BSS draft

Oh god. My BSS drafting is just terrible, which is unfortunate, as I like the format quite a bit more than triple Scars and I should be doing it over and over, by all rights. Here's an example of the ugly trainwreck monstrosities I end up drafting.

Event #: 2192577
Time: 3/20/2011 4:18:50 PM
Players:
josephus
BenRon
timpysan
--> bat_matt
ADHDan
Benton613
mvsusp
Zoltantf

------ MBS ------

Pack 1 pick 1:
Island
Vedalken Infuser
Myr Sire
Concussive Bolt
Tine Shrike
Gnathosaur
Mirran Spy
Plague Myr
Caustic Hound
Phyresis
Hexplate Golem
Mirran Mettle
Mirrorworks
--> Spread the Sickness
Skinwing

This is just a terrible open. I went back and forth between the Skinwing, Plague Myr and Spread the Sickness. Ultimately, the removal won out.

Pack 1 pick 2:
Piston Sledge
Phyrexian Digester
Rusted Slasher
Myr Turbine
--> Flesh-Eater Imp
Loxodon Partisan
Leonin Skyhunter
Virulent Wound
Unnatural Predation
Shriekhorn
Banishment Decree
Spire Serpent
Mountain
Signal Pest

The Myr Turbine is obviously very strong but I felt like Flesh-eater was is enough of a bomb to warrant taking it. At the time, I really agonized over this, but I think that's just because I have a thing against infect. Imp is the strongest card here.

Pack 1 pick 3:
--> Pierce Strider
Fangren Marauder
Ichor Wellspring
Scourge Servant
Gust-Skimmer
Serum Raker
Blisterstick Shaman
Melira's Keepers
Gore Vassal
Copper Carapace
Forest
Oculus
Master's Call

Tempting to go blue here. I do love me some Oculus and some Serum Raker. Again, on sheer power level Pierce Strider seems like the play.

Pack 1 pick 4:
Mountain
Concussive Bolt
--> Divine Offering
Gust-Skimmer
Unnatural Predation
Caustic Hound
Brass Squire
Crush
Priests of Norn
Flensermite
Dross Ripper
Kemba's Legion

I took the divine offering on the theory that it's really strong, but looking at this pack again, I think I hook up the Brass Squire instead. I like that card a lot

Pack 1 pick 5:
Mountain
Bladed Sentinel
Fuel for the Cause
Glissa's Courier
Shriekhorn
Caustic Hound
Brass Squire
Crush
Turn the Tide
--> Master's Call
Flayer Husk

This is fine, if unspectacular

Pack 1 pick 6:
Swamp
Razorfield Rhino
Tangle Mantis
Neurok Commando
Ogre Resister
Phyresis
Spire Serpent
--> Phyrexian Rager
Oculus
Gruesome Encore

What up another Oculus?

Pack 1 pick 7:
Forest
Razorfield Rhino
Vivisection
Loxodon Partisan
Quicksilver Geyser
Banishment Decree
Metallic Mastery
Knowledge Pool
--> Morbid Plunder

And the Vivisection to make it good.

Pack 1 pick 8:
--> Fangren Marauder
Rusted Slasher
Tine Shrike
Training Drone
Kuldotha Ringleader
Frantic Salvage
Swamp
Spiraling Duelist

This draft walkthrough is already making me sad.

Pack 1 pick 9:
Island
Vedalken Infuser
Concussive Bolt
--> Mirran Spy
Caustic Hound
Phyresis
Hexplate Golem

Like, really sad

Pack 1 pick 10:
Loxodon Partisan
--> Leonin Skyhunter
Shriekhorn
Banishment Decree
Spire Serpent
Mountain

Just incredibly sad

Pack 1 pick 11:
Gust-Skimmer
--> Serum Raker
Melira's Keepers
Forest
Oculus

ugh

Pack 1 pick 12:
--> Dross Ripper

Pack 1 pick 13:
--> Turn the Tide

Pack 1 pick 14:
--> Spire Serpent

Pack 1 pick 15:
--> Forest

------ SOM ------

Pack 2 pick 1:
--> Necropede
Memnite
Shatter
Kuldotha Rebirth
Barrage Ogre
Alpha Tyrranax
Blunt the Assault
Moriok Replica
Spikeshot Elder
Relic Putrescence
Flight Spellbomb
Disperse
Swamp
Fulgent Distraction
Scrapdiver Serpent

Again with a terrible open. Super duper Spikeshot Elder that I can't even dream of playing and a whole lot of nothing else whatsoever. I mean, I like Necropede but I don't typically want to first pick it. Combos nicely with the imp. I guess I should stop complaining, as if.

Pack 2 pick 2:
--> Glimmerpoint Stag
Plated Seastrider
Melt Terrain
Ghalma's Warden
Necrogen Censer
Copperhorn Scout
Blackcleave Goblin
Moriok Reaver
Furnace Celebration
Darksteel Sentinel
Loxodon Wayfarer
Panic Spellbomb
Origin Spellbomb
Island

Wait, now we are back on the BW plan? I have no idea what is going on.

Pack 2 pick 3:
Blight Mamba
Blade-Tribe Berserkers
Silver Myr
Vigil for the Lost
Salvage Scout
Glint Hawk
Withstand Death
--> Sylvok Replica
Clone Shell
Razorfield Thresher
Golden Urn
Mountain
Fulgent Distraction (FOIL)

Or maybe the GB plan.

