Pirate Draft League update

Alright, alright, alright everybody. We've had two more drafts on the HMS One Eye and the latest standings are as follows...

Name	Record	Points/Event
Owen T. Jacob B. TooSarcastic Kurt K. Nate L. Tim N. Jonathan B. Brendan H. Matt F. Greg O. Ryan S. Alexis R. CBG Nick P. Ash O. John D.	3-0 8-1 2-0 2-1 2-1 4-2 7-4 3-2 2-1 3-5 1-2 1-4 2-9 0-2 1-4 0-2	8.00 7.62 7.00 7.00 6.00 6.00 5.50 5.00 4.57 3.57 3.00 3.00 2.82 2.00 1.57 1.00

Some reminders: points are awarded per event with 8 points for first down to 1 point for 8th. Events with more/fewer players are normalized to this scale (hence the weird totals for some people).

Finally, I still suck. Drafted a terrible red/green metalcraft deck this last time. Deservedly went 0-2. Maybe I need to get a hook to be more intimidating.

M11 MTGO

Pick one, pack one. Day of Judgment or Foil Day of Judgment?

Force Spikes and increasing Magic's popularity.

So if you haven't checked out Force Spikes, the new podcast by Milwaukee locals Jon and Greg, you really should. They are fun to listen to, regardless of whether or not you agree with them! Case in point, this last episode I had some things to say about their suggestions for how Wizards should continue to increase Magic's popularity. I put a post in the MTGcast forums explaining my... point of view, but for some reason it never made it past moderation. Hm. I didn't think it was TOO much of a flame. See for yourself below. But first listen to this week's ForceSpikes podcast to draw your own conclusion!

"I think that you may have been a bit off base with your suggestions for how Magic could expand its player base.
First of all, I believe that the biggest factor in Magic's recent growth has been the Xbox Duels of the Planeswalkers game. I feel like this was mentioned somewhere on the mothership, but I don't know where I read it, so I'll call it my opinion since I can't cite my source.
Second, I think this example is indicative of a weakness in your thinking; Magic grows most when CASUAL players are introduced from other CASUAL gaming media, not from other competitive avenues like Poker. You're thinking a little too much like Spikes. Please remember that most of Magic's profit will come from the massive number of less engaged, casual gamers, not the tiny percentage of players who participate in PTQ and higher level tourneys.
Take your collective musings on having a spokesperson from the Magic/Poker community. This seems like an awful idea. First, most Magic players (who recall are casual players) don't know ANYONE who plays Poker or Magic professionally. Wizards would have to convince them to care. Second, and much more of an issue, is that Wizards would have to find some sort of perfect human who is well spoken, photogenic, one of the best gamers alive (i.e. doesn't fall off the train the next year being a paid spokesperson) AND has a reputation squeaky clean enough to be on the payroll of a company owned by Hasbro. I'll guarantee you the last point ain't trivial. Making one or several people the public face of your product is a huge PR liability! Don't you think that Wizards has thought about this before? Even if a guy like maybe Kibler could fit all the criteria at THIS MOMENT, if over the next year his clandestine cake-sitting prostitute fetish, or one of a million far less humiliating "personal interests" comes to light, Hasbro takes it sleazy from every conservative alarmist looking to paint Magic as the next thing for parents to freak out about. It's way too much of a liability. This is fundamentally a kid's game, remember.
So I think that Wizards should keep doing what they're doing- make further inroads into another, far more popular gaming arena than pro Poker: video games. This was also a a medium that was considered geeky a few years ago, but now has mainstream appeal. Magic does well to align itself with such a massively popular, mainstream medium. When Wizards wants to address potential new players they can turn to public shills for hire like the Frag Dolls (for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kQbZUGXad4), who are not employed per se by Wizards and who are still easy on the eyes. Then Wizards can promote it all on Facebook, another medium over which they can exert perfect control.
Sorry for the rant, but that part of the podcast really grated on me. Also, the second part of the show about tourney reports was great, and as is the case so often, things that are already great are much less exciting to write about!"
T

Wait, what?

WoTC has declared it and it is so. Starting with Mirrodin Besieged, small sets will be drafted before large sets so starting in early February, you'll be drafting Besieged/Scars/Scars.

Honestly, I like this change a lot. It was always a bit random to have your deck 80% complete and then see what delightful goodies did or did not await you in pack three. The new set should have a much greater effect on the environment now. Plus, it should be easier to adjust to the new set, since packs two and three will be familiar to you. Overall, I'd say this is all to the good, though it throws yet another wrench in the philosophical perfection of Carroll Draft. Oh well, that ship really sailed a long time ago.

So, Scars colors?

Well, what colors would you like to be when playing Scars? Me, I 2-1'ed in another draft with a red deck so I think I am gonna say red. Turns out removal is still good and with solid interactions with the main theme of the set (artifacts), red is very strong. Black has great removal as always (hi, Skinrender and Carnifex Demon!), white has a nice weenie metalcraft deck, green has infect and elves (what up, Ezuri?) and blue is blue (although it seems less blue to me than usual...).

It's actually starting to get to the point where I'd like to force red, but it's easy to end up with a pile of Ferrovores and Goblin Gaveleers in that situation. Better to let it come to you. I think.

Agrees with Tabasco

In the case, the agreement would be synergy. I've drafted twice more since the last time we spoke and went 1-2 and 3-0, but both times, I managed to draft a synergistic and powerful deck. Finally. My first 3 drafts in the format netted only 2 match wins between them and I constantly felt like I was missing out during drafting. The key to the format appears to be getting in to the right strategy early on and sticking with it. I have yet to successfully see something "open" and be able to switch into it. There are too many holes to fill without focus. The nice thing about this is you will get some awesome gifts late if the table is likeminded in its focus.

On Thursday night, I drafted what I thought was a killer infect deck, but I lost 1-2 twice to solid midrange/tempo decks that were able to disrupt me just enough to win. I was pretty salty about losing (especially since I had seen the possibility of not being 2-7 in the format anymore) but that's the correct strategy for beating infect so yay.

