs. Four-Color LD

He's playing a deck with Ruinblasters, Mold Shambler, Acidic Slime, Convincing Mirage and Spreading Seas, with Violent Ultimatum in the mix. I get a Baneslayer, which he Terminates, and then he manages to get two Slimes and a Ruinblaster and keep me manascrewed enough to never be able to win the game. He beats me to death.

Game 2 I drop a Turn 2 Luminarch Ascension and a Turn 3 Wall of Denial. I win that game in about four minutes.

Game 3 I get another Luminarch Turn 2, and this time he puts up more of a fight. He Bolts me to try and stop it, and when it does get online he Terminates the first angel and goes for a Violent Ultimatum, but I have the Flashfreeze and manage to kill him.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Emeria Recursion

He's playing a deck with Empyrial Archangel, Baneslayer, and Emeria, the Sky Ruin. No prizes for guessing his plan.

Game 1 is really anticlimactic. I get several cards off a Jace, he gets stuck on 2 lands all game. When I drop a Turn 6 Sphinx of Jwar Isle, he concedes on the spot.

Game 2 I get a Jace and he gets a bunch of lands. I Path a Baneslayer and play my own. He plays Empyrial Archangel. Trumping a Baneslayer is hard to do, but he did. I play a second Baneslayer to stop him attacking. I Flashfreeze a second Archangel. I drop Wall of Denial, he drops Baneslayer. He goes for Martial Coup for about 12, and I Negate. Very anti-climactic.

Very little happens for about 15 minutes. Eventually he gets a Day of Judgement off with TRIPLE Emeria out. I drop Baneslayer and Wall of Denial that I'd been sandbagging, and I use my Journey on a Baneslayer. He plays Martial Coup for 16. It was a LONG GAME. I then Mind Spring for 6 and draw a Day, which I saved 4 mana to use. I use it. I get Jace to 10 counters, but he gets killed. If I'd gotten him off I would have won right there.

I eventually get him down to 1 card in his library facing down lethal. I dig through almost all of my deck with Mind Spring and am lucky enough to find my final Day, which I do. I use Jace to bring him to 0 cards, and he loses the match.

3-0

Round 4 vs. White Weenie

He drops Akrasan Squire and Kazandu Blademaster. He gets me to about 10 before I draw a Day. I drop Wall of Denial. He drops Conqueror's Pledge. He gets me to 3, and then I topdeck a Day. He drops Gargoyle Castle, I kick a Sphinx of Lost Truths. We each Path each other's creature. He gets Honor of the Pure. I get Baneslayer, he plays Conqueror's Pledge. I unload my hand: Path to Exile, Journey to Nowhere, Sphinx of Jwar Isle, to allow me to survive. He plays Brave the Elements and that is that.

Game 2 I side out my Purges and Flashfreezes for the first time all day. He gets double Vanguard and an Honor of the Pure. I get Wall of Denial. He Paths my Baneslayer and plays Veteran Swordsmith. I dig for an answer, fail to find one, and die.

3-1

So in the end, I've found that even my rough version of W/U Control did pretty well: though I never tested it against Jund I did test it against several powerful decks with Cascade and was able to hold my own. The Flashfreezes main turned out quite well: I only sided them out once and usually sided the two in the board into the main. If I was to remake the deck, I don't know what I'd do at this stage.

That's the end of the series, but I do have a couple of announcements.

Firstly, I will pick the topic of my next miniseries, whenever I choose to make it.

Secondly, I'll be doing a couple of fun articles that you guys can have a part in soon. Details will be on Twitter. My username is mtgsalivanth, and I often release things there first, so please follow me!

Until next time, may you design and test your decks with pride.

Letting Your Proteges Go - Part 1

2009-11-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

One thing I had a lot of in my old personal development blog was, well, personal things. I don't want to do too much of that with this blog, but I do have a Magic story to tell, so I figured, why not?

Have you ever taught a player to play Magic?

What about taught a bad player to become better?

This story will first cover my journey to here, and then it'll cover the journey of my proteges.

A couple of years ago, I entered Mega Games Trader for the first time. I'd heard that they had an Arena tournament there (whatever THAT was). The friend who invited me actually never showed, and I then proceeded to be told the following by the store owner:

See those guys out there? They've forgotten more about Magic than you ever knew. Listen to them. Learn from them.

Of course I thought I knew strategy. Here was my entire bevy of knowledge about strategic thinking.

Build your decks to be 60 cards
Have 4 of each of your key cards
Instants should be played on your opponent's turn. I...think...

No card advantage, deck matchups, sideboarding (what's a SIDEBOARD?) or anything that I now take for granted. My first deck was a Saproling Overrun deck. Mono-green, no removal whatsoever except a single Wear Away which was part of the snake deck I started with.

It sucked. I went 2-2 at Arena though, because other people sucked just as much as me.

Then, the best thing that would ever happen to me, happened. The thing that would sculpt me into a competitive player, the thing that rocketed me into FNM and into competition.

What was it? A staggering insight? An awesome mentor?

Well, actually, I lost my deck.

Because I lost my crappy Saproling deck, I had to build another deck, and I figured "Why not make it Standard legal?"

At this point, all I knew of Standard and Extended was that Standard was Time Spiral, Lorwyn, and Tenth Edition, and FNM was Standard. My deck was Extended. Whatever that meant.

So from the little I'd heard about Lorwyn I decided to make a Kithkin deck, since I figured it'd be budget.

4 Goldmeadow Stalwart, 4 Wizened Cenn, 4 Knight of Meadowgrain, 4 Cloudgoat Ranger made up the core of my deck. I can't remember what else I had, but I do remember it was a deck I played for months.

It rocked. I tore through Arena. And then, next week, I showed up and there was nobody there, so Manuel said he'd put me in FNM and see how I fared.

I came 3rd. I went 3-1. Of course, the competition at my store was FAR, FAR less at this point, but I didn't know that. I was on top of the world. Two months later, I won my first FNM.

Two months later, I tanked at Regionals. In fact, I got a disqualification for insufficient randomization. See, the store owner knew I wasn't good enough at shuffling so he told me to manaweave before each round started: but then I didn't shuffle it as well as he'd hoped: I only cut the deck, albeit numerous times. The end result was that when my deck got taken away (for a random deck check or someone reported it was shady, I'll never know) it was found that my deck had a near perfect land-creature distribution. I said I understood.

It was the worst day in my Magic career. Ever. I vowed to stick to FNM from then on. The months went by. I continued to do well. I even won again. And then, OMG showed up.

Team OMG (originally standing for Omega Games) were pros. They came with netdecks. They came with tech. They creamed us all. Ben was the first to rise up, but the rest of us were slow to follow. As for me, I maintained my 'netdecks are evil' policy for quite some time. I did, however, start to study the metagame in depth. I learnt about Faeries, about Quick 'n' Toast when it first came out, about Reveillark, about Red Deck Wins.

I fell in love with Red Deck Wins. It was like Kithkin, but it had removal! And it WINS! I built it, and won once with it. OMG weren't there. Then things got really tough.

Other people started netdecking. They built good decks. I was not to win another FNM for a year.

I built a red shaman deck next. It had Rage Forger, Incandescent Soulstoke, and lots of one-drop and two-drop elementals. It was frighteningly fast, but it DIED to a Wrath of God. I remember winning a game on Turn 4...through a Pro-Red creature. The problem was it didn't even have burn. It had 32 creatures and 4 Shared Animosity. This was a 50c rare that nobody knew about til I bought it.

Creatures I controlled got +1/+0 for each other attacking creature. It was amazing. I built the deck to power out 3-4 elementals by Turn 3, then drop Rage Forgers or Shared Animosity for the win. It did pretty well. Except against OMG.

Alara Reborn came out. By now I knew about aggro and control and combo, and I had some idea of my own inadequacy as a player. So I played aggro. I built a R/G deck with Giantbaiting, Bloodbraid Elf, Hellsparks, and Boggart Ram-Gang. Essentially, every card could go to the face (which was pretty nuts with Bloodbraid Elf). Shame I couldn't cascade into Flame Javelin.

Then I opened 3 Pulses over 3 weeks. These were chase rares, and I knew this, having gone ape about the card when it was previewed. I decided then and there to build a Jund deck. Next week, I asked my teammate Jeremy if he had a Jund deck I could use. He then took a deck out of his bag, and told me it was Five-Color Blood, which was similar.

I didn't see the point of splashing UUU for one card. The world soon followed suit. I took out the Cryptics and Cruels, and added in more aggro. It did great. I loved it.

Then Jeremy lost the deck. I went back to playing R/G Aggro while I collected the cards for Jund. Shortly before M10 came out, I managed it.

I got better at Jund, learnt it, added Bolts to it...and then made this blog. I wrote a lot about Jund in my early days. Everything went great.

When Zendikar rolled out, I went with the punches. I'd finally gone full-circle. Lorwyn was gone, I'd now been around for the release of all of Standard. I won again, two weeks ago. OMG weren't there, but I triumphed over some great players.

Jund is everywhere now. As is Soldiers, Vampires, and control builds. As I look around the room every Saturday, I realise it took me 18 months to catch up to the level I used to be at: but now I'm 20 times better at the game. I owe OMG more than I ever could have fathomed. And the store owner, Manuel, was right. I had no idea of how much I had to learn. Now, as a player, I realise how far I still have to go.

But that's Magic for you: the game of a lifetime.

Next bonus post, I'll talk about three kids who I decided to mentor, and how their stories have affected me, and made me into the player, and person, I am today.

Miniseries Series 1: W/U Control Part 2

2009-11-11T05:10:00.000-08:00

Hi guys, and welcome back to the W/U Control Miniseries. Last week we discussed the theory of W/U Control. Today we're going to do a slight amount of theory, and then move into deckbuilding.

What are the four aspects that make up any blue-based control deck?

The answer is:

Card advantage, removal, finishers, and countermagic.

We're going to need all of these in our deck, so we're going to run through it element by element, discussing the different cards that might be good for each. Then, afterwards, we'll work out how many of each type we want, and then finally build the deck.

Card Advantage

Ior Ruin Expedition: This card from Zendikar is essentially a time-delayed 2-mana 2-card spell. The problem is, it's a terrible topdeck.Worth considering if there's a lack of other good options.

Jace Beleren: The best card advantage spell in Standard right now, by far.

Elspeth, Knight Errant: While it doesn't actually give us cards, it gives us fractions of a card every turn and stymies the opponent's attempts to kill her.

Divination: Unplayable.

Hindering Light: We won't be playing many creatures, so this card isn't really worth it.

Mind Spring: We absolutely need 2-3 of these in here. They can pull a game in your favor instantly.

Removal

Path to Exile: Absolutely. Best removal in the format, and an automatic 4-of.

Journey to Nowhere: Also good, takes care of most creatures permanently. It also doesn't trigger Cascade if it's broken, since the spell isn't being played. Add to the fact that Pulse costs more than it, and we have a good card.

Celestial Purge: Most decks nowadays with White are maindecking a couple of these, and I'm going to follow suit.

Oblivion Ring: Probably more of a sideboard card.

Finishers

Baneslayer Angel: Best creature in Standard, and the first choice for finisher.

Sphinx of Jwar Isle: A good choice, and can certainly close the game away.

Sphinx of Lost Truths: Card advantage, flying, and a beefy toughness. What's not to love?

Conqueror's Pledge: Not really playing to it's strengths in this kind of deck.

Countermagic

Flashfreeze: This card has targets against virtually all decks in the metagame right now. I think I'll try two.

Essence Scatter + Negate: Both good, situational, 2-mana counters. I think they make the cut: most decks in Standard have a nice balance between creatures and spells. Negate is slightly better though since it gets rid of cards that can't be stopped in other ways.

Offering to Asha: Too expensive.

Cancel: Also too expensive.

Mindbreak Trap: Essentially Double Negative, this card might be worth a sideboard option.

Other:

Day of Judgement: A hybrid of removal and card advantage. We'll want to play four.

Wall of Denial: Excellent for holding off big creatures. Hard to kill except with Gatekeeper.

Now we go on to the deckbuilding phase.

First we're going to want about 25 lands in this kind of deck, so that leaves us with 35 cards.

In today's Standard, I think we'll want about 6-7 finishers. Today's Control can't stall the game forever, so we want to stall it long enough to play our big cards.

IN: 4 Baneslayer Angel

4 of the finishers simply have to be Baneslayer. Baneslayer is that good.

IN: 2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
IN: 1 Sphinx of Lost Truths

I'm going to go with 7 finishers, and I'd like to have a 2-1 ratio since I think Jwar is better, but I'm not entirely sure.

28 slots remaining.

We'll now go with removal. I'd say we'd want about 10-12 pieces of removal, including Day of Judgement.

IN: 4 Day of Judgement
IN: 4 Path to Exile

Path and Day are both very good cards, and should be featured. Next, we'll want to add a couple of purges:

IN: 2 Celestial Purge

I'm going to leave the last piece of removal open, since I'm not sure how many I'll want. I'm going to base that on how many other cards I add to the deck.

18 slots left.

Now on to card advantage. We're going to want 3 Jaces, no question. 4 is too many, since you can only have one out. The fourth should go in the side.

IN: 3 Jace Beleren

We'll then want a couple of Mind Springs:

IN: 2 Mind Spring

And lastly, we want about 2-3 other card-advantage providers. The question is, what?

IN: 1 Mind Spring
IN: 1 Ior Ruin Expedition

Mind Spring is better than Ior Ruin, but 4 is too many, so I'll add one.

11 slots remaining.

That leaves us with 9-10 slots for Wall of Denial and countermagic. Based on that, I think we'll want about 6 counterspells. I don't like Essence Scatter since we'll have so many anti-creature cards, so:

IN: 4 Negate
IN: 2 Flashfreeze

Now we have 5 slots left. I think we'll want 4 Walls, since almost every deck plays quite a lot of creatures nowadays.