Pack 2 pick 4:
Seize the Initiative
Turn Aside
Wall of Tanglecord
--> Necrogen Scudder
Whitesun's Passage
Sylvok Lifestaff
Withstand Death
Trinket Mage
Molder Beast
Trigon of Mending
Forest
Asceticism

Ok, Scudder is good and strong. Maybe this will be ok.

Pack 2 pick 5:
--> Kemba's Skyguard
Wing Puncture
Goblin Gaveleer
Soliton
Auriok Sunchaser
Flameborn Hellion
Snapsail Glider
Relic Putrescence
Flight Spellbomb
Stoic Rebuttal
Plains

Or not.

Pack 2 pick 6:
Neurok Invisimancer
--> Embersmith
Seize the Initiative
Vulshok Heartstoker
Blistergrub
Auriok Edgewright
Accorder's Shield
Tainted Strike
Mountain
Mountain (FOIL)

I am hating 6th pick. This walkthrough is making me the saddest of sad pandas. I have already quit writing once due to how sad this draft makes me.

Pack 2 pick 7:
Iron Myr
Seize the Initiative
Trigon of Thought
Salvage Scout
Tunnel Ignus
Auriok Sunchaser
Accorder's Shield
Forest
--> Fume Spitter

At least it will be played.

Pack 2 pick 8:
--> Contagious Nim
Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Turn Aside
Riddlesmith
Blistergrub
Psychic Miasma
Golden Urn
Plains

Incidentally, that Ezuri will completely dominate the shit out of me match 2.

Pack 2 pick 9:
Kuldotha Rebirth
--> Barrage Ogre
Blunt the Assault
Flight Spellbomb
Swamp
Fulgent Distraction
Scrapdiver Serpent

oh. There's this nausea and disorientation that goes along with reliving a draft this bad. I am literally starting to shake.

Pack 2 pick 10:
Plated Seastrider
Melt Terrain
Copperhorn Scout
--> Moriok Reaver
Furnace Celebration
Island

existential scream

Pack 2 pick 11:
--> Fulgent Distraction (FOIL)

Pack 2 pick 12:
--> Turn Aside

Pack 2 pick 13:
--> Soliton

Pack 2 pick 14:
--> Mountain (FOIL)

Pack 2 pick 15:
--> Forest

------ SOM ------

Pack 3 pick 1:
Vector Asp
--> Grasp of Darkness
Ghalma's Warden
Kuldotha Rebirth
Copperhorn Scout
Dross Hopper
Bonds of Quicksilver
Corrupted Harvester
Ratchet Bomb
Soliton
Darksteel Myr
Darksteel Axe
Glimmerpost
Nihil Spellbomb
Island

This is a really deep interesting pick, and I have zero idea what is best. Grasp is amazing. Ratchet Bomb is obviously quite strong. Darksteel Axe is just right for a lot of decks. I don't know. I just...don't know. I'm tearing up now. Just give me a minute. I'll be fine.

Pack 3 pick 2:
Plated Seastrider
Copper Myr
Grasp of Darkness
Ghalma's Warden
Painsmith
Ferrovore
Abuna Acolyte
Gold Myr
Alpha Tyrranax
Soliton
Strider Harness
--> Mimic Vat
Barbed Battlegear
Island

AAAAAAAAAAAAGH. Is this wrong? Maybe this is wrong and I should just take the extra Grasp here.

Pack 3 pick 3:
Untamed Might
Lumengrid Drake
Seize the Initiative
Barrage Ogre
Tel-Jilad Fallen
Plague Stinger
Volition Reins
Accorder's Shield
Tainted Strike
Origin Spellbomb
Saberclaw Golem
Forest
--> Argent Sphinx

I don't know what to say. WTF, I guess. Plague Stinger I never saw, maybe?

Pack 3 pick 4:
Corpse Cur
Blistergrub
Infiltration Lens
Psychic Miasma
Whitesun's Passage
Vedalken Certarch
Darksteel Myr
--> Neurok Replica
Molder Beast
Razorfield Thresher
Scoria Elemental
Forest

So we are UB now?

Pack 3 pick 5:
Plated Seastrider
Ghalma's Warden
Untamed Might
Viridian Revel
Turn Aside
Wall of Tanglecord
--> Trigon of Thought
Bellowing Tanglewurm
Origin Spellbomb
Golden Urn
Swamp

Yeah, this'll work.

Pack 3 pick 6:
--> Necropede
Melt Terrain
Leaden Myr
Necrogen Censer
Blackcleave Goblin
Golem Foundry
Thrummingbird
Blunt the Assault
Loxodon Wayfarer
Plains

What up, 6th pick Necropede. Sure glad I first picked you last pack. Asshole.

Pack 3 pick 7:
--> Copper Myr
Turn Aside
Psychic Miasma
Whitesun's Passage
Withstand Death
Accorder's Shield
Scoria Elemental
Trigon of Mending
Mountain

Replica splash!

Pack 3 pick 8:
--> Ichor Rats
Turn Aside
Whitesun's Passage
Sunspear Shikari
Withstand Death
Scoria Elemental
Mountain
Ogre Geargrabber

Maybe this won't be terrible (Note: this'll be terrible)

Pack 3 pick 9:
Kuldotha Rebirth
Copperhorn Scout
Dross Hopper
Corrupted Harvester
Glimmerpost
--> Nihil Spellbomb
Island

At least I can get value out of this.