Last night, I opened Ezuri, Renegade Leader pick one pack one and decided to value Ezuri's Archers and Carapace Forgers highly. I solidified green with Molder Beast and a Slice in Twain, and also grabbed a late Blade-Tribe Berserkers and a very late Turn to Slag. Incidentally, this would put me in conflict with TS who was trying to find colors and eventually played RW. I passed him some solid but unspectacular Black cards in pack one, but by the time he realized it was open, the player to his left was solidly in Black, squeezing him for removal from both ends. Highlights of packs 2 and 3 were double Arc Trail (including a 5th pick!), a Myr Propagator and a total gift Ezuri's Brigade. I filled it out with some mediocre equipment, two mana myrs and the best spellbomb

Creatures	Spells	Land
Blade-Tribe Berserkers Carapace Forger Copperhorn Scout Ezuri, Renegade Leader Ezuri's Archers Ezuri's Brigade Iron Myr 2 Molder Beast Myr Propagator Perilous Myr Silver Myr 2 Sylvok Replica	2 Arc Trail Galvanic Blast Horizon Spellbomb Liquimetal Coating Slice in Twain Strider Harness Sylvok Lifestaff Tel-Jilad Defiance Turn to Slag	10 Forest 6 Mountain

I went 6-0 with this deck and while there were a couple close calls, I felt pretty much in control, even after I mulled to 6 in games 5 and 6. It's a very powerful deck. Favorite play was four lands, U Myr and Sylvok Lifestaff in play, tap 3 to play Strider Harness, tap Forest to play Copperhorn Scout, tap the Myr to attach Strider Harness, attack for 2, untap the Myr, use the Myr attach the Lifestaff in second main. Close second was Turn 6 hasty 9/9 trampler (Ezuri's Brigade with Strider Harness and metalcraft) with the promise of more to come since Ezuri, Repeatable Overrun was on the table. Yay for winning a draft for once.

"Synergy" is the strongest draft archetype

This week I am back with a deck I went 3-0 with in a 6 man draft (I wish we had gotten 2 more) because my deck was streamlined and synergistic. First the list and then some interactions.

Sylvok Lifestaff
Kuldotha Rebirth
Galvanic Blast
Liquimetal Coating
2x Shatter
Revoke Existance
Myrsmith
2x Perilous Myr
Contagion Clasp
Arc Trail
2x Ferrovore
Furnace Celebration (foil)
Vulshok Replica
Arrest
Rust Tick
Chrome Steed (foil)
Oxxida Scrapmelter
Golem Artisan
Saberclaw Golem
Wurmcoil Engine
10 Mountain
7 Plains

There are a few things going on here that are awesome, Liquimetal Coating is by far the MVP of the deck, and every time it was in play I won. It really shone when it turned my 2 Shatters, Revoke Existance, and Scrapmelter into Vindicates as well as allowing me to lock down any permanent with Rust Tick. It also served as a way to turn lands into fodder for Ferrovore and the Kuldotha Rebirth. Speaking of Ferrovore, he is why synergy is important. In a vacuum he is just a grey orge with and ability to trade one of your permanents for 3 damage, but when you throw in Furnace Celebration and 2 mana you get a shock in as well, you start to build incremental advantage. If that artifact happens to be Perilous Myr, you turn 2R into 7 damage, 4 of which can be used as 2 shocks or even go straight to the face.

I was lucky enough to begin the draft with Wurmcoil Engine, and picked up early removal, of which this deck has 4 removal spells (not counting the shatter effects). The solid removal allowed me to survive long enough for some Golems to clean up. Luckily my first pack paid for the draft even if I hadn't won, and it is even sweeter that I did.

Mirrodin Besieged

Hey all, look. Shiny new Mirrodin Besieged previews. Not there. Scroll down. There. So, this is apparently part of WoTC's continuing attempts to make colors irrelevant, right? Because Hill Giants with a life loss/gain are totally colorless. Monobrown ftw!

Announcing the Pirate Draft League!

My enjoyment of Magic has combined with my selective OCD to make me want to keep track of the 8 mans at my apartment. Who benefits from this? I have no idea. Nonetheless, I have started keeping track of all the juicy statistics from the Scars drafts and will be posting about them occasionally, in addition to using them for a really awesome purpose. I hope to host some Team Rochester later in the year and these rankings will be used to seed the teams in the hopes of a little competitive balance for "the most skill-intensive format ever", as J-Bro keeps referring to it. The damages so far...

Name	Record	Points/Event
Jacob B TooSarcastic Kurt K Brendan H Tim N Jonathan B Alexis R Ryan S CBG Ash O Greg O	6-0 2-0-1 2-1 3-2-1 2-1 3-3 1-4-1 1-2 1-5 1-2 0-2-1	8 7 7 5 5 4.5 3 3 2.5 2 2

I have pseudo-anonymized the data so it doesn't show up on Google, but if there is an a/k/a you'd like associated with your data or you'd prefer to not be included in the public data, please let me know. I'm also going to look into a venue for larger than 8 mans, though it's difficult to find a place for evening play.

Edited to clarify: Points are not match points from the event, but event points awarded by me. 8 points for 1st right on down to 1 point for eighth. Just in case you were confused.

Finally, I got a match win last night and actually drafted a deck (U/W fliers) instead of a pile of shit, so I'm happy, despite my 1-5 in Scars draft so far.

Tabasco's first Scars draft

Ok, so I finally get a chance to draft the set and upon opening my pack decide what strategy I want to employ. I opened on Geth, Lord of the Vault (must be nice). Yes! I am definitely in black, but do I still try for the poison deck or just play my bomb and pick other good cards? Geth is the kind of card that goes in an infect of a non-infect deck because his ability to stall the board is so good 5/5 walls that mill your opponent are fine especially since I get to take stuff in the process. My next few picks are solid artifacts and I start to develop a solid metalcraft strategy. I will post the list and then go over a few choices I had to make building the deck.