IN: 4 Wall of Denial

Which leaves us with our last card:

IN: 1 Journey to Nowhere

So let's look at the deck we have.

Lands (25)

2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Glacial Fortress
8 Island
7 Plains
4 Sejiri Refuge

Creatures (11)

4 Baneslayer Angel
2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle
1 Sphinx of Lost Truths
4 Wall of Denial

Spells (24)

2 Celestial Purge
4 Day of Judgement
2 Flashfreeze
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
3 Jace Beleren
1 Journey to Nowhere
3 Mind Spring
4 Negate
4 Path to Exile

Now, we'll need a sideboard.

My first step in a sideboard is adding extra copies of cards in the main that aren't 4-of's, and are situational.

IN: 1 Jace Beleren
IN: 1 Mind Spring
IN: 2 Celestial Purge
IN: 2 Flashfreeze

Next, we'll want some anti-Jund cards, since Jund is just dynamite at the moment. We have Celestial Purge and Flashfreeze, so we don't need too much.

IN: 3 Devout Lightcaster

Now some anti-control:

IN: 3 Luminarch Ascension

Which leaves us with three slots to go. For this, I'd like to use a catch-all Oblivion Ring.

IN: 3 Oblivion Ring.

So here's the final list:

Lands (25)

4 Glacial Fortress

9 Island

8 Plains

4 Sejiri Refuge

Creatures (11)

4 Baneslayer Angel

2 Sphinx of Jwar Isle

1 Sphinx of Lost Truths

4 Wall of Denial

Spells (24)

2 Celestial Purge

4 Day of Judgement

2 Flashfreeze

1 Ior Ruin Expedition

3 Jace Beleren

1 Journey to Nowhere

3 Mind Spring

4 Negate

4 Path to Exile

Sideboard (15)

2 Celestial Purge

3 Devout Lightcaster

2 Flashfreeze

1 Jace Beleren

3 Luminarch Ascension

1 Mind Spring

3 Oblivion Ring

And here's our (probably horrible) W/U Control list. I'll test it out tomorrow, and give you my thoughts! See you for the finale!

Playing The Best Deck

2009-11-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been noticing something. For the first time in my (short) competitive Magic career, I have been playing The Best Deck. Everyone knows what the best deck is right now. It's Jund. Jund has power, consistency, and cascade (into power). It has a wide variety of angles, it can attack from aggro and control. Essentially, I'm in love. Jund does have a few weaknesses, like Baneslayer Angel, but lately decks have been playing 2x Terminate main, something which I'll probably have to do.

This is something I partially lucked into. When Faeries and Five-Color were the best decks, I didn't play them since I didn't have the cards or the skill to do so. When ALA came out, and Jund rose up to a borderline Tier-1 strategy, I realised that after the rotation it would survive intact. So I decided to get good at it now. I started playing Jund before M10 came out.

But never, never did I imagine I would end up playing The Best Deck. Everyone said, even me, that once control shapes up, Jund isn't that good anymore: but it is. It has card advantage, card quality, and powerful explosive starts. Essentially it shares the traits of Faeries.

Faeries is a control deck that can go aggro at a moment's notice. Jund is an aggro deck that can go control at a moment's notice. Both have card advantage. Bloodbraid Elf vs. Cryptic Command. Both have strong beasts: Mistbind Clique vs. Broodmate Dragon. And in both decks, the mirror is the most important to side against.

I am running eight sideboard cards in my sideboard this week to combat Jund. 4 Deathmark, 4 Goblin Ruinblaster. Why? Because just about every time I actually lose a match, it's to Jund.

It's a weird experience, to be honest. Everyone was talking about the evil Fae menace last year, and I stuck by that it was a good deck and perfectly legitimate, but beatable. Now? I'm playing that deck. People everywhere are talking about beating Jund, about how they can't beat Jund, about how they're sick of Jund: and I realise I'm playing That Deck.

Now, I'm a competitive player, and for any competitive player right now, I recommend you check your schedule and make sure it's blank for the next two hours, since there's a link I'm going to provide that you must, repeat, MUST read in order to cultivate the mindset of a competitive player.

So I don't see anything inherently wrong with playing the best deck apart from the sideboard hate it's likely to receive. I had a white deck last week sideboard 15 cards in against me. So is it time to give up Jund? I think not. Jund is a powerful machine, and it's got a long way to go before it's pushed out when Alara rotates. Part of me thinks Jund isn't going anywhere: and so I'll be playing the deck.

Why? Because I'm skilled at it. Because I have the cards. Because I love the deck. But mostly? I like playing the best deck. And Jund, without a doubt, is.

EDIT: Like an absolute dumbass, I forgot the link. Here it is:

http://www.sirlin.net/ptw

Read it all. You might disagree with a lot of the concepts. I did. It actually took me about a year to come to accept it as the cold hard truth. It's a very good use of your time.

Miniseries Series 1: W/U Control Part 1

2009-11-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first installment of the Miniseries Series. The topic for this miniseries will be W/U Control. We'll be studying what makes it tick, then make and test a deck based on the concept. So let's get into the theory of W/U Control, shall we?

The Foundations

Control is a form of Magic deck that focuses on stopping any card the opponent plays, and then using a big finisher to seal things up. It's the exact opposite of Aggro, which aims to win before the deck sets up. Control isn't too powerful these days thanks to Cascade and it's barrage of card advantage, but it's worth a try anyway.

The reason W/U Control is popular is because blue has card advantage and counterspells while White can deal with all kinds of permanent except lands. Essentially it makes for a combination that's consistent and has very few holes.

Analysing Past W/U Control Decks

Arguably the most famous W/U control deck is a deck made by Zvi Mowshowitz, known as The Solution. In an aggro-filled metagame, he metagamed perfectly to come up with the following control deck that decimated the field.

60 cards
4 Coastal Tower 10 Island 10 Plains 24 lands 4 Crimson Acolyte 4 Galina's Knight 4 Meddling Mage 4 Stormscape Apprentice 4 Voice of All 20 creatures	4 Absorb 4 Exclude 4 Fact or Fiction 4 Repulse 16 other spells

Sideboard

2  Aura Blast
3  Crusading Knight
4  Disrupt
3  Gainsay
3  Pure Reflection

15 sideboard cards

So what can we learn from this?

The Metagamed Cards: Crimson Acolyte and Galina's Knight were certainly there for a very specific solution. The key here is that sometimes the metagame allows for such things.

Modern Application: Celestial Purge. Most Standard decks run targets for this card and some decks now run 2 maindeck.

The Cantrips: Exclude and Repulse were certainly there for a reason. The ability to stop something the opponent played and draw a card was excellent, even if it only stopped it temporarily. The deck could then draw into more answers.

Modern Application: There actually aren't that many good cantrips in Standard at the moment, so we need to gain card advantage through our spells, like Day of Judgement.

Fact or Fiction: One of the best cards ever in Standard, this card is a machine.

Modern Application: Mind Spring. With enough mana, this card can totally turn a game around.

The one thing this deck did NOT have was a big finisher: but against a field where the best decks all ran red, it was only a matter of time before Zvi's protection creatures made it through.

Lessons Learnt: A control deck should have answers, card advantage, and a way to close the game. It should have a way to gain tempo and gain incremental advantage over the opponent. The metagame is also important. In a more balanced metagame this deck might not do so well (though aggro decks were weaker back then).

The next deck we shall look at is an Extended deck: W/U Urzatron. This is also a more current deck, legal and active in Extended just a few months ago.

Maindeck:

Artifacts
4 Azorius Signet
2 Chalice Of The Void
2 Chrome Mox
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt

Artifact Creatures
2 Sundering Titan

Creatures
3 Exalted Angel
4 Meddling Mage

Instants
3 Condescend
3 Fact Or Fiction (Restricted in Vintage)
4 Thirst For Knowledge

Sorceries
2 Decree Of Justice
4 Wrath Of God

Lands
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Skycloud Expanse
4 Tolaria West
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower

Legendary Lands
1 Academy Ruins

Sideboard:
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 Leyline Of The Void
3 Threads Of Disloyalty
3 Disenchant
2 Mindslaver
1 Academy Ruins

So what do we have here?

The Urzatron lands are the biggest thing. Rather than gain incremental card advantage, this deck seeks a Spell Burst lock: able to generate enough mana to continue to buy back Spell Burst repeatedly and stop the opponent from ever doing anything.

Modern Application: Standard doesn't really have a hard lock at the moment, unfortunately.

Big Spells: This deck operates under a paradigm that we have to in the new Standard: If you tap out, it doesn't matter if what you play is more powerful than whatever the opponent will play. Decree of Justice was usually Cycled, but Sundering Titan and Wrath of God fell under these categories.

Modern Application: Baneslayer Angel. Sphinx of Jwar Isle...they both operate under the tap-out theory.

Card Advantage: The deck ran lots of instant-speed card advantage: one of the reasons Control is fading today.

Modern Application: None

Lastly, we shall look at another Standard deck.

Threats
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Keiga, the Tide Star
1 Debtor’s Knell
3 Jötun Grunt

Card Drawing
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Telling Time

General Control
3 Counterbalance
4 Sensei's Divining Top
4 Hinder
3 Rewind

Control vs Aggro
4 Wrath of God
3 Cover of Winter
3 Condemn

Land
4 Scrying Sheets
4 Boreal Shelf
4 Hallowed Fountain
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Snow-Covered Plains
6 Snow-Covered Island

Sideboard
3 Jester’s Cap
3 Pithing Needle
3 Jester’s Scepter
3 Evacuation
1 Jötun Grunt
2 Mouth of Ronom

This deck is from 2006's Standard. It features so many powerful cards that there's little wonder that it was so powerful.

Counterbalance: Naturally, this is so degenerate that it's even in Legacy (though in a format where few spells surpass 3 mana it is more powerful) and in Standard is just amazing. This is of course combined with Sensei's Divining Top which allowed a lot of free counterspells.

Modern Application: Unfortunately none.

Big Finishers: Keiga and Yosei were both great cards. They operated under the tap-out theory mentioned earlier. If your turn is better than their turn, you can tap out.

Cover of Winter: This card essentially stops all aggressive moves until you have complete control of the game. It was an amazing card. It truly is very very strong.

Modern Application: Luminarch Ascension. If you can get this to activate, you essentially win.

Gifts Ungiven: The card that made so many decks tick. You essentially got two of the four best spells in your deck. Absolute gold.

Modern Application: None.

So what have we learnt from our analysis?

We've learnt that control decks need either card advantage or card quality advantage to win.

We've learnt that control decks usually establish incremental advantages before taking complete control.

We've learnt that control decks can take as much time as they like to kill you.

So join me tomorrow as we build a W/U Control deck from scratch in Standard, and then Thursday we'll see how it fares!

Editor's Note: Due to the miniseries' schedule, Fetch A Shockland will be going up on Friday, not Thursday.

See you tomorrow!

Announcing The Miniseries Series!

2009-11-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

Greetings one and all, to my latest proclamation! Or something like that. Over the next period of time that I feel like it, I'll be doing some random number of 3-part miniseries' about topics that you guys get to pick. There'll be a theory article, a deckbuilding article, and a deck testing article, all on the topic you choose!

Here are the (rather forgiving) rules for the topic:

The topic must relate to Magic.
The topic must be able to translate into theory and deckbuilding.
The topic cannot be supremely narrow (i.e, Black commons in Time Spiral Limited with an 'A' in their name)
The topic cannot be far too broad (i.e, Magic: The Gathering)
The topic must be submitted via blog comments on this blog, or via Twitter. My username on Twitter is mtgsalivanth.

You guys shall have 24 hours to send me your topics. You can send multiple topics, but let's not send every topic you can think of. I'm gonna make three the limit. In the unlikely event that you guys AREN'T the totally awesome dudes I think you are and refuse to send me topics, I have one lined up. I'll send out a call for topics every time I decide to do one of these (I'm thinking once a month or so).

So get cracking! The first series starts tomorrow! The series will end Wednesday, and then you'll have Fetch A Shockland on Thursday. So you guys get 5 straight blog posts, including this one. Enjoy!

Fetch A Shockland: Intermission

2009-11-05T06:48:00.001-08:00

Due to connection problems which were only resolved today, I was unable to actually finish any matches for Fetch A Shockland. Next week will be better now that the problem is completely resolved.

How To Use Magic Workstation Part 4 - Etiquette

2009-11-03T04:45:00.000-08:00

Hi, and welcome to the final article in How To Use Magic Workstation! In the final article, we'll be covering etiquette. These are the kind of things that a new MWS player won't know, but can seriously piss off a veteran, even though they won't even know they're doing it. They're also quite important, so let's get to it! (This is all stuff I wish I knew when I was a newbie at MWS)

Your first piece of etiquette should be before you even play a game. Go to Game -> Test Deck in Solo Mode. Then, under your name in the right side of the screen, change it from Player to whatever username you like. A lot of MWSers don't like Player as a name as it's too anonymous and also can be symbolic of a noob (or an experienced player trying to catch people out). Personally, I'll play with people named Player but a lot of people don't.

Now we're ready to play. If you decide to create a game, specify what you want. "T2" isn't a good description. "T2 2/3 sb" is. (Note: that means a game of Type 2 (Standard) 2 out of 3 games, with sideboarding: i.e, a standard tournament-style match.)

Also make sure not to be too exacting with your requirements, because it makes you look like an asshole. "T2 Tier 1 no quitters no griefers no Player no noobs 2/3 sb must be fast and use phases" is the kind of game I simply won't join, because it seems to me that that person is very likely to fly off the handle if I'm a bit too slow or even if I lag a bit.

Once you get in the game, greet your opponent (a simple "Hi" will suffice), and then Ctrl + S to shuffle your deck a few times. Ctrl + I rolls the dice to determine who goes first, and then you should say whether you play or draw. If you keep, say so, if you mulligan, feel free to simply press Ctrl + M rather than say 'mull'.