Pack 3 pick 10:
Plated Seastrider
Ferrovore
--> Abuna Acolyte
Alpha Tyrranax
Soliton
Island

As opposed to this, which I can in no circumstances get value from.

Pack 3 pick 11:
--> Lumengrid Drake
Seize the Initiative
Tainted Strike
Origin Spellbomb
Forest

O_O

Pack 3 pick 12:
--> Whitesun's Passage

Pack 3 pick 13:
--> Plated Seastrider

Pack 3 pick 14:
--> Blunt the Assault

Pack 3 pick 15:
--> Whitesun's Passage

I'm pretty sure this is Psychic Miasma.dec because that's what i feel right now. I have no desire to show you my final 40. I did win in the last round to pick up a pack. Ugh.

I will say this. Honestly, I don't know what i could have done differently. There was no deck that was flowing consistently. I think I could have made a good blue deck if I had committed earlier, but that was not at all obvious in the first pack. Please, tear me a new one in the comments. What did I miss?

So much pirate booty

The pirate draft league has fired a couple more times and updated standings are below...

Name	Record	Points/Event
Jacob B. Matt F. Jonathan B. Tim N. Greg O. Brendan H. Thomas C. Bobby H. Ryan S. Alexis R. Matt R. Rob B. Ash O. Caleb R.	11-4 5-1 15-5 12-6 12-10 5-5 5-6 4-5 3-3 3-5 9-19 2-4 1-6 1-8	6.57 6.29 6.24 6.24 4.95 4.50 4.50 4.20 4.10 4.00 3.23 3.00 1.81 1.81

Big movement this week as Jacob B finally fell back to earth and is in reachable position. Matt F joined the standings as he finally participated in a 2nd draft and Jonathan B passed Tim for 3rd overall. Also new on the chart is Ryan S and I expect him to grind his way up the standings as his first draft was a train wreck, which is pulling him down right now. Thanks to Greg O, I am now no longer the only Pirate with double digit losses. Also, I barely avoided making 20 losses total! Woohoo!

Future drafts...Team Rochester!?! (do people want to do this again?) Ravnica Rotisserie! (I might retire the format after this) Besieged/Scars/Scars!

Fun statistics.

Pirate Drafts: 10
Venues: 2
Formats: 4
Total Players: 28
Players with a winning record: 11
Players with a tied record: 2
Number of times Civic Wayfinder has killed someone: 1
Drafts I have 0-X'ed: 3

A tough build

Well, I attended the Mirrodin Besieged midnight Prerelease last night but it didn't go as smoothly as Scars. I opened a Sword of Feast and Famine and a True Conviction but a couple bombs wasn't enough to get me over the hump. The deck had a decent amount of usable metalcraft dudes, a lot of conditional removal and not quite enough good artifacts to make metalcraft run. I chose Mirran so only the White and Red was usable (though the Green was marginally playable). Here's the pool, shorn of it's useless colors

White	Red	Artifacts
Abuna Acolyte 2 X Ardent Recruit Auriok Sunchaser 2 X Divine Offering Ghalma's Warden Glimmerpoint Stag 2 X Leonin Relic-Warder Loxodon Partisan Master's Call Revoke Existence Seize the Initiative Sunspear Shikari True Conviction	2 X Blisterstick Shaman Burn the Impure Concussive Bolt 2 X Crush Galvanoth 2 X Gnathosaur Goblin Wardriver Koth's Courier Kuldotha Rebirth Rally the Forces Turn to Slag	Argentum Armor Bladed Sentinel 2 X Copper Myr Echo Circlet Grafted Exoskeleton Leaden Myr Nihil Spellbomb Shriekhorn Soliton Spin Engine Strider Harness Sylvok Lifestaff Vector Asp Vulshok Replica	Auriok Replica Copper Carapace Darksteel Plate Golem's Heart 2 X Gust-Skimmer Myr Reservoir Razorfield Rhino 2 X Silverskin Armor Sphere of the Suns Snapsail Glider Sword of Feast and Famine Throne of Geth Viridian Claw

I wanted to run metalcraft but the pool is long on playable equipment and short on good dudes to carry it. Here's what I came up with, with less than a minute to spare...

Creatures	Spells and Land
Abuna Acolyte 2 X Blisterstick Shaman Galvanoth Glimmerpoint Stag Goblin Wardriver Leonin Relic-Warder Loxodon Partisan Razorfield Rhino Sunspear Shikari Vulshok Replica	Burn the Impure Concussive Bolt 2 X Divine Offering Master's Call Revoke Existence Sword of Feast and Famine Sylvok Lifestaff True Conviction Turn to Slag Viridian Claw 9 Plains 9 Mountain

How would you build this pool?

My SCG Premium is expiring

So, as I alluded to earlier, my SCG account is about to expire. I am pretty sure I am not going to renew it right now. You know why not? It's summertime, and I am not playing Magic at all. TS called me last night and he's all,

"You never play Magic anymore. I never play Magic anymore. The world is grey and lonely. I read Sylvia Plath poems all day long and search for houses in a down market!"