Memnite
Vedalken Certarch
Plated Seastrider
Disperse
Culling Dais
Leaden Myr
Perilous Myr
Trinket Mage
Snapsail Glider
Strider Harness
2 Tumble Magnet
Neurok Replica
Chrome Steed
Rusted Relic
2 Bonds of Quicksilver
Lumengrid Drake
Argent Sphinx (foil)
Golem Artisan
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Argentum Armor
Myr Battle Sphere (foil)
6 Swamp
11 Island

Sideboard (only on color cards):

Exsanguinate
Necrogen Scudder
Sky-Eel School
Stoic Rebuttal
Halt Order
2 Instill Infection
Quicksilver Gargantuan
Sylvok Lifestaff (these three
Flight Spellbomb are potential
Origin Spellbomb trinket mage targets)

Yes, that is 5 ridiculous rares I cut the Gargantuan because my high end was already high enough and he is the only one who doesn't quite win the game on his own (Geth, Battlesphere). I opened very well in this draft, P1P1 Geth, P2P1 foil Myr Battlesphere, P3P1 Argentum Armor, I also received the foil Argent Sphinx and Quicksilver Gargantuan P2P2 and P2P3 respectively. I also noticed that it was good I was U/B because all the late commons I was getting were still on color.

I initially chose to run the Bonds of Quicksilver over Instil Infections because they kept a creature tapped that I used tumble magnet on. I boarded the instills against infect deck though. My curve was pretty bad, so I ran things like plated strider to ensure I could get to the late game where (I assume) my bombs would dominate them. I would be interested in hearing what people would have built differently.

Round 1: I played Caleb and he has a pretty good infect deck with solid infecters like Ichor rats and some cystbearers. I end up losing to Contagion Engine + Trigon of Infection after he flooded (turn out those two permanents just win it when I had 1 poison counter from an Ichor rats) I had boarded in my counterspells and instills against him as well as swapped an island for a 7th swamp but it proved to be not enough.

Round 2: I play Garth with a mono-white deck that had some fog effects and solid flyers as well as Golem foundry, I end up winning it with bombs and had a board on turn 4 of one of our games consisting of Vedalken Certarch and 2 Tumble magnets.

Round 3: I play Will with a W/U metalcraft deck. His deck doesn't really have a strong central theme except he has a bunch of stuff that is good with Metalcraft and the same stuff that is bad without. He has a few cute interactions like Neurok Invisomancer + Trigon of rage as well as a few other evasive guys. He also has a Contagion Engine

I end up 2-1 which is good for 1 Pack (kinda lousy), but I lost round 1 and Caleb went 2-1 so he had better tie breaks. I open the Pack and it turns out to be a MOX OPAL!!! turns out it doesn't matter how many packs you get as long as you open a sweet mythic worth some money. I definitely learned that the draft format is not as quick as I thought it was (it doesn't quite rival that of Zendikar). Contagion Engine is stupid good, and slops to the guy who PASSED IT to Caleb. There are only a few cards I can accept being taken over CE and they are all mythic and have the card type planeswalker, maybe Mox Opal although it is worth less than the planeswalkers and doesn't win you the game like they do.

Scars Draft #1 - Birthday Draft

So I had seven of my closest Magic buddies (i.e. those who were able to check attending on Facebook) over last night for birthday brownies, school fundraisers and some Scars booster draft. How did it go? For me, not well, other than the fact that I had a lot of fun. I drafted poorly and the deck drew poorly, which is a recipe for 0-3. Recipe was a success. Obviously I have no control over how the deck drew, but where did I make the mistake in drafting? Read on, gentle walker of the Blind Eternities.

...Ok. I am going to admit something to you. I am going to reveal my first pick from the draft and I am going to take the abuse that comes with it. Just remember, I freely admit this was wrong, wrong, wrong. I fan the opening pack and first pickable cards include Spikeshot Elder, Oxidda Scrapmelter, Volition Reins and Myr Galvanizer. I took the Scrapmelter. This was a fucking stupid pick. In a vacuum, Spikeshot is better. Shipping it left indicates Red is wide open, something I don't want to do if I am taking Scrapmelter. Volition Reins is very strong and was the only Blue in the pack. Myr Galvanizer is strong and leaves my options open. Scrapmelter was wrong, wrong, wrong and it only got wronger. Ordinarily, I wouldn't focus on the first pick so much but this was so clearly where my draft went completely on tilt. Picks 2 and 3, I get 2 Turn to Slag and then Red completely dries up. No Red cards appear in the packs for at least six picks. Black is reasonably open and so I start going that way, but I'm not getting any equipment, mana myrs, infect cards or really anything I am excited to play. About the only playable thing the rest of pack one was a Necrogen Scudder around 6th or 7th.

So pack two starts and I open Carnifex Demon! Okay, here I am on the Black/Blue plan but without anything super solid. Of course, there is no Red coming from my left due to the horrible first pick, but I get a couple Bonds of Quicksilver and a couple reasonable Blue fliers. Still no good equipment (got a Strider Harness but that's it) and I am sad panda. Oh! I got a Volition Reins too.

Pack 3 and here we are, still no good stuff flowing and somewhere around 6th pick a Shatter is in the pack...gah...what? I should have picked it. Especially because the next pack had another. Somewhere in there was another Oxidda Scrapmelter too. My deck would have been so much better if I had taken these three cards and played a Black/Red deck with Carnifex, Scudder, and 2 each of Scrapmelter, Shatter and Turn to Slag, with random artifacts filling out the low end of the curve. As it was I ended up with a pile of anti synergy that failed me to the tune of 0-3 in matches, 1-6 in games. There's nothing to be learned from a recap of the matches because my fate was sealed when I took the Scrapmelter over Volition Reins pack 1, pick 1.

On the other hand, it was super fun to get to do my first non cube booster draft in over a year (yes, that's me being defensive) and I loved having people over, despite the cozy surroundings of the apartment. Thanks everybody for coming and watch my Facebook for an invite to a very special RGD draft in the next couple weeks (still trying to figure out the perfect night, can people do Mondays?).

Carroll Draft

Let's talk about the best draft format to come out of our play group, Carroll Draft. First, a reminder of the format, stolen from our own Draftstravaganza post...

