XXX on MODO

I finally jumped in the XXX pool online tonight. Tried to get a MED-X-X but it wasn't firing and I didn't have the packs for MMM, nor do I think I should be reading more than one pack of cards (since I don't know most of em, duh). Anyhoo.

Draft: Pick 1 (I forgot to turn DraftCap on until the next pick so the numbering is off) was Troll Ascetic over a bunch of cards that didn't pay for half the draft.

Pack 1:Civic Wayfinder, Severed Legion, Bandage, Rootwater Commando, Bloodrock Cyclops, Rushwood Dryad, Goblin Sky Raider, Suntail Hawk, Lava Axe, *, I*, Regeneration, Ballista Squad, Forest

Here's an interesting pick right away. Ballista Squad is amazing, but I am not really enamored of white, and Civic Wayfinder definitely keeps my options open.

Pick: Civic Wayfinder

Pack 2: Dusk Imp, Boomerang, Spined Wurm, Cancel, Robe of Mirrors, Angelic Wall, Spineless Thug, Grizzly Bears, Goblin Lore, Creeping Mold, Spawning Pool, *, Bottle Gnomes

Pick: Spined Wurm

Pack 3:Unsummon, Stalking Tiger, Samite Healer, Viashino Sandscout, Reviving Dose, Horseshoe Crab, Scathe Zombies, Deathmark, Wall of Fire, Seismic Assault, *, Island

I really like Unsummon as a way to get my green fat through, but Stalking Tiger is pretty solid as well, and I don't see Unsummon as a huge "Blue is Open!" sign.

Pick: Stalking Tiger

Pack 4:Highway Robber, Venerable Monk, Viashino Runner, Cancel, Firebreathing, Suntail Hawk, Treetop Bracers, Spirit Link, Telling Time, True Believer, Forest

This is probably a grotesque mispick. Treetop Bracers is asking for a 2-for-1. I love Highway Robber. I love Telling Time. U is probably open.

Pick: Treetop Bracers

Pack 5: Recover, Kavu Climber, Rock Badger, Demolish, Warrior's Honor, Commune with Nature, Crafty Pathmage, Angel's Feather

I also love Recover.

Pick: Recover

Pack 6:Uncontrollable Anger, Looming Shade, Giant Spider, Remove Soul, Terramorphic Expanse, Plague Beetle, Pincher Beetles, Lumengrid Warden, Swamp

Now black is probably open here, but we haven't seen anything truly amazing. Looming Shade sucks as much as it rocks and Giant Spider is so good.

Pick: Giant Spider

Pack 7:Rock Badger, Scathe Zombies, Goblin Elite Infantry, Overgrowth, Tundra Wolves, Demolish, Stronghold Discipline, Mountain

Pick: Scathe Zombies

Pack 8:Boomerang, Smash, Wall of Wood, Shimmering Wings, Angelic Blessing, Fog Elemental, Forest

Pick: Boomerang

Pack 9:Rootwater Commando, Goblin Sky Raider, Suntail Hawk, Elvish Berserker, Regeneration, Forest

Pick: Elvish Berserker

I would have gone with Rootwater Commando here, but my decks always lean on the 3-drop and I was trying to make a curve pick.

Pack 10: Robe of Mirrors, Angelic Wall, Grizzly Bears, Goblin Lore, Mountain

Pick: Grizzly Bears

Pack 11: Viashino Sandscout, Reviving Dose, Horseshoe Crab, Plains

Pick: Horseshoe Crab

Pack 12:Cancel, Suntail Hawk, Forest

Yeah, blue is open.

Pick: Cancel

Pack 13: Crafty Pathmage

Pack 14: Swamp

Pack 15:Anaba Bodyguard, Essence Drain, Steadfast Guard, Assassinate, Cloud Elemental, Crafty Pathmage, Llanowar Sentinel, Goblin Elite Infantry, Unholy Strength, Fists of the Anvil, Spiketail Hatchling, Leonin Scimitar, Demon's Horn, *, Mountain

You are probably going to say I should have picked Essence Drain or Assassinate. I think Blue is open and I am taking it.

Pick: Cloud Elemental

Pack 16: Uncontrollable Anger, Snapping Drake, Skyhunter Prowler, Recover, Steadfast Guard, Holy Day, Pincher Beetles, Horseshoe Crab, Naturalize, Thieving Magpie, *, Phyrexian Vault, Paladin en-Vec, Swamp

3 power over 1. Yes, I do know Thieving Magpie is insane card advantage. Watch.

Pick: Snapping Drake

Pack 17: Highway Robber, Skyhunter Patrol, Dehydration, Viashino Runner, Goblin Piker, Demystify, Sage Owl, Treetop Bracers, Fear, Luminesce, Reminisce

Ooh. Blue removal.

Pick: Dehydration

Pack 18:Heart of Light, Afflict, Aven Windreader, Benalish Knight, Rootwater Commando, Holy Strength, Fugitive Wizard, Canopy Spider, Contaminated Bond, Telepathy, Treasure Hunter

3/3 evasion is nice.