"Shadowmoor is some impressively cool shit. Call me in the fall when I will feel like drafting it. Also, new homes sales* fell again last month, by 16% if you look at year over year data. As much as I understand your desire to live in your own place, you are gonna kneecap yourselves if you don't wait for some miniscule sign of a recovery."

----

Fugie has some impressive technology for Nationals. I am going to start playtesting it soon. Man if I can only get one match win, I can totally sandbag some poor innocent soul's rating.

----

If you haven't responded to coyoe's thread on Wednesday, I highly recommend you do so. My numbers are the lowest, and it's not even close. I am the only one who has responded so far who admits to less than 50% match win percentage. As a matter of fact, my Constructed match win percentage is hovering around 1 in 3. That's technology. Strangely, my Vintage match win percentage is also 1 in 3, proving that you can't prop a shitty magic player up with proxies. I actually kind of want to play Goblins at Vintage Worlds, but the 3 pieces of power are pretty necessary, even if it's only three. The ability to occasionally mise a turn 1 Warchief is like, necessary.

----

Gaudenis "I lost to CBG in the first round of a limited ptq" Vidugiris got second at the recent GP:Indianapolis. Congrats! Sorry about sandbagging your rating last year.

----

I am thinking about playing some of the more situational haste cards in my Rakdos EDH. It seems like fun to play Accelerate in this format. Hitting someone with Rakdos is teh awesome. I love it when everyone lives in fear. Especially those fucking blue players.

*Actually, this might be existing home sales. I can't remember.

MODO

Man, do I ever hate MODO. I opened a terrible sealed pool on Tuesday night, promptly went 1-3 (I was particularly fond of the dude who hit turn 3 Crusher all three games) and then got booted when the server crashed during match 5. I opened a pretty strong pool last night (server crash during building) and have since gone 1-2, mostly due to horrible draws. One land opener off 18 land? Check. Game where 14 of my first 18 cards were land? Check. Also, I failed to read Veteran's Armaments one game and managed to trade my Nath for an equipped Shriekmaw rather than killing it. I am so looking forward to drafting 4 times in the next 36 hours.

Limited v. Constructed

My Constructed rating, after the ptq fiasco? 1518.

My Limited rating? 1648. That's a 130 point difference. Can any of you claim a bigger margin? Maybe I should make it a goal to improve my Constructed play this year. Get that rating back up to 1600. Yeah, maybe not.

The problem with EDH

There are two problems with EDH. One is that it's constructed, so I suck at it. The other problem is that it's awesome, so I keep beating my head against the wall. I reached a new low last night as I managed to Jokulhaups when all it would do is piss everyone off. Awk.

Still, it's a super fun format and I think I am going to keep playing as much as I possibly can so that I can get better. More familiarity with my deck and the ways in which it can win would help a lot. I played the Rakdos deck again last night, but I failed to Jokulhaups into Rakdos (which is always the right play). They might beat you from that position. Then again, they probably won't.

I am learning a ton about tutoring, slow accumulation of advantage, politics and killer enchantments (curse you, red-black. why do you taunt me so?). TooSarcastic is the unchallenged alpha male of the EDH playgroup. He's always dominating the board. He totally won last night when Tabasco should have blown him out. The captain failed to cast Debtor's Knell before each Jokulhaups effect. I think he will learn from this mistake. Major_luck and Fugie collaborated to...well, I am not sure what they were doing.

There is another project that intrigues me, which is taking my blue-green deck and modifying it to up the counterspelling. I am not planning on making a lock deck, just something where everybody asks me, "okay?" whenever they put a spell on the stack. What do you all think? Maybe 15 counters? That way, I should usually have one in hand, but not all the time. I might wanna add white for Swift Silence. But I think I am gonna stay UG and use Momir Vig.

Sorry about the brevity. I am focused on EDH right now and there isn't a ton to say.

Tabasco, if you want in on the 29th, you need to tell me like, now. There are only two seats left at the 8-man, and I have an idea for one of 'em.

Endtroducing...

A warm fugitive welcome to Tabasco Tony, who will be posting on Sundays. TT is a vintage player who thinks CBG doesn't suck. Apparently, he hasn't been reading the blog enough. Anyhow, say hello when you get the chance

I can't believe I already posted about the ptq

Okay, next time I go to a ptq, will somebody please remind me that I should save that story for Friday so that I don't have to think of a topic? Let's do a weekly recap/response post.

On Monday, thanks and praise to Fugie for reminding me that I made boneheaded misplays in all three rounds. I either need to practice Constructed or not go. My current Constructed rating: 1518. No shit. My last sanctioned Constructed match win? September 15th.

On Tuesday, a delightful poem by Fugie about the Holy Grail of Magic, the Turn One. The only way it gets better is if R&D makes a mistake and prints some broken draw 7 Leyline that makes mana. I am surprised this didn't get more commentary, because I thought it was both original and good, a rare enough combination around here.

On Wednesday, another insightful post by TooSarcastic, about how to make his already formidable EDH, formidabler, uh, more formidable. I learned a lot from this post and also from the last couple games of EDH. (1) Never solve other people's problems for them. (2) Things you can only do once a turn are bad, full stop. (3) Doran off a birds or other off color accelerant? Broken.