The second format is Carroll draft. Carroll draft is a normal 8 man format which uses 24 different packs. The intention is to use the 24 most recent expert-level expansions, though the release of two-set blocks requires a little rejiggering (we are adding a pack of Coldsnap for this version). First everyone opens a big set (Lorwyn through Invasion). Drafting proceeds as normal. You will travel backwards in time as you go through the packs so if your first pack is Lorwyn, your second pick will be from Time Spiral, then Ravnica, and so on. The second pack you open will be from a second set (Morningtide through Planeshift). Again, you will travel back in time as drafting moves to the right. Finally, the third pack will be all 3rd sets, though Coldsnap will be in the mix due to Lorwyn being a 2 set block.

So where is the format now? First, Shadowmoor managed to screw it up a little more and Rise of the Eldrazi (a large third set) makes decisions a little more difficult. The general consensus is also the Coldsnap includes far too many linear mechanics to play nice with the rest of the sets. Rise of the Eldrazi on the other hand, points a way to a solution to the two set block problem, though it is a little inelegant. We can stick a large set in for the 3rd set of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor blocks. I kind of like the idea of throwing Scars of Mirrodin in for one. The other can be a core set, older large set or Coldsnap, if you really feel you must. If I were hosting one right now this is what it would look like

Seat	1st	2nd	3rd
1	Zendikar	Conflux	Scars of Mirrodin
2	Shards of Alara	Worldwake	X/M10/M11
2	Shadowmoor	Darksteel	Future Sight
4	Lorwyn	Betrayers	Dissension
5	Time Spiral	Guildpact	Saviors
6	Ravnica	Planar Chaos	Fifth Dawn
7	Champions	Morningtide	Rise of the Eldrazi
8	Mirrodin	Eventide	Alara Reborn

I'll be the first to admit this is basically a Chaos draft without as much chaos, but what an enjoyable trip through time. The strategies are basically the same as Chaos, though of course you can plan a bit for things like Ravnica bouncelands, Mirrodin artifacts and Alara multicolor madness. The other nice way the format is evolving is that WoTC has been developing for draft a lot more in the late aughts than they were around the time of Invasion so the drafts get better as those sets age out. God help us, Nemesis was in the format the first time we did this and man, was that set ever terrible for Chaos drafting.

The other great thing about Carroll drafting is finding the packs. Usually you can get about 80% of them on one website, but shopping around for different sources and trying to get the best deal is a fun little treasure hunting challenge that increases anticipation for your draft. Try Carroll draft out today. Or next week. Whenever you can round up the packs. I guarantee you'll be turning potential drafters away.

Cube Comparison Thread

Just a quick note for Cube drafters out there. In her weekly article Thea Steele mentioned a pretty cool resource- the MTG Salvation Cube Comparison Thread. Think of it as a meta analysis for Cube cards. Posts include a "Winners/Losers" analysis that tracks which cards are trending hot and which ones are losing value, tools to evaluate an "average" 360 or 720 card Cube (based on 100 Cube lists), and a card ranking based on the number of times all those Cubes included individual cards. There is an Cube list entered into the data by the name of "Fugitive Wizard," it is NOT ours.

I can see consulting some of this data when making cuts or adds to the Cube.

Do you think I should submit our list?

T

Cards I missed at the Prereleases

So I was talking to TS about the Prerelease and I realized very quickly that cards I had seen over and over were cards he had pretty much missed and vice versa. I figured I could take a look through the spoiler and find a few of these and talk about how awesome/awful they are. Oh, one quick note. Steve Sadin appears to be just as in love with Tel-Jilad Defiance as I am. So wooo!

First, TS mentioned some golem which I originally thought was Precursor Golem but was actually Golem Artisan. So, which would I rather in my sealed pool? Precursor is more of a put my opponent under pressure card, where Artisan kind of says, "Alpha strike for the win". I think infect decks would clearly rather the Artisan, but aggressive decks that want to kill with damage would prefer the Precursor. Certain cards (cantrips) are a serious blowout against Precursor, but it's such a deal that I think the chance is worth it.

Clone Shell - 5, Artifact Creature, Imprint — When Clone Shell enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
When Clone Shell is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, turn the exiled card face up. If it's a creature card, put it onto the battlefield under your control.

I like this, especially at uncommon. I wish is dug a little deeper than four cards. Even five would give you a significantly better chance of a hit. Another nice thing would be to let you get a land, but I suppose that's not flavorful.

Culling Dais - 2, Artifact,
Tap, Sacrifice a creature: Put a charge counter on Culling Dais.
1, Sacrifice Culling Dais: Draw a card for each charge counter on Culling Dais.

Here's a fun one that I wouldn't pay more for, but I think this is costed right and I like playing games with it. Especially because you can proliferate once you've got the first counter. I wish they had brought back Doubling Season for this environment, but I guess it might have been a little(lot) broken.

Strata Scythe - 3, Artifact-Equipment,
Imprint — When Strata Scythe enters the battlefield, search your library for a land card, exile it, then shuffle your library.
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each land on the battlefield with the same name as the exiled card.
Equip 3

I am trying to avoid rares, because one will run into them less, but this is one of the cards TS mentioned. This is obviously such a bomb. Even if you could only imprint a card from hand it would be good, but the flexibility to search makes it out of sight.

Tower of Calamities - 4, Artifact, 8, Tap: Tower of Calamities deals 12 damage to target creature.

Basically, it's an Aladdin's Ring for creatures and just about as playable. Maybe in a metalcraft deck with tons of mana Myrs? I don't know, even then, it just eats a Shatter...

Abuna Acolyte - 1W, Creature-Cat Cleric,
Tap: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn.
Tap: Prevent the next 2 damage that would be dealt to target artifact creature this turn.

Now that's a Samite Healer with some guts.

Myrsmith - 1W, Creature-Human Artificer,
Whenever you cast an artifact spell, you may pay 1. If you do, put a 1/1 colorless Myr artifact creature token onto the battlefield. 2/1

Ok, this seems good because 2/1s for 2 are generally playable as are 1/1 artifact creatures for one. I'll fully confess that I could be wrong about this since x/1s are so vulnerable in the environment.

Twisted Image - U, Instant,
Switch target creature's power and toughness until end of turn.
Draw a card.

As a trick, I don't think power/toughness switching is awesome in the environment (except against white) but cantrips for 1 are pretty much always playable.