Pick: Aven Windreader

Pack 19:Wild Griffin, Anaba Bodyguard, Sift, Ravenous Rats, Commune with Nature, Honor Guard, Lumengrid Warden, Distress, Spirit Weaver, Agonizing Memories

See, card advantage

Pick: Sift

Pack 20:Heart of Light, Merfolk Looter, Hill Giant, Natural Spring, Vampire Bats, Shimmering Wings, Goblin Piker, Spellbook, Spark Elemental

And you wanted me to take the Magpie. 6th pick Looter!

Pick: Merfolk Looter

Pack 21: Counsel of the Soratami, Looming Shade, Skyshroud Ranger, Warrior's Honor, Peek, Plague Beetle, Duct Crawler, Rootwater Matriarch, Plains

Okay, I was hoping to mise a Shimmering Wings in pack 3.

Pick: Rootwater Matriarch

Pack 22: Aven Windreader, Mass of Ghouls, Grizzly Bears, Stun, Elvish Berserker, Fear, Viridian Shaman, Plains

This probably should have been the Windreader, but my curve wasn't great and there are some nasty artifacts in XXX.

Pick: Viridian Shaman

Pack 23: Anaba Bodyguard, Crafty Pathmage, Unholy Strength, Fists of the Anvil, Spiketail Hatchling, Demon's Horn, Mountain

Pick: Spiketail Hatchling

Pack 24: Steadfast Guard, Holy Day, Horseshoe Crab, Naturalize, Phyrexian Vault, Swamp

Pick: Phyrexian Vault

Pack 25:Reminisce

Pack 26:Fugitive Wizard

Pack 27:Lumengrid Warden

Pack 28:Spellbook

Pack 29:Plains

Pack 30: Benalish Knight, Sea Monster, Bloodrock Cyclops, Dusk Imp, Spined Wurm, Wall of Wood, Terramorphic Expanse, Mind Rot, Smash, Earth Elemental, Recollect, Phantom Warrior, Hypnotic Specter, Island, Leonin Scimitar

Ooh, 4 tix or a win condition? I like Hyppie and if I had a deck which played him, I would have raredrafted. Phantom Warrior is teh nuts in XXX though.

Pick: Phantom Warrior

Pack 31: Lightning Elemental, Youthful Knight, Dehydration, Hill Giant, Civic Wayfinder, Spineless Thug, Lava Axe, Natural Spring, Fugitive Wizard, High Ground, Wurm's Tooth, Persuasion, Island, Mountain

Pick: Persuasion

Pack 32: Terror, Ghost Warden, Twitch, Kavu Climber, Festering Goblin, Viashino Sandscout, Cloud Sprite, Distress, Raging Goblin, *, Kraken's Eye, Angelic Chorus, Forest

Okay, so maybe you were right about the Essence Drain.

Pick: Terror

Pack 33: Unsummon, Ravenous Rats, Giant Spider, Dross Crocodile, Fists of the Anvil, Tundra Wolves, Llanowar Sentinel, Peek, Sylvan Basilisk, No Rest for the Wicked, Sculpting Steel

At the rate I was wheeling fliers, I really didn't wanna see this on the other side of the board.

Pick: Giant Spider

Pack 34: Bandage, Sea Monster, Llanowar Elves, Mass of Ghouls, Firebreathing, Mind Rot, Demystify, Robe of Mirrors, Academy Researchers, Hate Weaver, Forest

For some reason, I thought my curve was too high and I needed the Elves. This wasn't really so.

Pick: Llanowar Elves

Pack 35: Festering Goblin, Aven Cloudchaser, Counsel of the Soratami, Holy Day, Duct Crawler, Naturalize, Reviving Dose, Forbidding Watchtower, Stronghold Discipline, Mountain

More card advantage.

Pick: Counsel of the Soratami

Pack 36: Rushwood Dryad, Sage Owl, Goblin Sky Raider, Angelic Blessing, Stun, Contaminated Bond, Rule of Law, Deluge, Forest

I loves me some Sages.

Pick: Sage Owl

Pack 37:Twitch, Stalking Tiger, Remove Soul, Unholy Strength, Raging Goblin, Honor Guard, Overgrowth, Swamp

Blue Terror?

Pick: Remove Soul

Pack 38: Sea Monster, Bloodrock Cyclops, Dusk Imp, Wall of Wood, Mind Rot, Smash, Island

Pick: Sea Monster

Pack 39: Fugitive Wizard

Pack 40: Twitch

Pack 41: Peek

Pack 42: Robe of Mirrors

Pack 43: Duct Crawler

Pack 44: Forest

Draft recording done by Blargware's MTGO DraftCap. Support Blargware!

Game 1-I play turn 2 Spiketail into Wayfinder into Ascetic. He played nothing other than card drawing and conceded on turn 7. There may have been a Horseshoe Crab. A Looter from him may have been countered by a Spiketail Activation.

Game 2-I played turn 2 Spiketail into turn 3 Ascetic (2nd Forest off the top) into turn 3 Phantom Warrior into turn 5 Persuasion on your Rootwater Commando. I never needed the Terror in my hand. Wow! I must be good at draft!

Match 2. Game 1-I get down Ascetic, he gets down Mortivore, Icy and enough removal to keep me to one flier at a time. I concede when it gets silly. I board in Treetop Bracers (I know it's a 2 for 1, but ground stalls were inevitable with us both playing green fat) and Viridian Shaman.