Under M10 rules, after your first mulligan, you then wait for your opponent to decide. If they are reticent (generally trying to get you to reveal further information) ask them 'keep?'. They'll then have to reply.

When you play, at the end of your turn, it is a good idea to say 'End my turn'. Your opponent will then end your turn, or say EOT and perform something in that step. You do the same for him. This gives players the opportunity to respond to the end of turn step.

As to phases, generally you use them in more complex situations (such as when you're attacking with a Putrid Leech and expect a removal spell). or if you're in a tournament game or your opponent expects it. If you're a precise kind of person, you have the right to ask them to use phases (but if they aren't used to it, they may forget).

If you have a rules question, and you can't work it out with your opponent, go to magic-league.com and join the #judges4you chat. They'll be able to answer it.

If you want to play combo, it's a good idea to become fluent at goldfishing it before playing on MWS, for the happiness of all concerned.

Last but certainly not least, if you play against a rude or abusive opponent, simply leave. There's plenty of other opponents out there: don't waste time playing against someone who abuses you. It isn't worth it.

These are all tips that I simply picked up from learning. There seems to be a lot there, but don't worry: you'll pick it up bit by bit until most of it is second nature. It's okay to be slow with the program at first (just make sure you solitaire enough to remember the basic functions before you play), and you'll get faster before you know it. And now, you people who don't know how to use MWS have absolutely no excuse:) Hop on MWS, and play some games!

Enjoy!

Zendikar Game Day (Top 8)

2009-10-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

Today was Zendikar Game Day. I decided to go, since it was essentially FNM + 3 bucks and extra prizes. Not bad. We ended up with exactly 17 people showing up, so it was 5 rounds of Swiss into top 8. X-2 was enough to make it in by my calculations.

I got my Nissa's Chosen and gushed over it (I almost wish I was playing R/G Elves, since that Chosen looks SO DAMN COOL!) and then it was on to the first round.

Round 1 vs. U/B Mill

First round, he came out of the gates, and I drew very few creatures. I drew a Bloodbraid Elf with 8 cards left in my library, and he Mind Funeraled me. Sadly, out of those 8 cards, only 3 were land.

Game 2 I had Anathemancers in just as another guy to replace my removal. I managed to get double Bloodbraid Elf and kill him.

Game 3 I was hitting him and he played Nemesis of Reason. I swung with Sprouting Thrinax and Bloodbraid Elf (into Putrid Leech) and he killed the Thrinax, just as I planned. Sure he Doom Bladed the Elf, but meh. What happened next is something I'm not sure about.

He declared an attack with Nemesis of Reason, then said 'Wait no, play Traumatize first'. I said that he'd declared an attack, and he swung, knocked me to 14 cards (I killed the Nemesis) then Traumatized me to 7. It turned out it didn't matter in the end, as I killed him next turn, but since it was REL 1, should I have let him take it back? I'd appreciate feedback on this for next time.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Mono-White

She was running a deck with Baneslayers, Emeria, and various soldiers with Honor of the Pure. She had a fair bit of removal as well. I can't remember much of this round, but I do remember going 2-1.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Vampires

Game 1 he played some guys, but I played some better guys. Not much to it.

Game 2 I knocked him to 5, but he Tendrilled for about 8 and played Malakir Bloodwitch and was able to defeat me handily.

Game 3 I took him to 2 before he stabilised, but I had the Lightning Bolt.

3-0

Round 4 vs. Jund

I offer the ID, but he declines for whatever reason, so we end up playing it out.

Round 1 he's playing Borderland Ranger, which is odd. He eventually kills me with Broodmate Dragon.

Round 2 about the same thing happens, but I get a Bituminous Blast. It cascades into an Elf cascading into a Thrinax, but he plays another Broodmate. Despite my Deathmark, he gets through for the win.

Afterwards he tells me he runs 4 Broodmates but no Leeches. He runs Borderland Ranger as a source of card advantage.

3-1

Round 5 vs. ID

I offer the draw to him, and explain my reasoning, and he accepts.

3-1-1

I make Top 8, and we go into single elimination.

Top 8 vs. Luminarch Control

I go up against the guy who ID'ed with me last round. Game 1 I knock him down to 3, but he gets Luminarch active with 8 mana. I die.

Game 2 I manage to simply answer every real threat he plays, with Pulses for the Ascension and Wall of Reverence, and Bituminous Blast for the World Queller. My board overwhelms him.

Game 3 he draws triple Path, double O-Ring, and Journey to Nowhere. I knock him down to literally 1, but he gets Wall of Reverence and active Ascension, stifling my attempts to win.

Eliminated in Top 8.

And that's my tournament. I get a very nice-looking foil full-art Emeria Angel. The guy playing Luminarch Control ends up eliminated against the Jund guy who beat me, and the Mill deck makes the finals against Jund Guy. Jund Guy wins the whole tournament, but doesn't get his certificate since it's not in Australia yet.

I then proceed to get my prize packs, choosing M10, and out of my first pack, see a Garruk staring back at me. I show it to a couple of people, and proclaim it's going straight in my Jund deck. I then open the second pack, only to find ANOTHER GARRUK WILDSPEAKER! The whole store exclaims at my luck, and I immediately slot them both into my Jund deck. That was very damn lucky.

And that's the Game Day! I had a great time, and am definitely going to attend the Worldwake Game Day, and hopefully do better that time! I would recommend the Worldwake Game Day to anyone thinking of attending: it's like an FNM, but with more prizes! What more could you ask for?

Until next time!

How To Use Magic Workstation Part 3 - Playing The Game

2009-10-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to How To Use Magic Workstation. Previously we've covered setting it up and making your deck, and today we'll cover the more common commands in a game of Magic Workstation.

When you start playing, press Ctrl + S a couple of times to shuffle your deck. You can chat with your opponent with the chat box, but most are there to just play. A simple 'hi' will suffice. Ctrl + I rolls a 20-sided dice, to see who goes first. Once you decide, press Ctrl + M to mulligan (Mulliganing from 0 draws 7 cards). until you're happy with your hand.

During your turn, you can play cards from your hand by dragging them from your hand to the field. You tap a card by right-clicking and selecting tap, or double-clicking. You can also click and drag a box to tap several permanents at once, say for a big spell or large attack.

Ctrl + D draws you a card, which you'll need sooner or later. To attack, go to the Declare Attackers step (the phases are at the top left of your half of the screen. You don't need to worry too much about them in a casual pick-up match unless the play is complex.) and right-click to choose Declare Attack.

To untap your permanents, use Ctrl + U, and to end the turn, press Ctrl + Enter. It's customary to say 'End my turn' or something similar, and your opponent will then end your turn for you assuming he has no EOT effects. You do the same for him.

Now that you know the basics, here's a rule of thumb for advanced functions. When in doubt, right-click. You need to search your library? Right-click your library and select the option. If right-clicking doesn't help, go to the Card menu on the bar at the top. That should teach you 99% of what you need to know. If you still don't know, ask your opponent.

Enjoy MWS! Next week: Etiquette of MWS. It's actually pretty important.

Fetch A Shockland: Part 1 - A Journey Into Extended

2009-10-28T04:16:00.001-07:00

Hello, new and returning readers and welcome to my newest series: Fetch A Shockland. This series will chronicle my journeys into learning more about Extended as a format, and becoming more skilled in playing it. This first post will be all about the introduction: where I am now, and where I intend to go.

I know a bit about Extended already. I know the major players in the format and I keep a casual view of the metagame. So here's my current, immature analysis of the metagame:

The major players are Zoo, Faeries, Next Level Blue, Hypergenesis, and recently Dark Depths. Various Rock decks including Death Cloud also exist in some capacity. Dredge is a rogue deck that comes and goes in cycles. Everyone forgets about it, and it strikes. Everyone boards in hate, and it dies. People stop boarding in hate, and forget about it. It strikes again.

The deck I intend to begin with is Zoo. It's the only really Tier 1 aggressive deck, but comes in a few flavours. Here are the decks I considered:

Rubin Zoo

Pros:

Has controllish elements in Baneslayer and Punishing Fire / Grove of the Burnwillows.
Good lategame: something many Zoo decks lack.

Cons:

Noble Hierarch is a bad topdeck.
Has to play 24 lands, thus has more chance of flood.
A lot of people will be playing it, since it won PT: Austin.

Spectral Zoo:

Pros:

Has random tech against Hexmage Depths
Has Jitte, which Rubin Zoo couldn't fit in.

Cons:

Sideboard seems weird.
Spectral Procession puts a lot of strain on the manabase.

Landfall Zoo:

Pros:

Abuses the HELL out of landfall. I mean, seriously.
Has very aggressive starts.
Has better Knights than other Zoo builds.

Cons:

Can attack from less angles.
Hasn't got much of a late-game.
Can't really defend with it's landfall guys.

Hyper Aggressive Zoo:

Pros:

16 1-drops.
Fastest Zoo deck ever.

Cons:

Runs out of gas too quickly.
NO lategame.
Sweeper = you lose.

I decided to go with a process of elimination. I figured Hyper Aggressive Zoo simply wouldn't cut it in the mirror, so that was out. I also want a deck to start that will teach me a lot about the format, and mindless attacking won't do it. That ends the chances of Landfall Zoo.

I really like Rubin Zoo, but I also like the Jitte. However, in the end, I'm a sucker for an aggro deck that can control the game (that's why I play Jund) and the Grove / Punishing Fire combo simply suckered me in, so I decided to choose Rubin Zoo.

Here's the decklist I will be using, copied almost card for card from Brian Kibler's deck:

Lands (24)

4 Arid Mesa

2 Ghost Quarter

4 Grove of the Burnwillows

1 Marsh Flats

4 Misty Rainforest

1 Sacred Foundry

2 Stomping Ground

1 Temple Garden

2 Treetop Village

Creatures (21)

3 Baneslayer Angel

4 Knight of the Reliquary

3 Noble Hierarch

3 Qasali Pridemage

4 Tarmogoyf

4 Wild Nacatl

Spells (15)

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Lightning Bolt

2 Lightning Helix

4 Path to Exile

4 Punishing Fire

Sideboard (15)

3 Ancient Grudge

3 Blood Moon

3 Celestial Purge

2 Ghost Quarter

1 Kataki, War's Wage

3 Tormod's Crypt

The only change I made (and the changes that rippled from that) was removing the Meddling Mages. I don't have enough of a handle on the format to name the right card. Because of that, I removed the Hallowed Fountain from the sideboard, and due to that was able to cut a Marsh Flats for a second Ghost Quarter (against the mirror). To make up for the missing slots, I added Tormod's Crypt as an anti-Dredge mechanism and Celestial Purge against Dark Depths.

I'm concerned about my ability to beat Hypergenesis now, so the next thing to do was to look at the match reports for an idea on how Zoo can combat the deck. I don't know too much about how it works, either.

After a read up on Kibler's beating Hypergenesis, I find that Hierarch into Blood Moon is a strong move, and Ghost Quarter is very good. (So it's good against Hypergenesis, Dark Depths AND Rubin Zoo? Why am I not playing FOUR!?)

And so this is the deck I've decided to play. I'll be playing some matchups over the next week, and that, as well as the lessons I learn about the format, will be featured next week!

Play Along At Home:

This is the Play Along At Home portion of the post. If you want to learn more about Extended yourself, you can follow along with my journey and do what I intend to do in order to improve our knowledge of the format.

Homework: Play 10 matches of Rubin Zoo (either through real-life, proxies, MODO or MWS, I'm really not picky).

Look up some articles on the current metagame and Rubin Zoo.

See you next week with Fetch A Shockland: Part 2!

How to Use Magic Workstation Part 2 - Using The Interface

2009-10-26T04:48:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, and welcome to part 2 of How To Use Magic Workstation! Today we'll be covering how to use the interface: i.e, building decks.

Now that you've gotten all 173 million cards in Magic, how do you sort them into formats? To do that, first press Ctrl + F2. You will then be in the Deckbuilding screen. Now, notice the row of pictures below the menu (the bar with File and Edit in it.) Click on the fourth one. You can then select Classic, Extended, Standard, or Custom. Standard or Extended may not be updated, so if so, trim the sets that are no longer legal, then you're ready to build decks.

The deck building interface is so ridiculously simple that I almost feel guilty for writing a guide about it. It seems...cheap somehow. Anyway, here's the ridiculously complicated way to add a card to your deck:

Select the card.
Click the blue arrow.

To remove the card, select it from the deck menu, and press the red arrow. To put a card in your sideboard, select the card from the left, and click the green arrow. Simple as that.

To make this post last longer than 200 words, let's talk about connecting.

Either press Ctrl + I, or go to Game -> Connect to Opponent to bring up the connection window. Choose mwsplay.net (the default one) and press Connect. From there, you can join a game by clicking Join, or start your own, and Accept players who enter it. Next time we'll cover how to play the game in MWS and go over some shortcuts you'll use very often.

See you next time!

How To Use Magic Workstation: Part 1 - Download and Installation

2009-10-24T04:07:00.001-07:00

Welcome to How To Use Magic Workstation! This series will cover the basics and not-so-basics of Magic Workstation (henceforth referred to as MWS), and get you up to speed with getting it up and running with all the cards, the interface of both building and playing, and the etiquette of the program.

To download the core of Magic Workstation, you can follow this link: http://www.magicworkstation.com/downloads.php. It's the first file.

Alright! You've downloaded it. Installing it is easy, simply follow the prompts.

However, when you bring up your Magic Workstation, you'll probably see some very odd cards. These aren't Magic cards, so we're going to need the gamepack. Thus, follow this link: http://www.mwsgames.com/index.php/Main_Page and download the MTG Card Database.

There's one small problem: the database as of this writing does not contain Zendikar cards. To get those, we'll need to add a new set. Since you have to do this every few months anyway, I'll walk you through the process. First, Google up <set name> MWS patch. To make it easier on you, the Zendikar one is here.