Fume Spitter - B, Creature-Horror,
Sacrifice Fume Spitter: Put a -1/-1 counter on target creature.

Festering Goblin holds a special place in my heart. This isn't quite as good, or at least, it wouldn't be without proliferate.

Barrage Ogre - 3RR, Creature-Ogre Warrior, Tap, Sacrifice an artifact: Barrage Ogre deals 2 damage to target creature or player.

I would play this if I was playing red, but it would pull me into red at 2RR. Which it isn't. Boo.

Acid Web Spider - 3GG, Creature-Spider,
Reach
When Acid Web Spider enters the battlefield, you may destroy target Equipment.

Yes, yes, yes. This is the kind of card I love. It's got all kinds of utility in the environment. It eats blue fliers. It eats infect guys. Also, props to creative for not naming this Acidweb Spider. They seem to love the "smash two words together" school of naming and this one is dead on.

Finally, Tangle Angler - 3G, Creature — Horror, Infect
Green: Target creature blocks Tangle Angler this turn if able.

I have nothing to say about this card other than that it appears to be the clear favorite card name amongst casual players. Tangle angler, tangle angler, tangle angler. It is fun to say.

Scars Prerelease #2 - The Revenge

I had so much fun at the Scars Prerelease that I decided to do another. I could only sleep for about 90 minutes on Saturday morning, so I just powered my way through an episode of the shakes and headed down to Milwaukee Magic for their noon 4 round prerelease. Here's what I opened...

Cardpool
White	Blue	Black
Abuna Acolyte Arrest Auriok Sunchaser Fulgent Distraction Kemba, Kha Regent Seize the Initiative Soul Parry 2 Sunspear Shikari Vigil for the Lost	2 Disperse Grand Architect Lumengrid Drake Neurok Invisimancer Plated Seastrider Screeching Silcaw Steady Progress Stoic Rebuttal Twisted Image	Carnifex Demon Corrupted Harvester Exsanguinate Geth, Lord of the Vault Instill Infection Plague Stinger
Red	Green	Artifact/Land
Assault Strobe Ferrovore 2 Furnace Celebration 2 Goblin Gaveleer Kuldotha Rebirth Ogre Geargrabber Oxidda Daredevil Scoria Elemental Tunnel Ignus Turn to Slag Vulshok Heartstoker	Alpha Tyrranax Blight Mamba Carapace Forger Copperhorn Scout 2 Cystbearer Ezuri's Archers 2 Molder Beast Tel-Jilad Defiance 2 Untamed Might Wing Puncture	2 Bladed Pinions Chrome Steed 2 Corpse Cur Darksteel Myr Flight Spellbomb Glimmerpost Gold Myr Heavy Arbalest Horizon Spellbomb Ichorclaw Myr Iron Myr Liquimetal Coating Memnite Necrogen Censer 2 Necropede Nihil Spellbomb Panic Spellbomb Perilous Myr Rust Tick Silver Myr Snapsail Glider Strider Harness 2 Throne of Geth Tower of Calamities Trigon of Rage Vector Asp 2 Vulshok Replica

This pool pissed me off pretty hard. Two BB bombs with almost no support? A bunch of interesting red cards with no Shatter or Arc Trail? 2 Goblin Gaveleer (or 2 Sunspear Shikari if you prefer) with nothing worth picking up? I tried to build this Red/Black, but ultimately realized I was being pulled toward infect, so I started substituting in infect support cards for "better" cards and ended up with an infect deck that pulls a hell of a late game (Geth, Carnifex). You'll note no Mana Myrs. I think infect is the one of the few (only?) archetypes in Scars sealed that really doesn't want the mana Myrs. Acceleration is pretty unimportant for these decks, metalcraft doesn't help either, and they are ineffective blockers in the mirror.

Blight Mamba - these were all over the tables at the other prerelease and I saw a few here as well. Regeneration flat sucks in the environment. They just die in the mirror. All that said, I think they are the edge of playability in the archetype.
Carapace Forger - This on the other hand is very solid. Don't forget it's an Elf if you open an Ezuri, but the most important thing is, it's a bear with an upside, not just a bear.
Copperhorn Scout - I played very aggressively with this, because even one turn of vigilant attacking can really put your opponent under pressure. Sure, they block him, but hey, that's a blocker they can't use on something else.
2 Cystbearer - This is the kind of card that pulls you into infect. A house in the mirror (if it seems like I am emphasizing the mirror, it's because you will play a ton of it), a 3 butt, double the clock, etc...
Ezuri's Archers - Spiders good
Molder Beast - Two in the pool, but I only played one. He tramples which is nice, but I already had a ton of late game and he doesn't fit naturally into the infect theme.
Tel-Jilad Defiance - Here's where I admit that for the last 6 years, I thought that was Tel-Jihad. RTFC. Also, this card is awesome, say it with me, "in the environment".
2 Untamed Might - These are finishers that have utility and having two meant I could burn one early for something minor.
Carnifex Demon - This card doesn't say win the game. Other than that...
Geth, Lord of the Vault - This card also doesn't say win the game. Still...
Instill Infection - This is so good. I will always play this if I am playing black. The moment I realized I could hit Precursor Golem, I definitely giggled. Ancestral Recall is good.
2 Corpse Cur - Speaking of cards that are good in the mirror. You can trade infect guys early, knowing this guy will show up to bail you out. You can sac guys to Throne of Geth, knowing this guy is around. Is awesome. Would play again.
Horizon Spellbomb
2 Necropede - This card is incredibly important in the mirror. 2-for-1s all over the place. Does nasty things with Throne of Geth and Corpse Cur, not to mention Carnifex Demon.
Rust Tick
Strider Harness - Pump equipment only in infect decks.
2 Throne of Geth - I've already discussed all the reasons this is awesome above. Except for metalcraft. That's awesome too. And counters for Trigon of Rage and Carnifex Demon and poison counters for your opponent. The B bombs were my all stars, but this is the utility player that allowed my all stars to shine. Kind of like Craig Counsell.
Trigon of Rage - Again, three counters with no color commitment is awesome.
11 Forest
5 Swamp

No Exsanguinate. That's not how this deck wins. I felt like I built a great deck for the mirror match, and what did I get round one? The mirror. Unfortunately, I lost but I am 90% certain it was a draw dependent loss. Also, my opponent played very well in never leaving me an opportunity to get in unblocked. Both games ended with the winning Untamed Might in hand with no way to get through. Maybe that so subpar Plague Stinger should have made it in.