Game 2-He gets stuck with no green for 4 or 5 turns, and when he finally gets it, I have 8 power on the board and the Ascetic chumpies for his Spined Wurm. And he's at, like, 6.

Game 3-Removal for my early beats. Icy. No Viridian Shaman. Yuck.

So I got a couple packs, and can still draft MED-X-X. Hawesome. Also, Icy just dominates. I really wish I was better at opening it. Or drawing my V. Shaman, I guess.

A Modest Proposal

Man oh man, is Masters Edition ever fun! I have played in one release league so far and I hope to play in a few more as budgetary constraints allow. For those of us who weren't around for the beginning (or even middle) of the game's history, it's a blast to get to play with a bunch of new (to us) cards, explore the differences between then and now and basically just explore new formats. It makes me wonder if the business model of MODO couldn't change a bit.

The economics of MODO is driven by the extreme scarcity of Invasion Block cards, just as the real life economies of Vintage and (to a lesser extent) Legacy are driven by a scarcity of ABU¹. Online Extended is dramatically different than real life extended due to the cost of Pernicious Deed, Orim's Chant and others. The reason for this is Wizards has stated they are never rereleasing those sets, no matter what. The only way new cards enter the pool is from the periodic IPA tourneys². Now, some people have invested a lot of money in IPA cards, in the expectation that Wizards will never reprint them. But what if? What if Wizards were to start supporting older formats on MODO?

I am not talking about rereleasing all the cards for unlimited play all the time. Instead, I propose Wizards use a business model more similar to Disney. As anybody with kids can tell you, Disney's back catalog is not all available at any given time. Movies like Bambi, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid and so forth are brought out in a new edition every 5-10 years. Disney "restores" them and adds a few documentaries or other things your kids will never watch and then launches it out into the world for a limited time (six months or so). This has a couple of effects. One is that the resale value of Disney movies is far, far higher than your average movie on DVD. The limited release schedule also increases anticipation as people are aware of a new release of Aladdin or whatever nine months before it comes out, even though the product is already known!

You can easily imagine Wizards saying that a given block (Invasion through current, nothing they'd have to program) would be available for 3 or 4 months. Then it would not be available again for however long it takes the wheel to spin. I don't think they should run release events or anything as the MODO calendar is already pretty cluttered as it is, not to mention the fact that releases bring down the server on a regular basis. Instead, just start up draft queues and leagues, and maybe a few 2X Block Constructed PEs. Wouldn't that be awesome? I, for one, would absolutely love to experience the 5 color mishmash that was IPA draft. Or the signalling free environment that was Mirrodin.

Thinking about it, a 4 month rotation makes the most sense. 3 blocks a year. They can up the rate once more blocks are online. As an example

March-June 2008- IPA goes on sale.
July-October 2008-Odyssey
November 2008-February 2009-Onslaught
March-June 2009-Mirrodin
July-October 2009-Kamigawa
November 2009-February 2010-Ravnica
March-June 2010-IPA (or MED, maybe?)

I think you'd want to have a rule where the block doesn't go into this rotation until it has been out of standard for 2 years. That's why I don't have TSP in there until next time.

I don't put this proposal forward as a way to fix the economics of Extended. Invasion Block prices won't matter after the 2008 rotation anyway. Instead, I put it forward as a fan of the game, as a way for people to play more formats and more cards, and for Wizards to make ever more obscene amounts of money. After all, if they do, don't we get to keep getting our fix of cardboard crack? Yes, we do.


¹Imagine if FoW had been ABU and then never reprinted. Those playsets would be a lot worse than $100.
²And given what a cock-up the last one was, it's unlikely we'll see too much more of that until V3 a/k/a 2009.

I Heart Masters Edition

Finally got back on MODO tonight for the first time in like a week. Decided to do a Masters Edition league (3 packs Masters edition, 2 packs Xth). Opened an Adarkar Wastes and a FoW. That is all.

Update next morning: Actually that's not all, because I can never resist the urge to talk. I really am the sealed champ. I totally opened Vamp in a MMV league last year too. My advice: open well.

Incidentally, my deck is decent too. Fat Moti, Balduvian Horde, Lightning Bolt, Mountainwalkers (apparently everyone is playing mountains).

SNM > FNM

Being the captain of bondage gothiness means SNM is way more popular than FNM in my house. I was able to carve out time for a Standard tourney on Saturday and brought monogreen midrange and greater goyf. The Goyf was the list that went 7-0 at nats. There it was piloted by the owner of the store I used to play at in Tucson, Dusty Ochoa. Here it was piloted by me. I loaned monogreen midrange out to a deckless dude and sat down for my first round.