Once it's downloaded, we need to install it. First, go to the toolbar at the top (the one with File, Edit and View in it in basically all programs) and go to Tools. Under there, select Analyse/Add/Remove Editions. Once there, choose Add New Edition, then tick the "Get data from text spoiler" option.

You can then proceed to go to your Downloads folder and select the Zendikar file. Click Next. Under the booster pack option, change the basic lands value to 1, and the commons value to 10. Then you're done! Go to File -> Save, or simply press Ctrl + S, and you're ready to play with the new cards.

Join us next time, when we talk about how to build some new decks and connect to your opponent!

P.S: I apologise for the lack of screenshots. Magic Workstation takes up most of the screen and I have a big screen, so screenshots are generally nearly useless. I'll do my best to explain it all with text.

Announcing...

2009-10-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

Beginning one week from today, every Thursday will be devoted to my new series: Fetch A Shockland: An Extended Journey. This series will be about my attempts to get better at Extended and learn more about how to play it, and about the metagame.

Features will include:

Match reports
List of lessons learnt
Links to good articles I've found
"Homework" tasks for anyone who's interested in following along.
A progressive journey through different, steadily more complex, decks.

My plan is to move from Zoo, to a Rock deck, to Bant, to various forms of Combo, and finally to Control. The series will last until the end of the Extended season if all goes to plan, so it'll have a pretty long lifespan.

I hope you enjoy the series! Next week will be the introduction, where I talk about where I'm at and more about where I intend to head, and after that we'll move into the journey.

See you next Thursday! (and before that, since I'll be doing other posts too).

Zendikar Decks Part VIII: Conclusion and Analysis

2009-10-19T03:38:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the final Zendikar Decks. Rather than talk a new deck, we're going to analyse the results of the ratings. So here we go!

Salivanth's Rating:

1st: Time Sieve Combo (4.5 / 5)
1st: Soldiers (4.5 / 5)
3rd: Jund (4 / 5)
4th: Warp World (3.5 / 5)
4th: Bloodchief Ascension (3.5 / 5)
6th: Vampire Aggro (2 / 5)
7th: W/B/R Control (1.5 / 5)

Match Rating:

1st: Jund (6 / 8)
1st: Soldiers (6 / 8)
3rd: Bloodchief Ascension (4 / 8)
3rd: Vampire Aggro (4 / 8)
3rd: Time Sieve Combo (4 / 8)
3rd: Warp World (4 / 8)
7th: W/B/R Control (2 / 8)

Total Ranking:

1st: Soldiers (10.5 / 13)
2nd: Jund (10 / 13)
3rd: Time Sieve (8.5 / 13)
4th: Bloodchief Ascension (7.5 / 13)
4th: Warp World (7.5 / 13)
6th: Vampire Aggro (6 / 13)
7th: W/B/R Control (3.5 / 13)

And there you have it! The winner of my analysis is Soldiers!

One must note however, that it was pretty foolish of me to do this analysis so soon. Since then, many new decks have popped up which I hadn't tested. I'll be analysing them over the next few weeks, when I deign to. So in the meantime, if there's one thing I've taught you:

Time Sieve is not dead. Remember that.

Good luck in your testing!

Call to Action: Testers Wanted

2009-10-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

After the comments in my Time Sieve post, I've come to realise that I could use a cadre of testers to call upon for certain posts. For anyone interested in helping out the blog or simply playing a few extra matches of Magic against a competent opponent every now and then, this is for you.

Required:

Some experience of playing Magic at a tournament level
Ability to play at least one current Tier 1 deck well
Basic competency at MWS

The skills mentioned above are essentially what I'd like, in order to provide an interesting and challenging experience for me, and an interesting and balanced series of matches for my blog.

If you're interested, please post in the comments section with your e-mail and which (if any) instant messenging service you use. Which Tier 1 deck(s) you are good at is optional, but that information can change quickly so I'd ask the question before we began testing.

Thank you to everyone who replies.

Zendikar Decks Part VII: Time Sieve

2009-10-17T03:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the final deck in the Zendikar Decks series: Time Sieve. This potent combo deck doesn't lose too much from the rotation, and can still be a competitor. It seems to have fallen out of favor...which is the perfect time for combo decks to strike.

Here's the list I used:

Lands (17)

4 Glacial Fortress
5 Island
3 Marsh Flats
3 Plains
2 Swamp

Creatures (4)

4 Architects of Will

Spells (39)

4 Angelsong
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
1 Font of Mythos
4 Howling Mine
3 Jace Beleren
4 Kaleidostone
4 Mistvein Borderpost
4 Open the Vaults
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Time Sieve
4 Time Warp

Sideboard:

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Wall of Denial
4 Day of Judgement
3 Path to Exile

I hopped on to MWS to do battle.

Round 1 vs. Boros Bushwhacker

He gets Goblin Guide, then Goblin Guide, then Steppe Lynx, a fetchland, and Bushwhacker. I exclaim disbelief over his Turn 3 kill. Jesus Christ.

Game 2 he gets Goblin Guide and Steppe Lynx, but I get Wall of Denial. He tries a swarm. I go for Day of Judgement. I get Howling Mine and Font. I set up my hand while using fogs to keep him at bay, then go off.

Game 3 he drops me down to 2 before I attempt to go off. I get numerous extra turns, but can't get 6 artifacts to let my Font stick. I eventually run out of Time Warps and Open the Vaults' and lose.

0-1

Round 2 vs. Landfall Ramp

He Pulses my double Howling Mine draw, and I play another Howling Mine. He gets Ob Nixilis and Empyrial Archangel, I get Tezzeret and go for Time Sieve -> Open the Vaults. With the Mines and Architects in the graveyard, I easily assemble enough artifacts to go lethal.

Game 2 he doesn't do much til he gets a Baneslayer. He plays Pithing Needle and names Time Sieve, then Identity Crisis blows me out.

Game 3 I whiff on an attempt to go off. He casts Baneslayer, and I get Open the Vaults to try again. I then spend a difficult 8 minutes comboing off. He quits halfway through, claiming I'm too slow, but he's tapped out, so I simply combo off anyway, since he couldn't do anything. I call that a win, since I eventually reach critical mass and would kill him.

1-1

Round 3 vs. Boros Bushwhacker

He gets some early beats. I lay Tezz and Jace, and he kills Tezz with his guys. I manage to stall him long enough to combo off.

Game 2 he gets 2 Steppe Lynxes and some fetchlands, knocking me down to 2 in short order. Luckily I manage to go off (there's not much details in these logs for a reason. It's a pretty consistent deck: either it goes infinite and wins, or it doesn't.)

2-1

Round 4 vs. Goblins

Game 1 he gets Goblin Guide and Warren Instigator, which brings in Siege-Gang Commander. I'm on 6 and trying to go off when I totally punt this: with 7 mana and 1 black source, I use my black source to play a Kaleidostone and then play another artifact before realising that I needed that black for Time Sieve, to combo off, and win. I deserve to lose this game.

Game 2 he gets Goblin Chieftain and assorted goblins. In 20 cards, I see one Time Warp and zero Time Sieves. I can't go off, and therefore cannot win. He beats me to death.

2-2

Salivanth's Rating: 4.5/5
Match Rating: 4/8

Total Rating: 8.5

Unlike some decks in this series, Time Sieve is a deck that takes some time to master. If my performance was the sole indicator of it's strength, I'd rate it a 3.5, but as it is, I know if I took the time to master the deck, I could do far better with it.

The next post will be an analysis of the decks' scores and attributes, and I'll make some recommendations, and then we'll move on to other things again! It only took about a month to do the series...

See you next time!

The Trap Of Rogue Decks

2009-10-14T03:58:00.000-07:00

How many of you try to make decks for tournaments? Decks that try to beat the best decks, decks that are innovative, or fun, or cool...and decks that lose. I was That Guy. Now I'm not. Unless you're one of the top players in the world, you probably shouldn't be trying to innovate totally new decks. Play a Tier 1 deck. You'll win more.

And even further! Some people actually COMPLAIN about netdecks! That they're somehow stifling the originality and creativity of the game, that it's less 'skilful' to win with it. If it's not netdecks in general, it's one deck. Affinity, Faeries, Five-Color Control...

"Everyone uses that deck!"
"That manabase in cash could feed a starving child for a year."
"That deck's cheap / broken / not fun."

Well guess what? It wins. And if you want to win, you need to play the best deck or beat the best deck, and if you want to beat the best deck, generally you want another Tier 1 deck (unless you're happy to get beaten by every deck EXCEPT the Tier 1 deck. Then you can make a hate deck just fine.) if you want to win.

How many of you have been in PTQ's? Tournaments are hard enough without self-inflicting rules. Nobody other than you is going to obey your rules unless your rules are "Do whatever you legally can to win."

Note that I'm not saying 'always play the best deck'. You should play the deck you think has the best position and power in the metagame: the deck most likely to make you win. And it's almost certainly not your creation. Warp World is cute, but can it win? Vampires is new and shiny, but will it win?

If you're not doing your best with deck selection, you're not doing your best as a player. And that's the road to losing. Because if you're not doing your best and playing one of the best decks, you'll be competing against someone who is. And in the end, when the dust settles, the only thing that matters is who has won, and who has lost.

N.B: I do not condone cheating. That's not a legal way to win. Anyone who points to this article as justification for cheating is a fool. Play Magic to the best of your ability. A game of Magic where you cheat is not a game of Magic. So play legally: but play the very best you can within the legal limits.

See you next time, when I bring you Time Sieve.

Zendikar Decks Part VI: Soldiers

2009-10-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome, people, to the penultimate article in the Zendikar Decks series. The series is almost over, and I'm quite glad for it. 4 matches can take as many hours in MWS due to the amount of people who don't play a full match.

Anyway, let's get to the deck: Soldiers.

Lands (23)

23 Plains

Creatures (20)

4 Elite Vanguard
4 Kazandu Blademaster
4 Kor Aeronaut
4 Kor Skyfisher
4 Veteran Armorsmith

Spells (17)

3 Ajani Goldmane
2 Brave the Elements
4 Conqueror's Pledge
2 Harm's Way
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Path to Exile

Sideboard:

2 Brave the Elements
4 Celestial Purge
3 Devout Lightcaster
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Harm's Way
2 Path to Exile

I couldn't decide between the three awesome one-mana tricks, Brave the Elements, Harm's Way, and Path to Exile. However, having all 3 makes it impossible for my opponents to play around them all.

I hopped on to MWS. ThatDamnAussie from Twitter graciously took the first battle.

Round 1 vs. Bushwhacker Aggro

He plays Goblin Guide, which I trump with Kor Skyfisher. He plays a Geopede and a Teetering Peaks next turn. I keep playing Soldiers, but his fetchlands are going well with his Geopede and Lynx. I drop to 5, then get my fifth land and play Conqueror's Pledge. I play a SECOND Pledge and start trying to kill his dudes: not an easy proposition. Eventually he gets Ranger of Eos for 2 Goblin Guides and swarms me to death after I lose most of my Soldiers.

Game 2 I play Kazandu Blademaster, and he, Steppe Lynx. I play a second one, and he Paths the 3/3. He smashes me down at an alarming rate. I cast a Pledge at 6 life, but this time I have a trump. With 4 tokens still in play, I drop double Honor of the Pure! I crush him in short order.

Game 3 he gets out 3 Steppe Lynxes but misses his second land drop. He plays Goblin Guide and swings. When I block with my 2/3, he Paths his own Guide to landfall his Lynxes. Pretty clever. I manage to stabilise however, then play Conqueror's Pledge, then Ajani Goldmane! I win.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Bant

I get turn 2 Blademaster, he gets turn 2 War Monk. I Path it, he gets Dauntless Escort. He then plays Rafiq and Baneslayer. I concede pretty quickly.

Game 2 I have 3 3/5's in play by Turn 4, and I crush him to death.

Game 3 I get some early beats, he gets Elspeth and War Monk. He uses the combo to bring me to 7 while his life skyrockets. I get an Ajani and beat Elspeth to death. I then get a Conqueror's Pledge, he plays Day of Judgement. So what do I play? Another Pledge. With Ajani. What could possibly beat that? ANOTHER DAY OF JUDGEMENT! Talk about nut draws for both sides!

I get an Elspeth and start climbing loyalty with my two 'walkers. He plays a Baneslayer, and I topdeck another Pledge. He kills Ajani with Baneslayer. I play Honor of the Pure and attack for 24! I then play an Aeronaut to block with next turn, and then succeed in the impossible: winning a race against a Baneslayer Angel.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Grixis Megrim

I get a Vanguard, he Doom Blades it. He then plays Megrim, and Duresses my hand: of lands and Conqueror's Pledge. GAH! I play an Armorsmith with Honor of the Pure, and he Blades it, too. I play Aeronaut, he Twincasts a Blightning. Luckily I only have 2 cards to discard. I go to 7. I then teach him the finer points of the problem of discard by playing every card I draw: the first being a Pledge. Remembering I still have Honor of the Pure out. I win in 2 turns.

Game 2 he plays a Howling Mine, and I play an Armorsmith. I Devout Lightcaster his Megrim, he Terminates my Armorsmith. I use Skyfisher to bounce the Lightcaster. He concedes after his next draw. I presume he got mana flooded.

I think he conceded too quickly, but still...

3-0.

Round 4 vs. Cruel Control

Unfortunately I lost the notes, but here's what I remember:

Game 1 he gets Wall of Denial and Kathari Remnant. His powerful cascades win while I fail to break through his guys.

Game 2 he doesn't get much, and I knock him to 8 before he plays his first spell. I'm able to defeat him with massive Soldiers.

Game 3 goes pretty long, and he Cruels me after I Pledge. I'm hoping I can win with my double Honor of the Pure, but he plays a second Cruel, and manages to Pulse the Honors of the Pure. It takes a long time, but he eventually wins with 18 cards left in his library (and 36 in mine. He drew a LOT of cards).