Rounds 2 and 3 were against pretty goldfishy players and I won handily both times.

Round 4 had a very fun, tightly contested game 1, where I was able to equip Strider Harness for the final point of damage the turn before he was to kill me. Game 2 was notable for my opponent nearly coming back from a mull to 4 on the play with an early Precursor Golem, but then I played the Ancestral and it was game over on an Untamed Might poison kill. 3-1 was good for 4 packs.

I think the jury is still out on the infect deck archetype. It can win out of nowhere, which is always fun, but I am just not sure it's "good" enough. Infect is very easily disruptible and you better have some kind of fatty boom-boom to finish the job if your infect can't get there for one reason or another. It seemed like the best decks were playing planeswalkers. Big surprise there. Oh, and one other note, about Tainted Strike (B, Instant, Target creature gets +1/0 and gains infect until EOT). People were splashing this into powerful decks as a finisher. There are a lot of ways to deal 9 damage in a turn and B is a nice way to turn that into a game win. Spike will need to block for a while here.

Finally, if there are any new players reading this, stop playing Vigil for the Lost. Your opponent does a little dance inside his head every time he sees you play it.

Scars Pre-release, or how I punted with my above average pool

So the pool I opened for the Midnight Pre-release at Silver Spring Hobby was pretty solid. My black was the strongest with good removal and a bomb flyer, red had 2 shatters but not much else to mention, white had a very aggressive curve with 2 Glint Hawks a Glint hawk Idol as well as the stat-boosting enchantment Tempered Steel. I built the deck playing Black and Red to play my good removal and some shatters and ended up playing higher-costed mediocre red cards instead of my aggressive white curve. I was enthralled with infect but had infecters that were better in a draft deck than a sealed pool, but chose to play them anyway because infect excites me, and it was late. I also hadn't laid out the white cards because of time building constraint so I decided to run what I had. I started off 2-0 but then finished out 0-3 ending up with no prize and left to get home and sleep before working later that afternoon. The following evening I reevaluated my pool and found that had I played B/W I would have had much more synergy as well as a very aggressive deck.

The rares in my pool were: Tempered Steel, Genesis Wave, Liege of the Tangle, Carnifex Demon, Ratchet Bomb, and Nim Deathmantle.

Here is what I should have played:

2 Glint Hawk
Salvage Scout
Horizon Spellbomb
Ratchet Bomb
Nim Deathmantle
Leaden Myr
Iron Myr
Glint Hawk Idol
Contagion Clasp (foil)
Bladed Pinions
Auriok Edgewright
Auriok Sunchaser
Tempered Steel
Dispense Justice
2 Moriok Replica
Rusted Relic
Skin Render
Flesh Allergy
Trigon of Corruption
Glimmerpoint Stag
Bleak Coven Vampires
Carnifex Demon
16 Land

This version of the deck plays the aggressive metalcraft cards and the equipment card I didn't fit into my other deck. Glimmerpoint Stag, Salvage Scout, and the Glint hawks allow me to reuse or reset my Contagion Clasp, Ratchet Bomb, and Trigon of Corrupton. Stag has added synergy with Bleak Coven Vampires and Skinrender, as well as adding more counters to Carnifex Demon for more -1/-1 counter distribution. I think if I had played this build I could have been 4-1 since I doubt even this could have defeated Caleb's pool (Koth of the Hammer, Mox Opal, Argent Sphinx). Not only did he open ~$100 in cards, but he also went undefeated (giving me my first loss in round 3).

Overall I think it was a great night, had fun and learned many things about SOM limited. I also learned that the sealed format is defined by bombs. I lost to Koth, Sword of Body and Mind, Darksteel Juggernaut, and Putrefax). I also faced opponents who each had 1 of the 3 different planeswalkers in the set. CBG had Elspeth in R1, Caleb had Koth in R3, and Bagha had Venser in R4, luckily for me I didn't actually face Elspeth or Venser. Caleb found Koth all 3 games, including punishing my by playing it turn 3 off a myr game 1 for missing my second land drop (I kept a 1 lander with a myr and three other 2 drops in my hand).

Tabasco

Midnight Prerelease - Scars of Mirrodin

I went to the midnight prerelease at Silver Spring Hobby on Friday night. I've wanted to do a midnight prere for years and my birthday is next week so I decided to roll it. There were around 40 lucky souls who sat down around 12:30 (boo, hiss) to crack 6 packs of Scars of Mirrodin. The big news of the set is of course, poison, and it played an important role all night. First, let's crack the packs and we can talk about meaning later.

Sealed Pool

White	Blue	Black
2 Arrest	Bonds Of Quicksilver	Blistergrub
Auriok Edgewright	2 Neurok Invisimancer	Contagious Nim
Elspeth Tirel!	Plated Seastrider	2 Dross Hopper
2 Ghalma's Warden	Riddlesmith	Grasp of Darkness
Glint Hawk	Scrapdiver Serpent	Moriok Reaver
Loxodon Wayfarer	Screeching Silclaw	Relic Putrescence
Salvage Scout	Sky-Eel School	Tainted Strike
	Steady Progress
	Stoic Rebuttal
	Thrummingbird
	Vedalken Certarch
Red	Green	Artifact/Land
Assault Strobe	Bellowing Tangleworm	2 Argentum Armor
Bloodshot Trainee	Carapace Forger	2 Chrome Steed
Ferrovore	Carrion Call	Contagion Engine
2 Flameborn Hellion	Cystbearer	Copper Myr
2 Furnace Celebration	Ezuri, Renegade Leader	Darksteel Axe
3 Melt Terrain	2 Ezuri's Archers	Darksteel Myr
Shatter	Lifesmith	Darksteel Sentinel
Turn to Slag	Molder Beast	2 Echo Circlet
	Tel-Jilad Defiance	2 Glint Hawk Idol
	Withstand Death	Gold Myr
		Ichorclaw Myr
		Liquimetal Coating
		Neurok Replica
		Nihil Spellbomb
		Palladium Myr
		Precursor Golem
		Razorfield Thresher
		Rust Tick
		Saberclaw Golem
		Soliton
		Sylvok Replica
		Trigon of Infestation
		Trigon of Rage
		Trigon of Thought
		Tumble Magnet
		Vector Asp
		Wall of Tanglecord

White is very solid, with double Arrest and "win the effing game" card Elspeth Tirel. Also notable is the white mana myr and the double glint Hawk Idol.