Round 1
Bye

Wasn't that awesome? Greater Goyf has the pairings mojo to kick me straight into the second round with three points. I sat and watched my MGM decklist get owned my Project X. It turns out that picking a deck at random doesn't work very well, especially when the person playing has little idea of the decks strategy. No disrespect to the dude who ran my deck, but he made some pretty significant play mistakes, which made this already difficult matchup absolutely unwinnable. Exhibit A. Board is 2 forests, bird and elf, Troll Ascetic. Opponent has just played a magus of the disk. Your hand is Heartwood Storyteller, Stampeding Wildebeests, Timbermare, Harmonize. Do you (A) leave regen mana up for Trollie, (B) play Harmonize, digging for the land you are about to need, (C) play Timbermare, essentially playing a four card Lava Axe? If you guessed (C) you may follow along at home and may CBG get paired against you in the 1st round of a ptq. After board, does he set Pithing Needle on Saffi? No he does not. Ouch. 1-0

Round 2
Dan with AngelFire

I think Greater Goyf is ahead against Angelfire but I am not entirely sure. Haven't exactly tested assiduously. In the first game, I get so close, but misplay and sac a Mogg Fanatic to Gargadon instead of itself. Was he on 8 life? Yes, he was. Did I have Char and Incinerate in hand with 5 land on the table? Yes I did. Game two, I never saw any of the Cryoclasms I boarded and lost to the classic turn 3 Lightning Angel. 1-1

Round 3
Greater Goyf with Dark Confidant.

I don't think he was playing Char. I do think that was the difference. I played very tight game one and had a terrible draw game 2. Burned him out from 16 game 3. Would you keep a 3 mountain 2 Char, 2 Incinerate hand? I threw it back and got 2 mountain, 1 Gargs, 1 Char 2 Incinerate. Gargs is the trump in this matchup and so I kept. Gargs stayed suspended, what with me being busy burning my opponent's face off. So I finally have my first sanctioned constructed match win in 3 months. Yay me. 2-1

Round 4
Assault Loam.

Well, recursive threats are bad for me, but a broken draw is good. Game 1, he taps out for something insignificant while on 12, and I have a seal of fire on board and a suspended Garg. EOT sac seal, shock you, sac my board, Gargs wins. Game 2, I almost get there but he gets Assault down and Loam in the graveyard. 6 to the head per turn is bad. Also, was stuck on 2 land for entire game. Game 3. Was stuck on 2 land again and he gets the nuts anti aggro draw. Double Hierarch, double wall of roots. I threw 13 points of burn at his dudes, but was still only able to force through 12 on the ground. With him gaining 8, that was never going to be enough. Again, I never saw my sideboarded Cryoclasms. 2-2

So what did we learn? First round byes suck. There is no room for error. Also, we are rarely going to beat double elephant draws on the part of anybody. It helps to draw your sideboard cards. Learn how to sideboard. I really felt like I was way behind in the sideboarded games.

Monogreen midrange went 1-3. Hmm. I'll have to check in with TJRome and see how it's going online. Hey TJ? Comment. Did you remember to go down to 2 harmonize yet?

My Last Draft as a Free Man

The title isn't technically true, as I haven't been "free" for four years, but hey, there's some sort of marriage next weekend and I'm told I will be there in a tux waiting for some chick to walk down the aisle. So I am supposed to be shopping for wedding supplies (just like I'm supposed to be cleaning my old apartment right now) but instead I play Magic. XXXth draft, to be exact. We have six people, so no sanctioning, and cheap packs. Tony McRome wants to team draft, so we randomize and sit down. First pick is a Civic Wayfinder over Sift and Midnight Ritual. I feel like forcing blue and end up passing some quality red (Shock) and green (Craw Wurm) to do so. I get a Cloud Elemental, Dehydration, and a Counsel of Soratami for my troubles. I see no black removal. My last four picks are middling red cards. Pack two I have a tough call between Sift and Mogg Fanatic. I pass the Sift reluctantly, knowing that it's the worse card. Six picks later the Sift comes around and I'm fine with taking it on the lap. I also pick up some decent green including Spined Wurm, Rampant Growth and Enormous Baloth. Looks like Civic Wayfinder might be getting to the deck after all. Third pack opens with a foil Reya Dawnbringer. I take the Guerrilla Tactics and ship her. Then I pass a Lord of the Pit. Geez, guys, can you not draft the good cards in my colors? I am finally rewarded for cutting blue up front with a third pick Air Elemental. Hot. Then I am forced to hate a foily Lord of the Pit. He eats your opponent's whole team, but he also 7/7 flying and trample. I would hate to kill one of them and then have the dude lay down another. As it turns out, the first Lord of the Pit tables. In the end I draft a Green/Blue deck with a heavy splash for Shock, Guerrilla Tactics and Lavaborn Muse. I had double Rampant Growth and the Civic Wayfinder for fixing. Turns out my whole team drafts base blue. Good job guys! We know what the best color in Xth is. Collin (skinny kid with cool glasses) drafts Doubling Cube. With double Looming Shade. And Consume Spirit. This is not actually terrible. It's pretty damn cool. Tony McRome does okay; the usual, double Merfolk Looter, Platinum Angel, and Whispersilk Cloak to make her stylish. Seems okay.

I play Kelvin round one, who wins the first game with one card in his library. Then my deck comes to play the next two games and flyers get in there. 1-0.