3-1

Salivanth's Rating: 4.5/5
Match Rating: 6/8

Total Score: 10.5

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with most of the Soldier deck. If I could do it over again, I'd cut the Harm's Ways and go up to 3 Paths and 3 BtE's, and also try to find a replacement for Kor Aeronaut, which didn't quite cut it. It was the weakest card in the deck and I was consistently siding him out. Perhaps Veteran Swordsmith would do better there.

Thanks for reading!

Zendikar Decks Part V: Jund Aggro

2009-10-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, with a combo of parties, too much World of Warcraft, and just plain laziness, it's been 3 days since I last posted. This is unacceptable, and hopefully will not happen in the near future. As soon as this Zendikar Decks series is finished I hope to move back to my regular 6-a-week update schedule. (The day I don't post is 'whenever the hell I feel like it')

Meanwhile, let's move on to my Jund list.

Here's the list I decided to use:

Lands (24)

4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Forest
4 Mountain
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures (17)

4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Broodmate Dragon
3 Great Sable Stag
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax

Spells (19)

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Jund Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Sign in Blood

Sideboard (15)

3 Blightning
4 Deathmark
1 Great Sable Stag
4 Pyroclasm
3 Terminate

Jund Charm is my pet card, but it's so good. People almost never see it coming because it doesn't see play. It's a maindeck sweeper or combat trick: what's not to love? I also don't like Blightning in Jund that much. Yeah it's card advantage, but I prefer to win by affecting the board.

I just realised as I said that. That would mean Sign in Blood isn't good, but it is.

Dear god, what have I done?

We interrupt this revelation to bring you our actual article. (BTW, I'm totally trying out Blightning soon.)

I hopped on to MWS to do battle. (Forgetting all about Oran-Rief, no less).

Match 1 vs. BGW Rock

He Duresses my Jund Charm, and I lay Sprouting Thrinax. He plays Scute Mob, and I Jund Charm to kill it. I play Putrid Leech and knock him to 7 life. He makes a beast with Garruk, and I draw Pulse. I Pulse the token and ignore Garruk, swinging for exactly lethal.

Game 2 I play a Putrid Leech. When I swing and pump, he Purges it. He plays a Scute Mob, and I Bit Blast into a Leech to kill it. He plays a second Scute Mob, and I play Jund Charm. He plays Baneslayer Angel. I play Broodmate Dragon. He Paths my Putrid Leech (???), and attacks. I topdeck, and play, a Maelstrom Pulse, then swing. He Pulses BMD. I play Putrid Leech, and 2 Thrinaxes. He casts Day of Judgement, and I win with my army of Saprolings.

1-0

Match 2 vs. Armament Master WW

He plays Kor Duelist and Spidersilk Net. I play Putrid Leech. He passes and I swing with it, then play Great Sable Stag. He plays Quietus Spike, so I Jund Charm. He plays a Hookmaster, but I Bit Blast it and beat him to death with Sable Stag and Putrid Leech.

Game 2 He gets out Armament Master. I let him equip the Machete, then Deathmark the Master. He plays Skyfisher and equips it, I Pulse it. He plays another Skyfisher, I Bit Blast it. My Leech gets Pathed, but I Bloodbraid into Sign in Blood. I play Putrid Leech, swing him for 7, then win with Sign In Blood.

Achievement gotten: Here Have Some Cards.

Turns out killing every dude they play is a good strategy. Who knew?

2-0

Match 3 vs. Jund Landfall

I play fetches and Sign in Blood, he plays Khalni Heart and a fetchland. I Bloodbraid Elf into a Maelstrom Pulse to kill his Khalni Heart Expedition. A quick note: so many people keep hands assuming their mana accelerator will survive. If you kill it, you can throw their plans out of whack.

I start beating him, but he kills my guys. He then Bloodbraid Elfs into Birds. I topdeck Broodmate Dragon. He BE's into Zektar Shrine Expedition. I BE into Great Sable Stag. I then sac a fetchland before I beat him to death to take 1 more damage for:

Achievement gotten: Suicide Indeed.

(I also got this achievement in an FNM game on Saturday)

Game 2 he plays and unearths Hellspark Elemental. I play Sprouting Thrinax. He plays Bloodbraid Elf into Earthquake. I double block with my Saprolings. I kill his two new Hellsparks with LB and Terminate, then the unearthed ones by Bit Blasting into Maelstrom Pulse. I love this deck.

He gets a Zektar Shrine and activates it next turn. I Bit Blast into Bloodbraid Elf into Great Sable Stag, untap, and play Broodmate Dragon.

Yeah, I won that game.

3-0

Match 4 vs. Sphinx Control

The first play is a Jace. We both draw, and my draw is ironically a Pulse, which I use next turn. Irony is sweet. I play Great Sable Stag, which gets Bolted. He plays (unkicked) Sphinx of Lost Truths. I play another Stag, and he bashes with the Sphinx. He bolts my GSS, so I play a Thrinax.

I swing, then he blocks. I Jund Charm. He Negates, so I Jund Charm again. He plays Pyroclasm and Lightning Bolt to kill my 5/5 Thrinax. I BE into LB, and beat him to death over the next couple of turns.

Game 2 I get stuck on 2 land. He plays Jace and helps me draw my third land. How kind. I play GSS. He Cruels me. I discard, then play a second GSS. He Cruels me for the rest of my hand and board, and I concede.

Game 3 he plays Jace, I play Thrinax. He plays Wretched Banquet. I kill Jace with Lightning Bolt and play another Thrinax. He kills it too, then Cruels me. I play another Thrinax. I begin to hope I might actually win this. He Cruels me again, however, and Pyroclasms my Saproling army. He plays a Sphinx with me at 4 life. I play a Pulse, and he Negates it. That ends up being game.

3-1

Salivanth's Score: 4/5
Match Score: 6/8

Total Score: 10

Overall, the deck needs a bit of tuning. It's not the best it can be yet, but it's still one of the strongest decks in the new format. I'm looking forward to testing more ideas in it.

Notes: Broodmate Dragon and Sprouting Thrinax are friggin' nuts. I want to go up to 3 Broodmates.

Thanks for reading!

Zendikar Decks Part IV: Warp World

2009-10-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome readers, to Part Four of the Zendikar Decks series. Today, we tackle Warp World.

Here's the decklist I chose:

Lands: (23)

4 Forest
5 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
2 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures: (29)

4 Birds of Paradise
2 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Greenweaver Druid
2 Keeper of Progenitus
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Noble Hierarch
3 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
4 Siege-Gang Commander

Spells (8)

4 Trace of Abundance
4 Warp World

I hopped on MWS to do battle.

Match 1 vs. U/B Mill

Game 1 he gets manascrewed while I get a Turn 4 Siege-Gang Commander and a Turn 6 Hellkite. His only plays are Hedron Crab and Jace.

Game 2 he plays a Turn 1 Hedron Crab. I play a Savage Lands. He plays a fetch, then Archive Traps me when I sacrifice my own fetch. I play Lotus Cobra.

I get to Warp World mana, and he mills me down to 12 cards in library. In my last turn before I die, I play Warp World and float 2 mana. He goes from 8 permanents to 4, and I get two Lotus Cobras and five lands so I can play another Warp World. This one gets him to one permanent, and I flip over Ob Nixilis. The landfall triggers kill him.

1-0

Match 2 vs. White Control

I get some early ramps, and lay out my hand. He casts Day of Judgement. He plays a Seraph and a Baneslayer, and I don't reach Warp World mana in time.

Game 2 I get a Turn 4 Ob Nixilis, and he uses Lapse of Certainty. He plays Guardian Seraph, I play Ob Nixilis, then play and sac a fetchland. He O-Rings it. I go for a Warp World, and he Lapses it. I play Warp World with one in hand. He gets Iona, Shield of Emeria and names red. He kills me with the giant flier next turn.

1-1

Match 3 vs. Naya

I play Lotus Cobra and Elvish Visionary: he plays Bloodbraid Elf into Trace of Abundance. He plays Cliffrunner Behemoth and a Garruk, then another Cliffrunner. When he uses his ultimate, I can't keep up with the raw power.

Game 2 We both play Trace of Abundance. He plays Cliffrunner. I play Keeper of Progenitus. He uses Bituminous Blast to cascade into another one, then finishes it with two Lightning Bolts to the dome.

1-2

Match 4 vs. Four-Color Midrange

He plays Noble Hierarch, I play Lotus Cobra. He Paths it, and plays Knight of the Reliquary. I get Ob Nixilis plus a fetch to out-do the 6/6 Knight. He passes. I swing, he goes to 2, and I Hellkite him to win.

Game 2 I curve out massively into a Turn 4 Warp World. Unfortunately, his 3 lands flip up 3 lands. I play Hellkite, he plays Rhox War Monk and Harrow. I get him to 4 life but he plays Baneslayer, then Realm Razer next turn. I chump with Birds and eventually Hellkite, but am never able to draw an answer.

Game 3 I get a Warp World, but he's lucky enough to Warp into Baneslayer while I fail to Warp into my finishers, and he bashes me to death.

1-3

Salivanth's Rating:

3.5/5

Matches x2:

2/5

Total Score: 5.5

I think the main reason Warp World failed was both my lack of knowledge of when to Warp, and the luck and raw power of some of my opponents' decks. When the metagame shifts to accommodate control, Warp World should become a lot better.

Next time: New Jund!

The Alternative Goldfish

2009-10-05T04:18:00.000-07:00

A lot of people goldfish their aggro decks. They find out how quickly it can kill. While that's all well and good, real testing is a lot better. But what if you don't have someone to test with, or you don't have more than a few minutes to test something quickly, or your internet's down and you're an MWS / MTGO player?

I present: The Alternative Goldfish Gauntlet! While it's not as good as real testing, it's a decent way to find out if you can handle certain strategies.

Note: The following gauntlet is designed for aggressive decks. Control decks shouldn't be goldfishing at all: they NEED real testing for even slight benefits.

Note: This gauntlet is designed for a 3-game sideboard match. Hopefully you win each game: don't stop after 2 games. Record your results.

Opponent 1: Plague Rats Guy.

This opponent will play a Plague Rats every turn. Attack and block as you would if you were on the other side of the table. Strategy tip: try not to trade if you can help it. Your rats get quite big, quite fast.

Opponent 2: Terminate Guy.

This guy will Terminate your best Terminatable dude each turn, during his turn.

Opponent 3: Wall Guy.

This guy will play a 0/5 Wall token every turn.

Opponent 4: Token Guy.

This guy plays 2 1/1 tokens each turn. Attack and block to the best of your ability.

Opponent 5: Uberman Guy.

This guy starts with a 10/10 indestructible creature. He plays nothing else. (This guy always starts on the draw.)

Opponent 6: Sower Guy.

This guy will steal your best creature on every even turn. (Turn 2, Turn 4, Turn 6)

Opponent 7: Wrath Guy.

This guy casts Planar Cleansing on every turn with a multiple of 3. (Turn 3, Turn 6, Turn 9)

Opponent 8: Aggro Guy.

This guy plays a 2/1 with haste every turn. He always attacks unless it's completely unprofitable. He tries to force trades.

Opponent 9: Banshee Guy.

All your creatures get a -1/-1 counter at the beginning of your upkeep.

Opponent 10: Nicol Bolas.

Your opponent has a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker in play and nothing else. Every turn you don't play a card it gains +1 loyalty. Nicol Bolas cannot play an ability on his first turn. He is always on the draw.

Opponent 11: Choice Guy.

In his main phase, Choice Guy chooses one of the following:

Put a 2/1 with haste onto the battlefield.
Put a 0/5 defender onto the battlefield.
Destroy target creature.
Put a -1/-1 counter on each creature.
Put 2 1/1 creatures onto the battlefield.
Steal target creature. Choice Guy cannot choose this option for two more turns.
Destroy all non-land permanents. Choice Guy skips his next turn and cannot choose this option for two more turns after that.

There you have it, the alternative goldfish brigade! Work your way through them, and see if you can beat each one! Happy testing!

Zendikar Achievements Part 2

2009-10-04T04:04:00.000-07:00

Once I wrote my first achievements post, ThatDamnAussie from Twitter took an interest in it. We came up with a lot of achievements, so here's the best of them:

Too Cruel For School: Have Cruel Ultimatum successfully resolve against you, then win the game. (30 points)

Pyrrhic Victory: Win a game on 1 life. (20 points)

Got It By That Much: Win a game with 7 or less cards in your library. (20 points)

Overachiever - Complete 3 or more achievements in the same game. (30 points)

Forgot To Carry The One - Win a game because an opponent drew too many cards and decked himself. (10 points)

Lose with Style - Have a spell or permanent you control deal the last points of damage to you to lose the game. (15 points)

Just To Be Sure - Win a game by reducing an opponents life total to 0 while they have no cards in their library (20 points)

Money Don't Buy No Respect - Destroy or exile an opponent's Mythic Rare permanent with a common. (10 points)

Backstabber - Defeat an opponent with a card they own. (10 points)

Land Developer - Sacrifice 3 or more land in a single game. (10 points)

Card Drawing Machine - Draw 5 or more cards in a single turn. (10 points)

Survival of the Weakest - Win a game with a negative life total. (10 points)

Speedy Gonzales - Be victorious in a completed match that lasts 10 minutes or less (10 points) Concessions or intentional draws do not grant this achievement.