Blue is excellent as well. No bombs, but Bonds of Quicksilver, Riddlesmith, Sky-Eel School, Stoic Rebuttal (hard counters are good in sealed), Thrummingbird and Certarch are all cards I'd be glad to run.

Black is the first color I cut from consideration. No bombs, only one infect creature, little evasion or removal. Yech.

Red has the all star Shatter, a couple of hasty worms (sorry, hellions. Whatever, WOTC. I know a fucking worm when I see one.) and a Turn to Slag. It also has three too many Melt Terrains and is really creature light. No thank you.

Green is very solid. Good curve, good fat, a couple of decent tricks. This is another front runner. Again, little infect.

Artifacts. I don't know what to say in general about artifacts. Play good Equipment, mana Myrs and decently costed creatures. The one late add was Darksteel Sentinel. I thought he was too expensive at 6. I was wrong. He's a champ.

Ultimately, the lack of removal in Green kept me away despite the repeatable overrun on Ezuri and the nice curve. Blue was tempting until I realized I was going to be playing five rounds starting at 1 am and counting on myself to make optimal plays was not wise. Ultimately, the siren song of a pretty straightforward deck with a win now condition got me into White. I was actually going to go mono-W until I realized I could cut a few subpar artifacts in order to make room for Shatter (all-star) and Bloodshot Trainee (3 ways to activate and a 3-butt). I did leave the Wayfarer on the sidelines, but played everything else. Final list:

2 Arrest - Is this or Shatter better in the environment? Discuss.
Auriok Edgewright - It was surprisingly hard to get metalcraft going even with 14 artifacts. It might be better in draft, but I was unimpressed.
Elspeth Tirel
2 Ghalma's Warden - OTOH, these were solid. 4 butts were nice, even against infect dudes and there are tons of -1/-1 counters flying around.
Glint Hawk - I so wanted this to be better. Maybe with a Memnite...
Salvage Scout - This is a superhero in the environment.
Darksteel Axe
Tumble Magnet
Precursor Golem - You will occasionally get blown out, like when somebody hits one with a cantrip. Nonetheless, 9 power for 5 mana is...good.
2 Glint Hawk Idol - almost better than Glint Hawk. Carries equipment like a champ.
Copper Myr - I don't know if you play offcolor mana Myr in an infect deck, but I don't know if they ever hit the sideboard otherwise.
Darksteel Sentinel - See my note above. You probably think this is overcosted. It's not.
Rust Tick - never dead, and a Puppeteer you only have to pay for once is nice, even if it's somewhat limited in it's tricksiness.
Trigon of Rage - I only recharged this once. Three activations is plenty.
Horizon Spellbomb - House, though I obviously wouldn't have played it without the red splash
Gold Myr - etc.
Palladium Myr - also carries an axe and lures removal
Argentum Armor - I wish I hadn't opened two of these but an active one is basically game over, as it turns everything into an Eldrazi.
Contagion Engine - zomg, really.
12 Plains
4 Mountain

Round 1 I played against Tony, who was playing what appeared over the next day to be a pretty standard infect deck. A lot of little guys who give you poison counters, a few tricks, some removal. The games were reasonable but he was able to force through enough poison each time. I did end up mulliganing twice and that might have been the problem, but I think the bigger problem was I just didn't know how to deal with an infect deck yet, and he ran a bit more removal than is typical for those types of deck.

Round 2 I played against a very nice goldfish playing a defensive GW deck with no apparent win conditions. Once I was able to work my way through his Wall of Tanglewood and various lifegainers, I won handily.

Round 3 was a singularly unmemorable beatdown of an infect deck, played by someone who wasn't as good at deckbuilding as my first round opponent. He snuck a game 2 win against me but it wasn't enough. Contagion Engine just wins games. Nearly everyone at the top tables had one. It's basically a Plague Wind that gives you random positive effects like; add a counter to your Trigon and, give the other dude a poison counter. At this point, it was around 4:15 am and I had yet to see my Elspeth, except a brief appearance in a 7-card, no-land hand. That was about to change.

Round 4 I played against a solid red blue deck, with lots of red blue things, like hard counters, burn and Confiscate effects. Side note: if WoTC never prints another Confiscate, it'll be too soon. Being hit with your own guys is spectacularly unfun, especially when they didn't even have to die first. Game one, I finally saw Elspeth, which was convenient, since I was being beaten about the head and neck with one of my own guys. I won. Game 2 was epic central. We went back and forth for a while until I got Elspeth online and fired off her ultimate ability, leaving myself with an indestructible golem carrying an indestructible axe and a Soldier token and my opponent with one card in hand. Unfortunately for me, that card was an Arc Trail, killing off Elspeth and a token for a grand total of two mana. No problem though, because I still have five power on the table, 27 life and...he ripped a Volition Reins. Hey, no problem, I still have like 5 draw steps. Of course, I can't get my equipment back until I rip a creature, and my draws for the rest of the game were, and I remember this clearly, Plains, Plains, Plains, Plains, Plains. Nice win. Then I won game 3 with Elspeth. w00t. Planeswalkers are good.

Round 5 was the difference between one pack and six packs, so I needed to concentrate. Unfortunately, that apparently means I can't remember much other than that I won and that both Elspeth and Argentum Armor made an appearance. So, six packs, 4-1 and yay! Fliers with equipment and Planeswalkers are both valid ways to win in this environment. One sided Wrath of Gods are still good, Proliferate is good, poison is interesting and those decks defintely have an "oops, I win" characteristic, but they didn't seem to be unbalanced so yay WoTC. MaRo has stated many times that they wanted to avoid poison as "just another life total". I think there is something to that, but mostly, poison is just another life total, and as long as they don't push the power level too much, it's a lot of fun.