The next match is against the guy with 15 removal cards and 8 creatures. Seriously, the dude has dubs Terror, Essence Drain and is still splashing white for Pacifism. His two Gravediggers cycled around while he searched for his two Ghost Wardens to make them 4/4. Awful. No, actually what's really awful is when I swing with my Civic Wayfinder into his Severed Legion. The man has an active Ghost Warden, but it's cool, I have the Guerrilla Tactics in hand, and frankly I need to kill the Legion before it starts swinging away. He blocks my Wayfinder with the Legion, pumps with the Warden, and I respond with the activated ability on the stack, hitting the Legion with the Tactics. He bins the Legion, then tells me to bin the Wayfinder. I then realize that I have not specified where in the combat phase we were when this whole routine unfolded. I argue that we had not yet stacked damage, since neither of us said anything to that effect and if I were pumping a guy I'd do it prior to damage. He calmly replies, "Yeah, well actually I always pump after damage in situations like that." Whatever, I am mad at myself for obviously not specifying where we were at (since then we both would have seen if he really would have waited until damage was stacked or if he would have walked into the 1 for 1 trade). I let it go mostly because I feel like it was shoddy play on my part (I really think most guys would take a prompt like "it's declare blockers and I'm ready to move to damage" and throw the +1/+1 on there right away) but I also feel like the dude was slimy for weaseling it into his favor. Am I out of line here? At any rate, the fact that I can't either a) trade with the Warden the next turn or b) get an extra two damage in that next turn becomes very relevant when I have him at one life and can't quite off him before his Grave Pact with recycled Gravediggers overwhelms my team. So now I have to win the next two games. I mull the six and keep a four-lander with a Rampant Growth for the double blue on the Air Elemental also in my hand. Turn four, right on schedule, down the Air Elemental comes. I'm really pinning a lot on this fatty but it seemed like a better play than mulling to five. Yeah, he has the Terror. Yeah, that's pretty much game.

Next match. This gentleman is playing lots of weenies, which my big guys outclass. He's running light on creatures but has just enough to hold my land borne monsters back. Eh, I could start making some big swings, but I have Mr. Cloud Elemental doing okay for me. I get him down to 8 and then he plays Reviving Dose to go back up to 11. (Who plays Reviving Dose? Honestly, a few of his creatures seem pretty sub par, so I think it's an easy win and see if he can actually find an answer to my flyer instead pressuring him. He's at 5 now (still Cloud Elemental all the way) and then he plays Natural Spring going to 13! I actually say to him, "Don't you know that life gain is bad?" and continue my air assault. Then he plays Wrath of God and drops four weenies, the first of which happens to be Soul Warden. I have been sandbagging guys so it's not a blowout, but all that life gain turns out to be good for him. He swings all out and I elect to go to four, then he Lava Axes me. Ouch. Game Two I mull again to six. I drop a Spined Wurm and Cloud Elemental early, but he just Wraths them away. I proceed to draw one more creature the whole game. But I'll tell what I did draw, land. Fourteen of them, to be exact. Now, this is not a bad beats story. This is a "see how making stupid mistakes in the first game of your last two matches have caused you to get screwed by bad luck later" story. If I win the games I should have, I go to game three and we see if the deck can get there or not. But instead, it's my first 1-2 draft in a month. All my fault.

This story does have a happy ending. My team pulls it out (Collin goes 3-0 with Doubling Cube.dec, and Tony 2-1, winning more than one game with no cards left in his library and/or at negative life. Platinum Angel with Whispersilk Cloak gets things done)! Collin takes the Wrath, Tony, the Plats, and I get... a Battlefield Forge. Could be worse. Thank you team drafts. Hey, if you have to go 1-2, at least do it a team draft. You've got a shot at a decent pick that way.

Lorwyn Previews

New set previews are kind of weird for those of us who are primarily Limited players. Contrary to what this blog would have you believe, that's what the three of us are. Almost all of the previews on the mothership are of rares. Cool? Yes. Splashy? Yes. Flavorful? Yes. Will you be seeing these more than once or twice a month? No. Still, I personally have some strong Timmy tendencies (duh). So seeing the flavor and the cool new toys is a lot of fun for me.

The 800-lb gorilla of Lorwyn block is not named Kird Ape. The new planeswalker card type is going to fundamentally change the way the game is played. You can't afford to just ignore planeswalkers on the table, though aggro might come closest. Even if the only ability that ever gets used is the first (positive loyalty), the repeatable effects without additional mana commitment are pretty freaking strong. I've only seen the red, black and green ones. Each of the +1 abilities seems really, really good. Garruk on turn 3 plus 2 mana seems amazing. Tearing your opponents hand apart also seems good for Lilliana and Chandra Nalaar can flat end games if you can protect her. The plus-abilities aren't game changers by themselves, but
the fact that they are decent in addition to getting their loyalty up to the big effects really seems scary.

Let's look at some other preview cards.

Gaddock Teeg-No, your planeswalkers are not creatures. Yes, this locks them out. I guess this continues a tradition of previewing cards that hose a primary block mechanic (Teferi, Mage of screw you Suspend). Seems like an answer for mass removal. Unfortunately, it seems like Dan Paskins is just going to burn Gaddock's face off. Eh.

Rings of Brighthearth-This seems like fun. I enjoy activated abilities. All the good ones I can think of right now are in Rav block. But whatever. There must be some good ones in TS block, right?