Not Very Observant - Play 3 traps for their alternate casting costs in one game. (10 points)

And a couple of new ones that weren't on Twitter:

Neutron Bomb - Destroy 50 permanents in one turn. (30 points)

I <3 Zendikar - With no cards in hand, topdeck a land to win the game. (20 points)

Hacks! - After an opponent topdecks a removal spell to kill the permanent they have to kill, topdeck another one in your next draw. (10 points)

Pack Hacker - Play 2 or more copies of the same Mythic/Rare in the same Limited game. (20 points for Rare, 30 points for Mythic)

Bend it like Beckham - Kick 5 spells in a single game. (20 points)

Clear your Quest Log - "Complete" 3 or more Quests in the same turn (Complete = Sacrificing a common or uncommon quest or unlocking the ability of a rare quest). (20 points)

Ascended Ascension - Have two different Ascensions active at the same time (20 points)

8 Arguments Against Online PTQs And Why They Are Wrong

2009-10-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ever since Wizards announced their online PTQ campaign, there's been a lot of backlash about it. (You know, like the backlash to the new card frames, Fourth Edition Rules, M10 rules, black-bordered core sets, etc.) I don't get it. Frankly, if you don't like them, you don't HAVE to participate...so I fail to see how it affects you.

However, let's go after the main arguments that are against online PTQs. People think online PTQs are far worse than real ones because of several reasons. Here they are, and my rebuttals:

1. It's Not "Pure" Magic

Response: While the opportunities for bluffing are largely gone in MTGO, there are ways to still bluff. Leaving lands untapped, pausing before response to a spell, faking missing your fourth land drop to bait your opponent into walking into Day of Judgement, etc.

Also, because of the lack of opportunities to exploit superior rule knowledge and Jedi mind tricks, MTGO is actually more about the technical play than actual Magic. So saying it's not pure Magic is ridiculous. You don't get the same fun experience as playing with friends, and I certainly don't think you shouldn't play offline, but the debate here is MTGO's ability to run a series of high-level events with the same integrity and level of competition as real Magic.

I believe it certainly can.

2. MTGO can crash.

WOTC has made mistakes with MTGO before, but the fact that they're releasing online PTQ's makes me think that they have, in fact, made absolutely sure that the PTQ's will not crash. It's perfectly possible to reinforce a particular server to handle a greater load than normal which is probably what they've done here. They wouldn't do it unless they felt sure that there was a 99.99% chance the server could flawlessly handle a 512-player tournament.

3. It's easy to cheat. Just get a skilled player to play for you.

MTGO, thanks to it's interface, has a HUGE list of infractions that are impossible to commit online. Here are some of the major ones:

Deck/Decklist Mismatch
Illegal Deck
Missed Triggers
Game Rule Violation
Drawing/Looking at Extra Cards
Manipulation of Game Materials
Insufficient Randomisation
Disagreement about the game state
Slow Play
Lying about the rules

Compared to this, I'd say that the chance that you would get someone to play as you and give you the prizes is a lot less problematic than this plethora of activities which, accidentally or maliciously, cannot be done online.

4. Misclicks could cost an invite to the Pro Tour.

Mishearing your opponent can cost an invite to the Pro Tour. So can a host of real-life misclicks like drawing extra cards by mistake, flipping an opponent's card by mistake, etc. If you practice MTGO diligently, you shouldn't misclick often, just like you should handle cards well at the level where you can realistically consider winning a PTQ.

5. The competition will be lesser.

This is just crap. If anything, the competition could be greater. The really serious PTQers who are the best at your PTQ, guess what? If they haven't qualified they're probably playing in them. The best players will want every chance they can get, and good players from the other side of the world can compete, not just those within a few hundred kilometres of your PTQ.

6. If an MTGO-exclusive player makes it to the PT they can make mistakes, due to not being familiar with physical testing.

That's like saying you're not familiar with your deck. If I was an MTGO player who won one of these, I'd find some people who played physical Magic and join them! I would practice playing physically so I could learn to pick up on everything MTGO does for me and learn the nuances of physical play just like you need to test your deck to be familiar with it's nuances. And you can test both at the same time. No extra time needed.

7. You have to buy the cards twice to compete in MTGO.

I quote ThatDamnAussie here, whom I corresponded with over Twitter in preparation for this article.

"Everything costs money if you want to do well. You don't HAVE to play in the Modo PTQs to make the PT. These are bonus chances"

He's right. If you want to practice Zendikar Sealed, you have an expense ahead. If you want to bring two decks, as I recommend at one point, and several potential sideboards, as I have recommended, that's another expense. So is MTGO. You don't have to do it, but it maximises your chances. Also, if you play with RL friends testing for the PTQ, get them into it as well so you can share cards again. Plus, singles cost less on MTGO than they do in real life.

8. It's too easy to just let people play from their homes.

No, you're being an elitist.

That's it.

Alright, fine.

The fact that you can play from home does not diminish the mental stamina you'll require or the skill you'll need to command. Other people have the same bonuses. Do you honestly believe that if you've worked on your stamina, it won't pay off in an online PTQ? It will. Just because you can go to the fridge and get food rather than try to search for it, or go to the bathroom mid-round if you're okay losing a minute off your clock, doesn't mean your stamina won't help you. It lets you focus on what matters: playing Magic.

So, therefore, in my opinion, online PTQs are helpful for the game and community in general. I'm sure this'll spark a discussion in the comments, and I welcome it. I'll add my own insights as I check in.

In a few days I'll also release another article about the benefits of online PTQs that offline PTQs lack.

See you!

No Post Today

2009-10-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

Due to technical issues, there will be no post going up tonight. My Internet will be out during some building work. However, I will be able to test Warp World tomorrow. Sorry for the delay!

Zendikar Decks Part III: W/B/R Control

2009-09-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Zendikar Decks Part III! Today's deck is W/B/R Control. Here's the decklist I chose to run:

Lands (26)

4 Arid Mesa
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Marsh Flats
4 Mountain
5 Plains
5 Swamp

Creatures (4)

4 Baneslayer Angel

Spells (30)

3 Ajani Vengeant
3 Chandra Nalaar
4 Day of Judgement
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Martial Coup
3 Path to Exile
4 Sign in Blood
3 Terminate
4 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard:

3 Blightning
4 Celestial Purge
4 Deathmark
1 Martial Coup
2 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Path to Exile

I hopped on MWS to do battle.

Round 1 vs. Naya

Unfortunately I lost the notes for this match. I lost, but it went to 3 games. It was his bombs vs. my removal, and in Games 1 and 3 he drew better, and in Game 2 I drew better.

0-1

Round 2 vs. Jund Landfall Ramp

He plays a Turn 2 Lotus Cobra, which I Terminate. I lay a Chandra, and he gets a Harrow / Khalni Heart combo to put loads of land in play. I bolt an Ob Nixilis, and lay Ajani. I then have a fully charged Chandra. The game is over quickly as my planeswalkers burn him out.

Game 2 we play land-go for a while until I drop Ajani. He drops Ob Nixilis. I bolt it and start building up Ajani. He plays Broodmate Dragon. I Day of Judgement and get to 7 counters on Ajani. He Earthquakes for 7. Must be nice...

I drop Chandra and start building THAT up. He plays Baloths and Harrow for 14 power of dudes. I Day of Judgement again and build up to 8 counters on Chandra. I win next turn.

1-1

Round 3 vs. Mill.dec

He plays Birds of Paradise, I play Sign in Blood. He plays Grazing Gladehart. I'm confused. When in doubt, kill it. So I Volcanic Fallout. I drop Ajani, he drops Lotus Cobra and a fetch. Damn it. He plays a Khalni Gem. It could be worse. He kills Ajani next turn. I drop another one to kill Lotus Cobra. He Traumatizes me. Ow. I start building up Ajani, but he Archive Traps me, and then Trapmaker's Snares for Archive Trap #2. I lose.

Game 2 I manage to get stuck on 2 land and he gets a Lotus Cobra. He Mind Funerals me, and plays Grazing Gladehart before I draw into red and manage to bolt the Cobra. He Traumatizes me. I Blightning him but he's gaining lots of life off Gladehart. He Traumatizes me again, and then searches for an Archive Trap a few turns later, still sittin' pretty at over 15 life.

1-2

Round 4 vs. Valakut Burn

He starts out with a Goblin Guide, revealing no lands several times. I Sign In Blood to find more land, but my life's plummeting. I manage to Path the Guide and play a Baneslayer, and he Lightning Bolts + Fallouts it. He lays Valakut and Bolts me to single-digits. This is NOT good. I fail to draw any stabilising cards, and die quickly.

This game made me want to kill myself painfully. He starts out with double Quest for Pure Flame and starts dropping burn creatures like Hellspark and Ball Lightning. I Path, Purge or Terminate each one of them. This continues for a LONG time but I can't draw a finisher, despite siding more in. Eventually he drops a Valakut and burns me to death. I didn't have any way of dealing with burn besides attacking with Baneslayer. Number of finishers in the deck: 8. Number of cards I drew in that game: 20ish.

1-3

Salivanth's Rating: 1.5/5
Matches Won x2: 2/8

Score: 3.5

This deck is terrible. I don't give it a one because when it did get the mana right, against a creature deck, it was hard to beat. All control decks should be though. The deck has several flaws:

Lack of ability to close the game. I should have added Luminarch Ascension.

Bad mana. This is a 2-color or shard based format. Even 4 colors are better than 3 enemy colors. Seriously. Don't play with an arc deck. It WILL FAIL.

Total inability to deal with non-permanents. This is not good in a deck that needs to be able to answer everything the opponent plays.

Do not play this deck, for the love of god. If you're desperate for a control deck I'll make another one, but don't play this one!

See you tomorrow with Warp World!

Zendikar Decks Part II: B/R Bloodchief

2009-09-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hello readers, and welcome to part two of my Zendikar decks series. Today's post will be about B/R Bloodchief. This deck focuses on playing a Bloodchief Ascension and activating it as quickly as possible. It then uses cards such as Blightning and sweepers to put cards in the opponent's graveyard and deal lots of damage.

Here's the decklist I used:

Lands (20)

4 Akoum Refuge
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
8 Swamp

Creatures (16)

4 Goblin Guide
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Vampire Lacerator

Spells (24)

4 Blightning
4 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Volcanic Fallout
4 Earthquake

Sideboard:

4 Deathmark
3 Duress
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Hideous End

I hopped onto MWS to do battle.

Round 1 vs. Four-Color Control

We start off with ETBT lands. I play Vampire Lacerator, which he Agony Warps. He Esper Charms, and I counter with Blightning and another Lacerator. He plays Baneslayer Angel, then another a couple of turns later, and beats me to death with them.

Game 2 he mulligans to 5. I use Hellspark Elemental, and get some early Goblin Guide action. He gets rid of it already at 10 life. We pass for a couple of turns, then he Time Warps twice. I drop a Lacerator, and hit him a couple of times. Lightning Bolt and Earthquake are enough to end it.

Game 3 he Spell Pierces a Bloodchief Ascension and Burst Lightning. He Blightnings me, and Pierces another Ascension. I play a third Ascension and beat down with a Lacerator. I activate it and he Esper Charms it. I knock him to 8 with double Lacerator before he Day of Judgements them. I Goblin Guide him to 6, and he plays Baneslayer Angel. I Hideous End it and he scoops it up.

1-0

Round 2 vs. BGW Landfall

He plays a Turn 2 Lotus Cobra. I Bolt it. I swing with a Hellspark, he plays another Cobra and Cobras into a Bloodghast. I kill the Cobra again. He hits with Bloodghast, and then drops a Knight of the Reliquary. He plays an Ob Nixilis a turn or two later and when he plays another fetchland I scoop.

Game 2 I kill a Lotus Cobra, but he plays a second and third one. I don't find enough removal. He plays double Steppe Lynx and landfalls his way to victory over a few turns. I barely get him to 10.

1-1

Round 3 vs. Naya

He opens with a Nacatl. I Bolt it and play Goblin Guide. With the aid of his fetchlands I start beating him down. He plays a 5/5 Reliquary. He plays a Behemoth Sledge, but I trick him into a block and then double Burst Lightning it. I get him down to 5, but he equips a Nacatl with Behemoth Sledge and manages to outrace me.

Game 2 I open with a Goblin Guide, and he opens with a Birds. He plays a Nacatl and a Ranger of Eos. When he plays Behemoth Sledge, I Fallout the board, leaving him at 11. He plays a Nacatl and equips it, but I quake for 5. I Deathmark his next Nacatl. He plays 2 Hierarchs and equips Behemoth Sledge. I pray for a quake off the top, and I get it.

Game 3 I mulligan to 6 and play a Turn 2 Bloodchief Ascension. He plays Behemoth Sledge. I Hellspark him. He plays a Nacatl and I Bolt him at EOT. I play Fallout leaving him at 12 life. He Purges my active Ascension. I swing him to 8, but he gets a 5/5 lifelink Nacatl, and I never draw another Deathmark.

1-2

Round 4 vs. Soldiers

I play a Turn 1 Bloodchief Ascension, and he plays Elite Vanguard. I pass, he plays Honor and attacks. I ho-hum, and take 3. I Burst Lightning him at EOT, then Goblin Guide him. He plays Kor Aeronaut. I swing, he Paths the Guide. I Earthquake for 3 to activate my Ascension. He attacks. Next turn I Blightning him, then I manage to Blightning + Hellspark for exactly lethal the turn after that.

Game 2 He passes. I play Goblin Guide and attack, and he plays White Knight. I Bolt it. He plays Honor of the Pure, I play Bloodchief Ascension and swing. He plays a second Honor and Sigilled Paladin, which I Deathmark. I swing. He Paths my Guide, so I Fallout an empty board to activate Ascension. He plays Kor Aeronaut. I Blightning him to 3 life and 0 cards in hand, then Deathmark his one creature. I win shortly after.

2-2

Salivanth's Rating: 3.5/5
Matches Won x2: 4/8

Total Score: 7.5

I like B/R Bloodchief, but I think B/R Blightning is better. The Bloodchief often gets killed or doesn't activate and it warps your game too much. Goblin Guide is awesome, I don't know about Lacerator. I'd recommend upping the curve by removing the Bloodchief Ascensions and the Lacerators and adding in some strong 3-4 mana cards.

Make sure to vote for tomorrow's deck in the polls!

See you tomorrow!

Zendikar Achievements!