On Thursday, a nice little wrapup on a month's worth of casual sealed from major_luck. Did I get any props for knocking off the previously unbeaten Jake? No, I did not. Oh, but Jake had a really nice play against me to force a game 3. I had pretty much stabilized but he did have a Dauntless Dourbark, so I left a chump blocker. Unfortunately, Dourbark has Trample if you control another Treefolk, which he did after Footbottom Feast for Moonglove Changeling. Which was also the last point of needed damage. Oops. I guess we have learned that contrary to this post, Green does not suck in sealed now.

And now it's Friday, and what do you get? Dumbass meanderings and random thoughts. On that note, did you see this?

WIZARDS OF THE COAST EXTENDS ITS MAGIC: THE GATHERING IP TO MULTIPLE PLATFORMS
Industry Leading Partnerships Enhance Strategy Fantasy Gaming Options for all Gamers

RENTON, Wash.—February 18, 2008 — Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the leader in strategy hobby collectible trading card, board and role playing games, and a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE: HAS), today announced its plans to extend the Magic: The Gathering® franchise to gamers on Microsoft's Xbox 360 Xbox LIVE® Arcade and the PC through partnerships with Stainless Games, Ltd. and Mind Control Software, Inc. Stainless Games will develop a game using the Magic: The Gathering IP for both Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PC, while Mind Control will develop a game for the PC and Mac.

So what are the implications of this for MODO 3? This sounds like a Sharazad (Is that the name of that old game?) type of thing, where you don't actually play Magic against real other players. I totally agree with trying to extend this to a larger community but I don't know how well the Wizards TCG model translates to XBox Live or whatnot. It seems like subscription for unlimited play is far more common there. Then again, I am talking out my ass.

Finally, congrats and thanks to the regular writers on this site. Total posts for February:54. Nice.

Extended, maybe some grab bag

Well, I guess I am going to ptq this Saturday for only the second time ever. I am going to play a deck that has around a 10% chance of a turn one win. I have been following the extended metagame ever since Worlds, but I hadn't planned on playing any ptqs. The format is pretty wide open but none of the decks really excite me. Doran Rock is cute. Next Level Blue is great if you like control. Aggro is thriving, with R/B Goblins, Doran (5/5s on turn 2 are aggro), and Zoo being viable. Combo has several winning decks, with TEPS, Dragonstorm, Hulk, and you can probably throw Ichorid in there as well if it's not a category of its own.

I think a big part of the problem for me is that I am just not that excited by Constructed competition. So much preparation is necessary for me to play any deck well. So much of high level Constructed is pattern recognition. Correct play is very difficult. I have a tendency to go to a tournament unprepared and have to think through too many situations. This probably sounds like a complaint about the amount of time I have to prepare but really it is more complex than that. Even if I had the time to prepare a gauntlet of 5 decks and play sets of 10 with them, I wouldn't do it.

Oftentimes in Constructed, a matchup just feels unwinnable even when it's not. Maybe you are focusing on the wrong things in the matchup (who's the beatdown and whatnot). Maybe your main deck is four cards off and that dramatically changes the matchup. Maybe you're tired of thinking about Magic. Point being, I don't have what it takes to be great at constructed and if I don't, why the hell am I ptq'ing? I know I am not going to win on Saturday. My goal is to have fun. And the way I have fun is to do silly stupid things. Jokulhaups into Rakdos? Silly stupid. Counterbalance your Tribal Flames? Not silly, nor stupid. So I am playing a deck that either wins turn one, or dies horribly. I don't think I am going to play with a sideboard. The deck is perfect as is.

------

I really liked the Richard Garfield (spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch) articles published on the mothership on Monday. I am talking about the Lost in the Shuffle columns from Issues 17 and 18. In them, Garfield (spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch) talks about political games and why he doesn't like them. This struck a chord with me because TS had spoken recently about his dislike for multiplayer FFA. I personally have really enjoyed the FFA EDHs lately and protested TS pretty vociferously, especially because he didn't really back up his argument at all. Richard (spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch) did though, and in a way which really affected my thoughts on the subject.

He brings up several characteristics of political games and describes them as bad, when I had previously thought of them as good. For instance, the incentive to lie low and appear weak in a political game is something that he really despises. I've always thought of that as a feature not a bug. He goes on in this vein for a bit and then he lays on the crux:

The result for me was discovering that most political games were, underneath the veneer, the same game, and that I was tired of playing that game.

And that's a really great point. It doesn't matter if you choose a scalpel or a hammer. It doesn't matter if your deck is terrible or awesome. All that matters is your political skill, and Magic should be about a more complete skill set. Otherwise, it's just complicated poker. Richard Garfield (spectacles, testicles, wallet, watch) is really smart.

----------

I like the idea of Two headed giant EDH. We'll see if we can't arrange something this time. Maybe the incentives for abusive generals is still too high. Numot is totally fair in FFA. Not so much in duel:) As I have proven. Multiple times.

----------

I have to get to Olde Fart. I love sealed deck. Stupid job.

Crusher is coming

Oh yeah baby. I think we gonna do up standard right next saturday.

4 Countryside Crusher
2 Fury Charm
4 Terramorphic Expanse
50 Mountain

Crushers are coming down from their $15 high point. Woohoo!

R/g/b Goblins and Apocalyptic Storms

Have you seen the forecast for Sunday?

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH
SUNDAY EVENING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A
WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY MORNING
THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING.