Cryptic Command-You know, I don't complain about Flores nearly as much as some people, but what is up with the beginning of this article? Does he just assume that people will scroll down and click the link? What is up with that? Is he being coy? Talk about annoying. Anyway, seems good for monoblue, which is what I think he said for a couple thousand words. No, no one else will want to play it. Also, why is this rare? I wasn't playing during Mirrodin Block. Were those modal spells all rare? Can we expect this to be a cycle? I hope so. Because it will demonstrate how few abilities the other colors get compared to blue.

Dread-This I like (Thanks, Timmy!). Why do I get the feeling Fugie will table this, stick it into his 5c green and then own with it. Still seems good. I do wonder what black is going to be like in this happy, happy fun world they seem to be throwing us in to.

Well, that's all I got. Join me this weekend when I play a good deck at Saturday Night Magic and still go 1-3. Toodles.

Well, now you all know my MODO handle

From today's Building on a Budget

Game 2: bat_matt (Black-Green Living End)

He begins the game with Leyline of the Void in play. I get down Shadowmage Infiltrator and start building mana, while he plays Mirri (the black one) on defense, and suspends Living End. As the first Living End gets down to one counter, he suspends a second one. I put Loxodon Warhammer and Llanowar Reborn on the board. The Living End goes off, killing his Mirri and my Infiltrator, and he follows it with Deepcavern Imp. I play Vorosh and make him a 7/7 with my land. He holds back, and lets his Living End get down to one counter. I put the Loxodon Warhammer on Vorosh, and attack. When he doesn't block, I use Psychotic Fury to make Vorosh lethal.

Record: 1-1

In case that game summary does not make it clear, I was never in this. At all. Even if I am able to Living End the Dragon, he was at more than comfortable life at the time, with a card or two in hand. I had no early beats and things were rapidly degenerating. Mirri out of the graveyard was not about to save me. On the other hand, I should have chumped with Deepcavern Imp because it would have given me an extra guy off Living End. But as we all know by now, CBG is a bad player. Also, I was distracted because my keyboard was malfunctioning. How annoying. So much for ingratiating myself with a mothership columnist.

Oh, the deck sucks. I will not be playing it anymore. There's no way it is going to be good.

So Hungover...

There was a bachelor party last night and all the Fugitive Wizards posters were present. Dale (aka "Scoop Phase" aka :Dirty Old Man") decided he needed to come late to the party because HE WAS DRAFTING at Game Universe. That jerk ran the pod and finished 3-0 with a deck sporting Fiery Justice and Desolation Giant. Nice deck, man. Of course the only reason he did so well was because myself, Captain Bondage Goth, The Fugitive Wizard, and Super Beer Geek were all drinking at an East Side Pub waiting for the old man to show up. We would have given him some real competition. In other news, I was forced to do shots with The Fugitive Wizard, who was not even buzzing by the time I was wasted. Finally, disgusted with me being unable to finish drinks that were being bought for me, he left to go to On the Border. I mean, to go to sleep so he could get up for work today.

Stories from FNM

I didn't have my own transportation to FNM this week but Super Beer Geek picked me up off the side of the road in exchange for my allowing him to play my build of MGA (Version 2.0! Now, with Troll Ascetic!). This is a decision I would quickly come to regret.

I got to roll with my terrible (0-3 last time) version of UW control. Round 1 I get paired against a Martyr of Sands deck playing Porphyry Nodes and Mobilization (Worst. Sacred Mesa. Ever.) along with green for Treetop Village (won't you take me to? Monkeytown!) and Glare(!?). Game 1 I manage to Condemn two Monkeytowns, counter a mobilization and kill Martyr boy from 41 life. Turns out Azorius Guildmage can counter your Proclamation of Rebirth forecast and stifle your Martyr activation. Go ahead and put it in the graveyard and show me your hand, though. Game 2 I board out my Wrath of Gods since I have seen precisely zero cards it will do any good against. So of course, I get beaten about the head and neck by multiple Serra Avengers. Game 3 goes to time. Yay! A draw! My first (and still only!) sanctioned match point with this shitty, shitty deck.

Round 2, I get matched up against Fugie's far-superior UB control build piloted by the Dirty Dirty Man. I lose game 1 and concede game 2 because honestly, who wants to play this out?

Round 3, Angelfire with Firemanes in addition to Lightning Angels. Lose game 1. Concede because honestly, who wants to play this out? Also managed to piss off a rhinoceros for no fracking reason other than I was in a bad mood. Sorry, Rhinoceros.

Round 4 (hey, I was there and Super Beer Geek was 2-1 so he was gonna play it out, might as well lose a few more ratings points), I get matched against TooSarcastic. He of the 2nd place Angelfire deck 2 weeks ago? That TooSarcastic. Of course, he had picked up a loss and a draw and then gotten paired down against me. Bad beats, man. I managed to steal the second game from him, mostly because Sacred Mesa is...um-maze-ing. Still lost number 3 though.

Remind me to bring Etchings next time. At least I have fun playing that.

Oh and Super Beer Geek? He finished 2nd, losing only to Project X. Why no, we don't have tools to deal with that in monogreen. He kicked me the foil Wing Shards and kept the $21 for himself. He's probably right to do this, since I would have gone 1-3 with my own deck. That's just how I roll.