2009-09-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

I was wondering a couple of months ago: what would make Magic even better? ACHIEVEMENTS! But what was the point of making achievements just for myself? Flash forward to now, and I now have the medium to do so.

For the uninitiated:

Achievements, also known by many names, like awards, accomplishments, feats or badges, are certain objectives within a game, the accomplishment of which awards a certain amount of points (usually). Gamers love achievements, as it's in their nature to strive for objectives. Xbox 360 has it, World of Warcraft has it...why not Magic?

Thus, every time a new set is released and whenever the hell I feel like it, I'll release a new group of achievements. If you succeed at one, feel free to post your story!

Here are the first 15 achievements I've come up with:

HOW Much Mana?: Kick one of the following cards: Conqueror’s Pledge, Rite of Replication, Sadistic Sacrament, Elemental Appeal, Gigantiform. (10 points)

Land Ho!: Play 3 land in a single turn. (10 points)

Suicide Indeed: Take 10 self-inflicted damage in one game. (10 points)

Winnin’ The Expedition: Activate 2 Expedition cards in one turn. (10 points)

Another One?: Play 4 of any card that isn’t a basic land in a single game. (20 points)

Cards Up My Sleeve: Destroy 3 different types of permanent in one game. (The permanent types are creature, artifact, enchantment, land, planeswalker and tribal). (20 points)

Down With The Chief: Defeat a player who has a Bloodchief Ascension with 3 or more counters on it. (20 points)

Here Have Some Cards: Win a game by casting Sign in Blood on an opponent. (20 points)

Man of the Land: Have a 10/10 or bigger creature from among the following: Knight of the Reliquary, Ob Nixilis, the Fallen, Territorial Baloth. (20 points)

Not Very Observant: Play the alternate casting costs of 3 traps in a single game. (20 points)

The Other Rare-Draft: Pick 12 full-art basic lands in a draft, then 3-0 the draft. (30 points)

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Fetches!: Go Top 3 at FNM with a mono-colored deck. (30 points)

You Suck: Steal a permanent, destroy all creatures, and take an extra turn in a 24-hour period. (30 points)

I'd like feedback on this, since it's a pretty unique idea, and I figure either it totally flops or it does well, and I love experimenting.

I am currently accepting stories and submissions for new achievements at salivanth@live.com, or on Twitter at

www.twitter.com/mtgsalivanth.

Happy achieving!

Zendikar Decks Part I: Vampire Aggro

2009-09-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first article in my series on Zendikar decks. Polls will be running through the week to determine the next deck in the series, and the first one you guys picked was Vampire Aggro. Don't forget to vote for tomorrow's article!

Here's the deck I ended up using:

Lands (24)

24 Swamp

Creatures (26)

4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Guul Draz Vampire
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus

Spells (10)

4 Doom Blade
2 Duress
4 Sign in Blood

Sideboard:

4 Vampire Hexmage
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Deathmark
2 Duress

I hopped on MWS to do battle.

Round 1 vs. Mono-Red Burn

He wins the die roll, and we both mulligan to 6.

He plays a land and passes. I play Guul Draz Vampire. At EOT, he Burst Lightnings me. (18, 20) He plays Hellspark Elemental and swings. I take it. (15, 20). I untap, and swing. (15, 19). I play Bloodghast.

He passes, and I swing for 3. (15, 16). I play Vampire Nighthawk. He Bolts it. He plays Hell's Thunder and attacks. (11, 16). I swing back. (11, 13). I play another Bloodghast. He plays a second Hellspark and swings. (8, 13).

I attack with everything. (8, 8) and then play a Vampire Lacerator. He untaps, and unearths both Hellsparks. I Doom Blade one, and take 3. (5, 8). I attack with my Bloodghasts. (5, 4). He plays Goblin Ruinblaster and passes. I untap, and swing for the win.

Game 2 he elects to play. He keeps, and I mulligan to 6. He plays a land and passes, I play Guul Draz Vampire. Turn 2, he plays a land and passes. I Duress. I take Fallout, and attack. (20, 19). I then play a second Guul Draz Vampire.

He untaps, and Earthquakes for 1. (19, 18). He passes. I play Vampire Nighthawk. He plays double Burst Lightning to kill it. I untap, and play Bloodchief Ascension. He plays Hell's Thunder, and swings. (15, 18). I pass. He unearths Hell's Thunder and attacks. I Doom Blade it.

I untap and play another Bloodchief Ascension. Not the best topdecks. He plays Elemental Appeal and attacks. I Doom Blade it. I pass. Another land. He plays Quest for Pure Flame and Elemental Appeal. He swings. (8, 18). I draw nothing but lands for the next two turns and he plays and unearths Hell's Thunder to kill me.

Game 3 I choose to play, and we both mulligan to 6. Turn 1 I play Guul Draz Vampire. He plays a land and passes. I play Turn 2 Duress, and he aims a Bolt at me in response. (17, 20). I take Elemental Appeal, and swing. (17, 19). He plays a land and passes. I swing (17, 18) and play Vampire Lacerator.

He plays a land and passes. I swing (16, 15) and pass. He passes yet again. I swing, and he plays Fallout (13, 13). I play Guul Draz Vampire and Bloodghast. He lays a land and passes. I swing, he plays another Fallout. (11, 11). I play another Bloodghast. He plays Elemental Appeal and swings. (4, 11).

I play a land, returning Bloodghast, then play Vampire Nocturnus. I swing with a 4/2 flying Bloodghast. (4, 7). I pass. He draws, plays Earthquake for 2 (2, 5) then Burst Lightnings me for the win.

0-1

Round 2 vs. Vampire Aggro

Note: My computer crashed while writing these, so the rest of the post will be fairly short.

Game 1 I keep a slow hand. He curves out basically perfectly and beats me before I put up much resistance.

Game 2 we trade for a while until I manage to get out multiple Bloodwitches and win that way.

Game 3 he gets the advantage, then I play Nocturnus. Unfortunately I then draw 3 swamps in a row and die.

0-2

Round 3 vs. Bant

Game 1 he plays Great Sable Stag with Rafiq of the Many. I die about as horribly as you'd expect.

Game 2 I play lots of guys, and by the time he stabilises I have 3/2's with fear to seal the deal.

Game 3 we play a long game. I eventually stick a Gatekeeper of Malakir with FOUR removal spells in hand. I then bash him to death over six turns killing everything he plays.

1-2

Round 4 vs. B/R Bloodchief

Game 1 his deck works perfectly, getting 3 counters on Bloodchief Ascension and Blightninging me to death.

Game 2 he stalls for a bit and I end up winning with Vampire Nocturnus's buff.

Game 3 we race. He eventually sticks an Ascension and Earthquakes my guys to activate it, but he's at 2 and I manage to kill him even with his active Ascension.

2-2

My Ranking: 2/5
Matches Won x2: 4/8

The ranking system will work as follows. I will rank the deck by consistency and power out of 5, then the amount of matches out of 4 won, x2, will be the rest of the score. At the end, I'll rank them all up.

Frankly, I don't think Vampire Aggro is that great, and B/R hate will keep it down. I rate it Tier 2.

See you soon with the next deck!

Zendikar Decks Part II

2009-09-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

I promised in my original Zendikar Decks article here that I'd eventually flesh out these decks. Now is the time for me to do that. I'll propose 7 decks, and I intend to test them, one per day, (except for Saturday) for a week. I'll allow people to vote on their choice. Here are the decks:

W/B/R Control.

Lands (26)

4 Arid Mesa
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Marsh Flats
4 Mountain
5 Plains
5 Swamp

Creatures (4)

4 Baneslayer Angel

Spells (30)

3 Ajani Vengeant
3 Chandra Nalaar
4 Day of Judgement
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Luminarch Ascension
3 Martial Coup
4 Path to Exile
4 Sign in Blood
3 Terminate

Sideboard:

4 Celestial Purge
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Solemn Offering
4 Volcanic Fallout

The deck has 7 Wraths, and ample finishers. It can finish from several angles. It has card draw in Sign in Blood, and plenty of spot removal. It's a rough draft, but could turn into quite a deck.

New Time Sieve

Lands (18)

7 Island
5 Plains
6 Swamp

Creatures (0)

Spells ()

4 Day of Judgement
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Font of Mythos
4 Howling Mine
4 Kaleidoscope
4 Mistvein Borderpost
4 Obelisk of Esper
4 Open the Vaults
3 Tezzeret the Seeker
4 Time Sieve
4 Time Warp

Sideboard:

4 Celestial Purge
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Meddling Mage
4 Path to Exile

The deck loses a bit, and doesn't gain much, but the deck still has Tier 1 potential. An extra Tezzeret has been added for the non-combo finish. Obelisk of Esper acts as Borderposts 9-12, and the Day of Judgement is there to stop Vampires.

Vampire Aggro

Lands (24)

24 Swamp

Creatures (26)

4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Guul Draz Vampire
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus

Spells (10)

4 Doom Blade
2 Duress
4 Sign in Blood

Sideboard:

2 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Deathmark
2 Duress
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
3 Ravenous Trap

The deck is fast, has some late-game plans, light disruption, removal and card draw, and it's VAMPIRES. Who doesn't like Vampires? The Ravenous Trap in the sideboard is against Time Sieve. Absolutely destroys them.

B/R Bloodchief Blightning

Lands (24)

4 Akoum Refuge
4 Dragonskull Summit
8 Mountain
8 Swamp

Creatures (18)
2 Ball Lightning
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Goblin Outlander
4 Vampire Lacerator

Spells (18)

4 Blightning
4 Bloodchief Ascension
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard:

3 Banefire
4 Deathmark
4 Duress
2 Terminate
2 Volcanic Fallout

This deck is a fairly simple B/R deck. The idea is to beat the opponent to death, either with or without a Bloodchief Ascension.

New Jund

Lands (25)

4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Savage Lands
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures (16)

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
4 Vampire Nighthawk

Spells (19)

4 Bituminous Blast
4 Jund Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Sign in Blood

Sideboard:

4 Deathmark
4 Great Sable Stag
3 Jund Hackblade
4 Volcanic Fallout

A Jund list with many of the same traits as pre-Zendikar Jund: the ability to play as aggro or control, a malleable sideboard, and a lot of sheer power, and Cascade.

New Warp World

Lands (23)

7 Forest
9 Mountain
3 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures (29)

4 Birds of Paradise
2 Bogardan Hellkite
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Keeper of Progenitus
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
4 Siege-Gang Commander

Spells (8)

4 Trace of Abundance
4 Warp World

Sideboard:

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Thought Hemorrhage
4 Vithian Renegades
3 Volcanic Fallout

Most of the deck remains the same. The main additions are Ob Nixilis, who is a BEATING if you get 3-4 lands off Warp World, and Lotus Cobra to power out more fast starts.

Soldiers

Lands (24)

23 Plains

Creatures ()

4 Captain of the Watch

4 Elite Vanguard

4 Kazandu Blademaster

4 Kor Aeronaut

4 Veteran Armorsmith

4 Veteran Swordsmith

Spells ()

2 Conqueror's Pledge

4 Honor of the Pure

4 Path to Exile

3 Brave the Elements

Sideboard:

3 Baneslayer Angel

1 Brave the Elements

4 Celestial Purge

3 Devout Lightcaster

4 Harm's Way

This is an archetypal White Weenie deck: plenty of guys, some modern token-producers, and the Anthem of choice, Honor of the Pure. Also features the anti-removal Brave the Elements as a new addition.

So those are our seven. Be sure to vote for which one should be tested first in the poll!

Zendikar Prerelease: A Gamer's Tale.

2009-09-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

After finishing yesterday's blog post at 3 am, I then proceeded to fall asleep until 8 am. I got more sleep than half the players at the Prerelease. (We're GAMERS. It happens) I headed in, and the atmosphere was absolutely, positively...dull. This continued on in that vein, until...

WAIT A MINUTE. This isn't "How My Day Went", this is the Zendikar Prerelease report! So let's just skip right to the cards, shall we? Any objections?

...

...

...

*crickets chirp*

...

I thought not.

We got passed our cards and deck registration sheets, and I started sorting. It took a bit of time, since I had to open a kid's boosters for him (he broke his arm a few weeks ago and still hasn't missed a week. That's just awesome.) but I immediately realised, while I didn't have any bombs, I had a very solid pool. Here's what I opened.

Basic Land:

2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp

Non-Basic Land:

1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Piranha Marsh
1 Soaring Seacliff
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle

Artifact:

1 Adventuring Gear
1 Carnage Altar
2 Expedition Map
1 Stonework Puma
1 Trusty Machete

White:

1 Brave the Elements
2 Caravan Hurda
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Kazandu Blademaster
1 Kor Skyfisher
1 Nimbus Wings
1 Noble Vestige
1 Ondu Cleric
1 Shieldmate's Blessing
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Sunspring Expedition

Blue:

1 Archive Trap
1 Caller of Gales
1 Gomazoa
1 Into the Roil
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
1 Kraken Hatchling
1 Quest for Ancient Secrets
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sea Gate Loremaster
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Summoner's Bane
2 Tempest Owl
1 Trapfinder's Trick
2 Welkin Tern
1 Whiplash Trap

Black:

4 Crypt Ripper
1 Desecrated Earth
1 Feast of Blood
1 Giant Scorpion
2 Hideous End
2 Mindless Null
1 Ravenous Trap
2 Sadistic Sacrament
2 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Vampire Hexmage

Red:

1 Geyser Glider
1 Goblin War Paint
1 Murasa Pyromancer
1 Plated Geopede
1 Quest for Pure Flame
1 Ruinous Minotaur
1 Seismic Shudder
1 Shatterskull Giant
1 Spire Barrage
1 Torch Slinger
1 Zektar Shrine Expedition

Green:

2 Grazing Gladehart
1 Joraga Bard
1 Khalni Heart Expedition
1 Nissa's Chosen
2 Oran-Rief Survivalist
1 Savage Silhouette
2 Tajuru Archer
1 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Vastwood Gorger

Now, since you may not know all the cards in Zendikar yet (shame on you for not memorising the entire Visual Spoiler already!) here are some of the more interesting ones.