SNOW AMOUNTS GENERALLY IN THE 6 TO 13 INCH RANGE ARE POSSIBLE
SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY EVENING...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS OVER
SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. SLIGHTLY LOWER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE TO THE
NORTHWEST. IN ADDITION...STRONG WINDS WITH THE LOW MAY CAUSE
BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. THOSE WITH TRAVEL PLANS SUNDAY AND
SUNDAY EVENING SHOULD KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST FORECASTS.

I consider it highly unlikely I am gonna make it out to the tournament on Sunday. While fun, it's just not worth crashing. Maybe we could do EDH at my house on Saturday? Anybody interested?

Here's the list i would run if I were going.

4 Goblin Lackey
4 Mogg Fanatic
3 Tin Street Hooligan
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Stingscourger
3 Earwig Squad
4 Aether Vial
4 Thorn of Amethyst

3 Mountain
3 Taiga
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Strip Mine
2 Badlands
1 Lotus Petal
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Jet
1 Mana Crypt

Sideboard

1 Earwig Squad
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Ancient Grudge
2 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin King
4 Leyline of the Void

The maindeck Earwig Squads hopefully improve the Long matchup a little since they play so few win conditions. Capping them turn 2 doesn't help against the T1 win, but they don't always have the nuts, right?

I am not convinced the 4 Leylines in the board are enough to fight Ichorid. If I were to get a Squad against them, I am not even sure what i would take. Probably the GGTs, since I can kill their Bridges and the rest of their dudes are less than impressive.

I am really not convinced on Game 1 vs Workshop Aggro. I have the four Fanatics that can kill a Welder, which is nice, but it's hard to fight through fat butts, and if they land a SOFI, I am dead. It gets a lot better when I can Matron up Goblin King and combo kill after board. Unless of course they are playing MUD, rather than red.

The matchup vs. GAT is pretty solid I think. If I Cap them, I can get their Cunning Wish and if they can't get Berserk, it's almost impossible for them to fight through all the dudes.

PlatzPact is a problem, especially since Menendian wrote about it (including an Oath version) on Wednesday. I think I just scoop to a resolved Plat. Maybe those Grudges should be Krosan Grips. Hrm.

So why am I playing this deck if I think it's a dog to the whole metagame? A few reasons. It's cheap to build, I know how to play it, and if they stumble at all, Goblins just wins. Goldfishing this deck is insane. I have swung for 17 on turn four after a mull to 4. Yes, I know turn 4 is just a rumor in Vintage a lot of the time, but sometimes it's real, you know?

Oh! The metagame! Here was the field for the last tourney...

3 It’s Raining Men
1 Ichorid
2 Flash
1 UW Control
1 Bomberman
1 Counterbalance Goyf
7 Long
3 Fish
2 Dem Goyfs
2 SS Goyf
2 R/G beats
4 Empty Gifts
1 Red Burn
1 PlatPact
4 GAT
1 Goblins
3 MUD
1 Control Slaver
1 Affinity
1 Stax

Ichorid won. I expect MUD and Long to continue their high numbers, possibly with more PlatzPact due to Menendian's article. I have no idea why someone would play Empty Gifts instead of Long. GAT draws a lot of cards and then dies a lot. It's such a typical 'vintage' deck in that it dies to decks that use the attack step. So weird. Anyways, I think that's enough random ranting from a dude who has played in a single vintage tournament. Again, I don't think I am going to be there this weekend unless the forecast changes dramatically. Hope you guys have fun.

A Vintage tourney report. Also. Kraj rulez!

As mentioned earlier, Fugie convinced me to go to a vintage tournament this Sunday. I had a fair amount of fun and my opponent's weren't total asses. So that was nice. I played R/g Goblins. This would be the fastest "fair" deck in the format. Unfortunately, there are a lot of "unfair" decks.

Round 1-I win the die roll and start on Wooded foothills, without a one-drop. Not sure why I kept. My opponent leads with fetch into Taiga/Mogg Fan. So he's R/G Beats and I am a little bit of a dog to him. Anyways, Goblins does what it does and I am ahead the whole game. I think the only point I took game one was the Foothills activation. Game 2, he is first and I keep a broken hand of lackey, Tin Street, Mountain, Emerald, Ruby, and something else. Unfortunately, he also kept a broken hand of mox, lotus, Taiga, Kird ape, kird ape, seal of fire. Couldn't fight through it, though I did get him down to 7. Game 3, he gets down double Goyf off a Strip, Wasteland and Taiga. The crucial play comes when I stingscourger one Goyf and fail to Waste his Taiga. I failed to recognize it was his only green source. he was able to play defense with the goyfs pretty effectively and eventually pulled it out on the 3rd extra turn. That's right, Gobs vs Beatz went to time. Oof.

Round 2-I lose the die roll and my opponent leads with Delta into Underground Sea, Brainstorm. Of course he takes like 2 minutes to resolve it. "I can't just put back one, hunh?" "Ha ha. No." Anyways, he's playing GAT and while he holds me off for a bit with a well timed Force on Will on a lethal Siege-Gang Commander, I eventually killed him after giving him a whole extra turn, in which he Yawg Willed and still didn't win. Game 2 is a little dicier since he gets 2 Dryads out, but I Wasteland, Wasteland, Strip Mine, which is handy, since I have 2 Aether Vials out. He concedes on one land.

Round 3-I win the die roll and keep a hand of mountain, ruby, vial, lotus, lackey, matron. I drop my hand on the table and say go. Then he kills me. Oh good! Storm Tendrils. I go first again the second game, but fail to mull to a turn one Pyrostatic Pillar. Then he kills me. Vintage rulez!