Also, can I take a moment to just bitch about the store for a second? Where are the freaking donkeys? I have yet to play against a rogue deck with mine, despite never picking up a single win. German Nationals-winning Angelfire in the 4th round? Sheesh. Where are the small children playing precons? Where are the people shoving Rhox into their Verdant Force decks? Why am I wasting my life playing Constructed? The world may never know.

Are we underground, or do we just suck?

So this blog has been going for almost two months and we are posting in-freakin-cessantly. Yeah, it could burn out just as fast (I know my volume of posts could go down during some trip called a "honeymoon" later this month) but I feel like we've got a pretty cool thing going here. We've got 20 posts in less than two months! And they don't all suck! So I thought I'd Google "Magic: The Gathering Blog" and see where we ended up.
Yeah.
I stopped looking after page 16. Is this a big deal? I feel like people who don't know us may want to leave harassing comments too. Hell, some dude from fucking Oshkosh apparently has a blog that has no posts and simply directs people to his gaming store. In Oshkosh. His "blog" is fourth from the top on page fucking one. Fugitive Wizard, can we do something about this? Maybe write Magic: the Gathering a million times in a text color that perfectly matches our background? Just throwing out ideas.
TooSarcastic

More Casual Magic

Sometimes I feel like I am going to get kicked off the blog for lack of seriousness.

Here's a new decklist, completely untested. I may build this online since it is super cheap (since I have the duals from building dredge pre-FS).

4 Living End
4 Uktabi Drake
4 Timbermare
4 Deepcavern Imp
4 Mirri the Cursed
4 Leyline of the Void
4 Terror
1 Akroma's Memorial
4 Giant Growth
3 Diabolic Tutor
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Llanowar Wastes
6 Forest
10 Swamp


The Leylines are to break the symmetry of Living End, to hose Teachings, Dredge and Loam and to have a turn zero play (joke).

You'll rarely wanna pay the echo. The idea is to shock somebody a few times, then suspend living end, continue shocking and then all in for the win after living end.

I am amused by the singleton Akroma's memorial. Seems like a good thing to drop turn 7 after living end resolves.

I am also amused by the idea of suspending living end on consecutive turns. You never know. It seems like fun to have a bunch of echo creatures die, then immediately reanimate them.

You'll probably wanna learn how to stack Timbermare triggers correctly. This seems antisynergystic? Maybe Icy for creature control instead of Terror? At one point I had fog effects to minimise the creatures they'd be getting back.

Update September 06-Well, I got to play a few games in the casual room last night before the server crashed. It turns out the aggro creatures are just as good as advertised. I won one game by just casting Deepcavern Imp and Mirri and beating face. Go right ahead and race. I lost a game against monored (essentially a Nats deck with Ghostfires instead of Chars. I love the casual room) when I realized the Giant Growths in my hand should be Might of Old Krosas. One. more. point. I won another game by casting Terror as a 3-for-1. Dude has a Vinelasher Kudzu with 3 counters (4/4) and a Fungal Behemoth (3/3) with another Fungal Behemoth suspended for one. Topdeck Terror. Swing with my team. Cast main phase Terror on Kudzu, killing both dudes. The other Behemoth dies when it comes into play. Savage beatings, but Fungal Behemoth is terrible. Why can't it be */*+1? I have no idea.

Re:Timbermare, yeah the tap all creatures thing sucks. I don't have a solution. It's not like I can NOT PLAY a hasty 5/5. What kind of works is paying the echo on the 2nd Timbermare.

Hey check this out

Hey Fugitive! Come out of your hole and check this link out. I don't want to have to explain it to you.

CBG is Gothy and Dark

All this talk about mono black aggro gets me excited. I built MBA on MODO a couple months ago when the excitement of hitting with Liege of the Pit got a little too much to handle. There are enough hasty and evasion creatures in black now to just go very nicely with Bad Moon. Here's my list

22 Swamp

4 Plagued Rusalka
3 Festering Goblin
2 Withered Wretch
2 Mirri the Cursed
4 Deepcavern Imp
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Gathan Raiders
4 Liege of the Pit
4 Nether Traitor
4 Bad Moon
3 Bottled Cloister

Pretty different, eh? No removal beyond Festering Goblin(!)/Plagued Rusalka(!!) and no Bob. Off color morphs.

This pretty much owns in the casual room, to the point where I stopped playing it there. You can only play so many 5 turn games, you know. Occasionally you get a nothing draw, but a Bad Moon sticking around for 2 turns is pretty much game. Actually, that speaks to the big issue with this deck. Hitting with 2/2s sucks pretty hard compared to hitting with 3/3s. I have no idea how this compares to TS's list because I haven't played his. Liege is occasionally a liability, but you'd be surprised just how effective 7/7 (or 8/8, or 9/9) evasive tramplers are. Turn 4 flips are just a bonus. Even Spectral Force doesn't like to see that. Don't pull the Bottled Cloisters out. They are so good. Even if they have artifact removal, you will rarely lose more than a card. Just make sure to flip Gathan Raiders on your own turn.