Crypt Ripper

2BB

Haste

2/2

B: +1/+1 til EOT.

I opened FOUR of these. Yeah. FOUR. As I mentioned in my own post, this card is actually pretty damn good. Combined with the two Hideous End, I knew instantly I would play black. We didn't end up deck swapping (we have a fairly lenient prerelease) so we got to brewin'!

The biggest problem I had was in deciding a second color. I could have made arguments for all of them. Red had some solid creatures and Zektar Shrine. Green had some great creatures. White had a Piece of removal and some combat tricks, and blue has a lot of decent playables, including two (Reckless Scholar and Sea Gate Loremaster) that can just win the game if left unchecked.

After much agonizing, I went with a blue-black build. I chose to add the Seacliff, but not the Piranha Marsh. Here's the build I ended up with:

Lands (17)

7 Island
1 Soaring Seacluff
9 Swamp

Creatures (13)

1 Caller of Gales
4 Crypt Ripper
1 Giant Scorpion
1 Gomozoa
1 Reckless Scholar
1 Sea Gate Loremaster
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Vampire Hexmage
2 Welkin Tern

Spells (10)

1 Carnage Altar
2 Hideous End
1 Into the Roil
1 Ior Ruin Expedition
2 Soul Stair Expedition
1 Summoner's Bane
1 Trusty Machete
1 Whiplash Trap

I added Carnage Altar as an experiment. Cards like this can occasionally turn out uber-powerful, and if I was right, I'd look awesome and have a great edge.

It wasn't. It was terrible, and I should have taken it out after Round 1. Somehow I forgot about the 'Change your deck between rounds' rule at the Prerelease.

Trusty Machete, however, was bloody awesome.

Crypt Ripper, however, was my MVP. So good to have 4 of them. Let's move on to the games though, lest I wax about every card in my deck.

Round 1 vs. Heath

I lose the die roll. Both of us elect to keep. He leads with a Sunspring Expedition. I match it with a Soul Stair Expedition. He plays Kor Skyfisher, bouncing his Plains, and I pass. He plays Turntimber Grove and bashes me for 3. (17,20)

I pass. He swings again, and I give his Skyfisher a rather Hideous End. (17,18) He plays a Shieldmate. A 1/4 defender. Scary. I play Crypt Ripper, he plays Greenweaver Druid. I drop an Ior Ruin, then a land (I almost, out of habit, do it the other way round) and swing. He lets it through, and I triple-pump. (17, 13). He activates his Expedition. (17, 21). He plays Harrow and swings. I take 1. (16, 21). I attack with Crypt Ripper. His 1/4 blocks, and I pump the Ripper to kill it. At the end of my turn, he plays Baloth Cage Trap.

Next turn, he plays Celestial Mantle and swings with a 7/7 that will double his life total if it hits. Yeah, I chump block. Next turn I kick Into The Roil to bounce his token, then swing, and pump +4. (16, 11). He plays Kor Hookmaster and Explorer's Scope. He swings for 1. (15, 11). I play Sky Ruin Drake and another Soul Stair Expedition, then pass.

He plays Stonework Puma, then Brave the Elements naming blue. He swings. (13, 11). I swing. He blocks with the Puma. I pump to kill it, and hit for 2 with my Drake. (13, 9). I then play Sea Gate Loremaster and Giant Scorpion. He untaps and plays Landbind Ritual. (13, 21). He swings. Giant Scorpion blocks. The Hookmaster dies. I swing. (13, 18). He blocks my Crypt Ripper with Greenweaver Druid. He passes.

I play Gomazoa and Trusty Machete. I equip it, and swing. (13, 8) He plays Kor Sanctifiers. I Summoner's Bane it. Next turn, I play Soaring Seacliff, pump my Ripper, and beat him to death in the air.

Game 2 he chooses to play. He keeps, and I mull to 6. His first play is Kor Outfitters. I draw Soul Stair Expedition, play it, then lay a land. He plays Greenweaver Druid, and swings. (20, 18). I play Giant Scorpion, and he kicks Kor Aeronaut. He swings. (20, 16). I play Crypt Ripper and swing. (18, 16). He plays Turntimber Larva. He swings again. (18, 14). I respond in kind, with a 5/5 Crypt Ripper. (13, 14). He swings (13, 10) and I block Turntimber Larva with Giant Scorpion. I get it back with the Expedition at EOT.

I play it, then swing, pumping twice. (9, 10). He plays another Kor Outfitters and swings. (9, 5). I play Gomozoa and pass. He plays Stonework Puma and knocks me to two. I play Carnage Alter and sacrifice Gomozoa. I fail to draw an answer, and concede.

On to Game 3!

I play, and we both keep. I play a Trusty Machete, he plays Sunspring Expedition. I play Vampire Hexmage, he plays Expedition Map. I swing, then play Welkin Tern. He plays Kor Hookmaster, targeting the Hexmage. I equip Trusty Machete to Welkin Tern. (This happens several times throughout the day. It becomes a running gag of mine about the homocidal bird carrying a machete in it's mouth.)

I swing. (14, 20). He uses Expedition Map to find Turntimber Grove, plays it, and hits me for 3. (14, 17). I play Sky Ruin Drake (or as I start calling it, Race Ruin Drake) and swing. (8, 17). He sacs the Expedition. (16, 17). He plays Territorial Baloth. I play Crypt Ripper. He swings. (10, 11). We have a race on our hands! I oblige. He then plays Kor Outfitters, attaching the Expedition Scope to the Basilisk. I play Crypt Ripper. I swing. He Pitfall Traps my 4/4 Ripper and blocks the other. (2, 11). He then plays Puma, and Harrow (making the Baloth an 8/8.) He swings. I go to 3. I win next turn.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Luke

I play first. I play a Swamp, he plays the R/G Refuge. (20, 21)
I play a land, he plays Zektar Shrine Expedition.
I play Reckless Scholar, he passes. I play Crypt Ripper, he uses Punishing Fire. He passes. I play a Sky Ruin Drake. He passes again. I play Ior Ruin Expedition and attack. He Harrows and Hideous Ends my Drake. (18, 19). He plays Tuktuk Grunts and swings. I block. I play Gomazoa, then Welkin Tern. I swing. (18, 17).

He plays Marsh Casualties. I play Trusty Machete and Crypt Ripper. I swing. (18, 15). He swings with the Zektar and a 4/4. I block the 7/1 and Gomazoa-shuffle it into oblivion, and take 4. (14, 15). I equip Crypt Ripper with my Machete, and attack. (14, 9). He plays Mark of Mutiny on it, and attacks. (6, 9). I swing, he blocks. I play Sea Gate Loremaster.

He plays Giant Scorpion. He passes. I swing and he blocks and uses Slaughter Cry to kill my guy. He plays a Shrine, and a land. He swings. (5, 9). I equip the Machete to the Loremaster. I pass. He swings. (4, 9). I Hideous End his blocker next turn, and swing. (4, 4). He kicks Mold Shambler. I use Summoner's Bane. I play a Crypt Ripper next turn and swing for the win.

Game 2 he chooses to draw. I play a Turn 2 Ior Ruin, and he passes. I play Reckless Scholar. He plays Vampire Nighthawk. (The sheer IMPOSSIBILITY of this card to be dealt with profitably says that I want this as my Jund 3-drop.) I play a Crypt Ripper and pass. He swings. (18, 22). I play a land and sac the Expedition. I pass. He swings. (16, 24). He then plays Spidersilk Net and attaches it to the Nighthawk. He kicks Gatekeeper of Malakir, and I sacrifice my Reckless Scholar.

I play my combo: Caller of Gales plus Giant Scorpion. He swings. (12, 28). I play a Crypt Ripper. He plays Malakir Bloodwitch. (9, 31). He swings. I use my combo and block. (9, 33). I swing, and +3. He goes to 28. He Spidersilk Nets onto the Bloodwitch. I Whiplash Trap it at end of turn, since the only card I have to kill it is Summoner's Bane (in hand, too!)

I then swing. (9, 22). He plays Malakir Bloodwitch, I Summoner's Bane it. I swing. (9, 11). He plays Hagra Diabolist. (8, 11). I kick Into the Roil and swing for the win.

2-0.

Round 3 vs. Brian.

I mulligan, and he keeps. He plays the G/W refuge. (20, 21). I lay a land and pass. We both play lands, then I play Giant Scorpion. He passes. I play Crypt Ripper, and swing. (20, 18). He passes. I swing, pump the Ripper to a 4/4. He Burst Lightnings it (with Kicker). (20, 17). He passes. I play a Crypt Ripper and swing. (20, 12). Next turn I play Trusty Machete and Welkin Tarn and swing. (20, 3). He concedes.

Game 2 he plays Kor Duelist. I play Soul Stair Expedition. He plays Turntimber Grove and swings. (20, 18). I play Welkin Tern. He swings. (20, 17). He plays Nissa's Chosen. I play Trusty Machete, and equip it to the Tern. I swing. (16, 17). We both swing for a few turns. Here's how it goes:

16, 14.
12, 14.
12, 11.
8, 11.

He then plays an end of turn Baloth Cage Trap. He swings, and I Whiplash Trap his token and Chosen. (8. 9) He plays Oracle of Mul Daya. I swing. (4, 9). He plays Kor Hookmaster. I Summoner's Bane it. He Magma Rifts. I get it back with Soul Stair at EOT.

I equip the machete to my token and swing. He blocks. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He kicks Kor Sanctifiers and kills my Machete. I swing. (9, 2). I play Welkin Tern and Sea Gate Loremaster. He draws and concedes.

3-0.

Round 4 vs. Jarred

I've been hearing tales of Jarred's amazing deck all day. Let's see if it lives up to the hype.

He keeps, I mulligan. I play a land, he plays Piranha Marsh. (20, 19). Turn 3 he plays Quest for the Gemblades. I play Crypt Ripper and swing. (18, 19). He kicks Gatekeeper of Malakir. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He plays Territorial Baloth. I pass. He swings. I block the Gatekeeper. (18, 13). He plays some guys, and I Whiplash Trap them for U.

Aside: I totally punted this. For some reason I thought Whiplash Trap's U cost was only meant to bounce the creatures that were played. I should have gone for the Baloth instead. It probably wouldn't have helped though. See below.

He swings. (18, 7).

Next turn he plays Sorin Markov. He drains my life and beats me to death shortly after.

Game 2 I play Caller of Gales. He plays Piranha Marsh. (20, 19). I swing, and play Welkin Tarn. He plays Quest of the Gemblades. I swing. (16, 19). He plays Vampire Nighthawk. So much for out-aggroing him.

I play a Soul Stair and pass. He swings. (18, 17). I swing. (16, 17). He plays Crypt Ripper and swings. (18, 12)

I play Sea Gate Loremaster and swing. (16, 12).

He swings. (18, 4).

I draw, and concede.

3-1.

Ow...the pain...

Round 5 vs. Nicholas

He wins the roll. I mulligan. Turn 1, he plays Guul Draz Vampire. I play Caller of Gales. He swings, and I block. He plays a second Guul Draz Vampire. I play Welkin Tern. He plays Kor Hookmaster and swings. (20, 19). I pass. He swings (20, 18) then plays Kor Cartographer.

I swing. (18, 18). He swings. (18, 15). He plays Kazandu Blademaster and Adventuring Geat. I swing. (16, 15) I play Carnage Altar, again cursing it's very existence.

He swings. (16, 10). I pass. He swings (16, 4). I kick Into The Roil, fail to find something next turn, and concede.

Game 2 I choose to play. I play Soul Stair, he plays Vampire Lacerator and Spidersilk Net. I pass. He swings (19, 18) and plays Bloodghast. I play Gomazoa. He swings. I block Bloodghast. (18, 16)

I play Reckless Scholar. He swings. I block Bloodghast and shuffle them away. (17,14). he swings next turn. (16, 12). I play Crypt Ripper, and swing. (14, 12).

He swings, I block, and he casts Disfigure. (13, 12). I swing, and he casts Hideous End. (13, 10). I remark that now I'm at 10, I'm basically screwed. He agrees. I play Hexmage. He swings. After double-checking for a combat trick, I blow him out with my guys. He forgot Hexmage had first strike. a Hideous End was also involved. (He played a Hookmaster at one point. My notes suck.) (11, 10).

I swing. (6, 10). I win quite quickly, and we're on to Game 3.

Game 3 I keep, and my heart turns to ice. How could I forget that his deck was so fast, and I have so little early action!?

He plays Vampire Lacerator. I play Carnage Altar. He swings. (19, 18). I pass. He swings. (18, 16). He plays Kor Sanctifiers.

I play Gomazoa, acting as if I had it all along. Don't know if I fooled him. He swings. (17, 14) then plays Heartstabber Mosquito. I play Ior Ruin Expedition, lay a land, and pass. he swings. (16, 10). Once again, past the 10 mark. I play Sky Ruin Drake. He swings, I block Lacerator. (16, 6) He plays another couple of guys next turn and swings. (16, 2). I have nothing off the top, and that's the tournament.

3-2.

Well, in the end thanks to high resistances, I come 8th out of 33, so I'm happy. I get some Zendikar packs for my troubles, and had a cool day of Magic. I'll need to play at the Launch Party and participate in some Zendikar draft before I make a formal conclusion as to the format, but here's my view:

As spoken by someone who's name I don't know at the Prerelease: Games in Zendikar go really fast or really long. There's not really a middle ground. I totally agree. Zendikar's early drops and bombs are so good that midrange decks get flanked on either side. Either play aggro or play late-game: but make a choice. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Thank you, nameless guy.

Quests are very useful. They're also a big part of Limited.

Black is the best color in Zendikar. Most of the top 8 played with it. I advise trying to play it in Sealed. I don't know about Draft yet.

Thanks for reading!