I dropped and almost bailed but our little playgroup wasn't doing so hot and we had enough for a four man EDH. Kraj Action Force! Kick Butt!

I got a Gemstone Caverns with a luck counter on it. Turn one Signet. Turn 2 land. Turn 3 Magus of the Future. Turn 4 start going nuts with the Magus and various and sundry. I get to the point where Fugie is very concerned about my board seeing how he has a Dimir Infiltrator and I have like 5 creatures. So he drops a Disk and swings at Tabasco. Now, Fugie could have swung at me, but he'd hurt in the crackback and he could have swung at Major Luck, but he'd hurt in the crackback, so he chooses to poke Tabasco for one. This upsets Tabasco, because Hot Sauce has done little but play a Megrim at this point. So despite the fact that I am the one whom a Disk would cripple, Tabasco cacks it on Major Luck's EOT. I proceed to get really silly with El Mago del Futuro and Life from the Loam and Fathom Trawl. Fugie is dead by the time Major Luck realizes he can Citanul Flute for Wrath of God (via Dimir House Guard) and my hand is so far beyond gas as to be comical.

After the dust clears, I Kraj and Major Dromars only to have them both Decree of Pained. So Tabasco has filled up his hand with gas thanks to Mind's Eye (which yes, should be in every deck) and my Ancestral Visions. And I have a Doubling Season in play. So on Major's EOT, I Gifts for Golgari Grave-Troll, Triskelavus, Regrowth, and Eternal Witness. He gives me the Regrowths, which I can use on anything in my graveyard, due to GGT having dredge and Triskelavus comboing with Academy Ruins. So I cast a 26/26 GGT, a 4/4 Phantom Nantuko, pump them both with my 8/8 Cytoplast Root-kin and say go. Tabasco plays Mindslicer and says go and Major Luck casts chumpies (to go with his Vedalken Shackles (5 islands) and passes to me at 2 life and with a single card in hand. I Ruins Triskelavus on my upkeep and cast it (as a 7/7) with 3 mana up. Major tells me I should win this turn and I couldn't figure out how. Until I attacked him with the Nantuko and Tabasco with the others. Then Major steals the Mindslicer to block with. I didn't see this solution at first because it depended on what the Major did. But there was a better solution which didn't require his involvement. I could have just created Triskelavite tokens and shot the Mindslicer so we all blow our hands. Then Major dies from the Megrim and I swing with the team to kill Tabasco. I am a bad player. The B&R team for CBG's basement has a close eye on Doubling Season. Have fun out there.

2HG - Telling You Crap You Already Know

We've been drafting a lot of Two Headed Giant over at Casa de Bondage Goth lately. Fugie's teaser post alluded to a deck in such a tourney, but I won't spoil his story for you. I am here to talk about some guidelines for 2HG that have proven to be true yet again. These are things that most of you competent players have a vague idea of, but may not have thought about in a while. So as you start to integrate 2HG into your Lorwyn Limited experience, consider a few truisms.

#1 Removal is (still) better than a body.

Lorwyn block gave us some interesting tension when it comes to drafting. Unlike past formats, getting your 13th Kithkin can be critical to the way your deck plays. You shouldn't be looking for 12-19 bodies, you should look for an equivalent number of synergistic creatures types and abilities. There are some formats where having the dudes is more important (admittedly I can only think of ChKChKChK draft, which was super aggressive and weenie-based, and possibly Coldsnap draft, because of the inherent synergies in that good old set) and some where you have to take removal over nearly everything else (XthXthXth draft skews closer to this side, more examples of either format are welcome in comments). It seems to be the rule that in 2HG the removal becomes even more important because the low end of your creature curve gets obsoleted mid-game and and everyone has plenty more time to find and play their respective bombs. Since we all know bombs win games, having removal (and knowing when to use it, obv) gets you back into things before you are smashed to a pulp. HOWEVER, one of the things I was most interested in when playing 2HG Lorwyn Limited was whether or not the need for creature type synergies would overmaster the need for decent removal. If your dedicated Merfolk deck, in the last pack of a 2HG draft, has a choice between a third pick (technically 5th and 6th picks, you know what I mean) Neck Snap and Summon the School which do you take? (Let's assume you other pick in that pack was, uh, Mad Auntie for your other head's half-built Goblin deck, whatever.) The Merfolk Sorcery makes your deck all kinds of awesome in the late game- which you will usually get to in 2HG. But the removal is also really good. It appears, after some experience, that removal still trumps the majority of creatures, even if it means diluting the internal synergy of your deck's creature base. In 2HG, if you see no guys that need to be gotten rid of on the other side of the board, you are winning. There will be targets for removal. Your Summon the School only gets ridiculous if you are able to reach a critical mass of Merfolk (quick aside; Summon the School is not as good in 2HG as regular draft. 30 life plus many more chump blockers = far less effective at ending the game). Getting to that critical mass may take the whole game, or not even happen at all. So keep on taking those Weed Strangles and Tarfires when they come. Now, sometimes you are going to need to kill more than one monster at a time in order to stay in the game. This leads us to our second Rule You Already Know.