It's a little heavy at the three slot. Might go -1 Liege +1 Wretch (especially given how good wretch is against Tarmogoyf). Just a different idea, sparked by my opening of a foil Liege (just like the deck sparked by my opening of a foil Auratouched Mage and the other deck sparked by my opening of a foil Phyrexian Etchings (sounds like a Shivan Hellkite deck is in the offing (or a Pithing Needle deck (Cloud Key=free Pithing Needle(!))))). Have fun and don't think yoo hard.

Mono Black Aggro Reprise

The black aggro deck (see the list below) did reasonably well, snagging second in a field of about 16 players. Since I won my draft pod on Friday this brings the weekend winnings total to $30 in store credit, or two drafts and a standard tournament (I picked up a underground river for getting second in the 8-man afterdraft yesterday, but had to settle for third place and razormane masticore during Friday's afterdraft). Enough bragging, how did the deck play? Things went reasonably according to plan, winning the first two rounds against homebrews. There was a game in the second round where my opponent had an active Loxodon war hammer equipped on his hypnotic specter that really tested how many resources I could afford to give away (being forced to sac permanents to my phyrexian totem while getting cards stripped from hand) to continue to deal damage to my opponent. I think I was swinging with a bad moon in play, so I was (barely) able to take him down. These are the sorts of situations a deck like this excels at- swinging ftw at three life with three lands, an active totem and Bob Maher left on board. Not for the faint of heart! Round three I play the self-styled Asshole Jason, who is using my own angelfire deck that I borrowed him. This seemed like a good match up for me, since I had tested it solo many times while I was still trying to figure out whether my aggro black deck was worth building. Bad Moon is the key card in the match up for me, and my totems are much worse because of lightning helix. The Stromgald Crusaders turned out to be quite good since half of angelfire's creature base and all of it's targeted removal is white. Game one Jason wraths then busts, then booms his land and mine (using a signet). Oh yeah his land happens to be flagstones of trokair. But I draw two more swamps (all this deck needs) and Jason draws more and more signets. My nether traitor does seven points of damage to him and I get him. Between games my opponent asks if I want to draw, but after considering how this would make the last round (we would both need to win to get first and second) I elect to play it out. Game two is all Asshole Jason, probably because of two big play mistakes by me. The first was overextending into his turn three wrath of god, making it a three for one, not a two for one. Turn four I lay my last two creatures in hand, creatures I hope will go the distance- two stromgald crusaders. He untaps, plays a Court Hussar, one of the few non-white dudes in his deck. Stupid pro-white weenies. My turn I give my guys flying and beat for four, really wishing I could draw a bad moon. Here comes the second mistake. Jason finally gets his second red source, and plays molten disaster, un-kickered, for one. I pick up my dudes and bin them. Instead and giving them flying until end of turn in response to the Disaster. That was game. Game three all came down to Korlash. I have a 6/6 korlash in play with regen mana up. About the only thing Jason can do is wrath (or bust, which is the same thing with korlash) at this point. Then he plays Faith's Fetters on the guy. Forgot about that out. A huge Aeon Chronicler finishes the match quickly. Rough beats, getting taken out by your own deck. Luckily Teenage Tony is ousted from his undefeated roost, so Asshole Jason is the sole undefeated going into round four. Luckily for my breaks, he wins. So do I, over a mono-black discard deck piloted by a small child, so I lucksack into second. After the tourney I play a high schooler by the name of Paprocki for the hell of it. He is sporting a mono red aggro deck with Big Gargs, Mogg Fanatics and War Marshals, Keldon Marauders, and lots of burn. I got owned. It was awful. I think I took a game, but it was sheer luck. I don't know if mono red aggro is better overall than mono black, but the Red Deck certainly wins the match up heads up. Black's weenies just aren't as fast, and you have no answer to Gargadon. After boarding you can slow them down with damnation, but that only gives the Red Deck a way to take off time counters from gargadon. And once the big guy hits, you're sure to be under 9 life and very vulnerable. I guess maybe Terror should be in the board over Death Mark. I think angelfire is the better deck over black aggro if your meta has a lot of red.

Suicide Black in Standard

Too Sarcastic here:
I'm running a Nationals winning (*COUGH* umm, South African Nationals) aggro black deck this FNM. It has been inconsistent in testing, but that's probably because I don't what I'm doing with it yet. The following is the build "as is" from savannas of Africa. I think I will be adding the 4th Dauthi Slayer and relegating one of the Phyrexian Totems to the board. They're too much of a liability against anything other than (non-red) control decks. I only have 2 Damnation for the board, and no Pithing Needles, so I will probably run 3 Extirpate, 2 Damnation, as many Stupors as I can find, the singleton Totem, 4 Deathmark (what up, Tarmogoyf?) and maybe some other creature removal like one or two Tendrils of Corruption. We'll see how she does.

23 Swamp

4 Stromgald Crusader
4 Dark Confidant
3 Dauthi Slayer
4 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
4 Nether Traitor
4 Plagued Rusalka

4 Bad Moon
2 Consume Spirit
4 Phyrexian Totem
4 Sudden Death

Sideboard
4 Deathmark
2 Extirpate
3 Damnation
2 Pithing Needle
4 Stupor

T