#2 Card Advantage Wins 2HG Games

You know how to destroy an opponent in 2HG? Cast Mournwhelk, forcing player A (let's call him "Lajor Muck") to ditch two of the three cards he still has in hand. Then, next turn, counter player B's Footbottom Feast with Familiar's Ruse, returning your Mournwhelk only to recast it again to strip the last two cards from player B's hand. Yeah, TooSarcastic's team won that one (sorry, Major Luck). It's really hard to fight through that much card disadvantage. Likewise, CBG and I ended up drawing the round prior, partly because we are bad players, but mostly because we passed a (foily!) Final Revels in the draft that ended up making it to our opponents, who then used it wreck us on card advantage, along with a second Revels later in the game that mopped up all the 2-butts we had cast after the first Revels resolved. Casting a Hoarder's Greed to draw four cards wasn't bad for the other team either. I mean, who cares about losing four life in this format? The only way my Gothy Captain partner and I were even still in that game was the fact that we also cast our own copy of Final Revels to four-for-one their board as well. In regular draft, getting tempoed out while waiting to reap the rewards of your card advantage is a fairly common concern. This is less so in 2HG. Weenie rushes are less good. Play the 7-casting cost spell that gets two of their cards. You will (almost) always be able to play it. Having said that...

#3 Curving Out Still Wins Games

Last night I was again paired with CBG playing against Fugie and his roommate. I kept a hand with 2 Plains, an Island, Summon the School, Merfolk Harbinger, Inkfathom Divers, and Faerie Trickery. CBG looked at me like I was crazy, but I said, "It's 2HG, I'll get the 4th land eventually. We've got time." Turn two (we were on the play) I drew Moonglove Extract. Just fine. Meanwhile, Fugie had played a 2/1 elemental turn one. Turn three I drew Fallowsage and cast the Extract. Fugie's team had four dudes out to our one, but we had on-board removal so it was fine, right? No it wasn't. Wort, Boggart Auntie comes down next turn with a board full of Gobs for them. Also, my extract can't even kill the Elemental because of Wings of Velis Vel from Fugie. Suddenly half our life is gone. This is the turn. I need to draw a land to continue play spells. I rip... Fallowsage number two! I guess this is a bad beats story. Also, the match prior, I dug through all but the last three cards of my library looking for the game-winning planeswalker Ajani. After the match, I flip over the deck to reveal Ajani as the bottom card. Bad. Beats. But I digress. The whole point is playing land number four (on turn four) and casting Merfolk Harbinger for Stonybrook Angler might not have won the game, but it sure as hell would have made it closer than playing my fourth land on turn six, which is what ended up happening. Build your deck with a curve in mind. Consider mulligans with a curve in mind. You curve may start at three (or maybe even four) instead of one, but 2HG still needs a curve. There are some beatdown strategies out there. They may not be the strongest archetypes, but if people discount them and don't build to protect against an early rush, Kithkin, Elemental and Goblin synergies can overwhelm an opposing team pretty quickly. Also, 90% of the time it's right to play 18 land. I've heard "official" columnists make the argument that you should run fewer lands in 2HG because you get a free mulligan, you have a partner to help you if you stumble, and the games go longer so you draw more cards. It has been my experience that the games I win come from casting Mournwhelk on turn seven, preferably with Aethersnipe either the turn before (to get the bomb into their hand so they discard it) or the turn after (to return Mourwhelk so as to destroy the second opponent's hand). It's hard to lose games when you hit the top end of your curve on schedule. And you know your curve will end higher than your average individual draft deck. Run more land than normal, not less. Getting flooded sucks, but at least when you do draw your business spells you can cast them.

That's it kids. Go play some 2HG.
T

Timmy

So it would probably be declasse of me to mention the fact that Lava Axe kills Enduring Ideal dead, right? Catch, indeed.

--CBG

Time to Break Heartwood Storyteller in Half

Some of you may remember this list...

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Heartwood Storyteller
4 Ohran Viper
4 Timbermare
2 Harmonize
4 Might of Old Krosa
2 Stonewood Invocation
4 Stampeding Wildebeests
4 Citanul Woodreaders
4 Llanowar Reborn
18 Forest
1 Hurricane
1 Overrun

Which has evolved into this

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Heartwood Storyteller
4 Ohran Viper
4 Timbermare
2 Harmonize
4 Might of Old Krosa
2 Stonewood Invocation
4 Stampeding Wildebeests
4 Llanowar Reborn
18 Forest
2 Hurricane
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Troll Ascetic

The biggest problem with this list (other than the fact the I'm piloting it) is the 12 non-creature spells "combo-ing" with Heartwood Storyteller. Man, does that suck. Isn't it cool how Wizards is providing us with spells that pretend to be creatures now?

I think both of the green dudes (translation: TEH G d00dz0rzzzxxx) are totally in there. We can support the regular casting cost of the Cloudthresher, and Briarhorn is no Might of Old Krosa, but he sure doesn't draw my opponent a card when Heartwood is out. I will be the first to admit Cloudthresher kills my Birds. No, I don't actually have a solution to that. Hrmph. Maybe something like this...


4 Llanowar Elves
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Heartwood Storyteller
4 Ohran Viper
4 Timbermare
2 Harmonize
4 Briarhorn
2 Stonewood Invocation
4 Stampeding Wildebeests
4 Llanowar Reborn
18 Forest
2 Cloudthresher
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Troll Ascetic

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?

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.

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.

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.