The prerelease was so fun I did it again at noon the next day, but this post is already long enough.

Back

So, after a long hiatus, CBG is back on the Magic horse. TooSarcastic invited me to a birthday Cube, then JBro invited me to a birthday mitotic draft and lo and behold, the effin Scars of Mirrodin prerelease was this weekend and the point is...I thought I was out, but they keep pulling me back in. One of the dudes in the playgroup has started a podcast (whose name i will pimp once he gets back to me) but I think there's a place for a more active blog. I'm going to rehash my two prerelease pools here and we can talk it out.

TooSarcastic's Cube Draft List v5.0 (through Rise of the Eldrazi)

WHITE (101)
Abolish
Academy Rector
Admonition Angel
Ajani Goldmane
Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Archon of Justice

Archon of Redemption

Armageddon
Austere Command
Aven Mindcensor
Aven Riftwatcher
Balance
Baneslayer Angel
Battlegrace Angel
Blade of the Sixth Pride
Calciderm
Captain of the Watch
Cloudchaser Kestrel

Cloudgoat Ranger

Conquerer's Pledge
Crovax, Ascendant Hero
Day of Judgment
Disenchant

Eight-and-a-Half-Tails

Elite Vanguard
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Emerge Unscathed
Emeria Angel
Eternal Dragon
Exalted Angel
Faith's Fetters
Felidar Sovereign
Feudkiller's Verdict
Flickerwisp
Galepowder Mage
Ghostly Prison
Gideon Jura
Glory
Goldmeadow Harrier
Guardian Seraph
Hallowed Burial
Hand of Honor
Harm's Way
Honor of the Pure
Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Journey to Nowhere
Kami of Ancient Law
Knight of Meadowgrain
Knight of the White Orchid
Kor Hookmaster
Kor Firewalker
Kor Skyfisher
Land Tax

Lightkeeper of Emeria

Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Loam Lion
Longbow Archer
Luminarch Ascension
Marshal's Anthem
Martial Coup
Mirror Entity
Mother of Runes
Oblivion Ring
Marshal's Anthem
Pacifism
Paladin en-Vec
Parallax Wave
Path to Exile
Prison Term
Pristine Angel
Ranger of Eos
Refraction Trap
Return to Dust
Reveillark
Rout
Safe Passage
Samurai of the Pale Curtain
Savannah Lions
Serra Avenger
Soltari Crusader
Soltari Monk
Soltari Priest
Soul Warden
Spectral Procession
Stonecloaker
Stoneforge Mystic
Stonehewer Giant
Story Circle
Student of Warfare
Swords to Plowshares
Temporal Isolation
Transcendent Master
Twilight Shepherd
Wall of Omens
Wall of Reverence
White Knight
White Shield Crusader
Windborn Muse
World Queller
Wrath of God
Yosei, the Morning Star

BLUE (101)
Æther Tradewinds
Æthersnipe
Aeon Chronicler
Ancestral Vision
Arcanis the Omnipotent
Body Double
Boomerang
Braingeyser
Brainstorm

Bribery

Brine Elemental
Cache Raiders
Calcite Snapper
Capsize

Coralhelm Commander

Chronozoa
Clone
Collective Restraint
Compulsive Research
Confiscate
Control Magic
Counterspell
Cryptic Command
Deep Analysis
Dismiss
Djinn of Wishes
Draining Whelk

Echoing Truth

Enclave Cryptologist
Ethersworn Adjudicator
Exclude
Fact or Fiction
Fathom Seer
Force of Will
Frantic Search
Future Sight
Gifts Ungiven
Glen Elendra Archmage
Hinder
Horizon Drake
Impulse
Inkwell Leviathan
Into the Roil
Jace Beleren
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Keiga, the Tide Star
Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
Lighthouse Chronologist
Looter il-Kor
Magus of the Future
Mana Drain
Mana Leak
Man-o'-War
Master Transmuter
Meloku the Clouded Mirror
Merfolk Looter
Mulldrifter
Mystical Teachings
Mystical Tutor
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Ophidian
Opposition
Pestermite
Ponder
Ray of Command
Remand
Repeal
Repulse
Riftwing Cloudskate
Rite of Replication
Rushing River
Sea Gate Oracle
Serendib Efreet
Sower of Temptation
Sphinx of Jwar Isle
Sphinx of Lost Truths
Sphinx of Magosi
Stroke of Genius
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
Tezzeret the Seeker
Thada Adel, Acquisitor
Thirst for Knowledge
Tidespout Tyrant
Tidings
Time Spiral
Time Walk
Time Warp
Tinker
Tradewind Rider
Treachery
Treasure Hunt
Trinket Mage
Vapor Snare
Vendilion Clique
Venser, Shaper Savant
Vesuvan Shapeshifter
Vexing Sphinx
Voidmage Prodigy
Wake Thrasher
Waterfront Bouncer
Willbender

BLACK (101)
Abyssal Persecutor
Animate Dead
Anowon, the Ruin Sage
Ashling, the Extinguisher
Avatar of Woe
Bane of the Living

Barter in Blood

Beacon of Unrest
Bitterblossom
Bloodghast
Bloodhusk Ritualist
Bone Shredder
Braids, Cabal Minion
Cemetery Reaper
Chainer's Edict
Child of Night
Consuming Vapors
Corpse Connoisseur
Corrupted Zendikon
Damnation
Dark Ritual
Darkblast
Dauthi Slayer
Decree of Pain
Demonic Tutor
Diabolic Edict
Doom Blade
Dregscape Zombie
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Dusk Urchins
Enslave
Entomb
Eyeblight's Ending
Graveborn Muse
Guul Draz Assassin
Halo Hunter
Hand of Cruelty
Hymn to Tourach
Hypnotic Specter

Incremental Blight

Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni

Kalastria Highborn
Knight of Stromgald

Kokusho, the Evening Star
Liliana Vess
Living Death
Lord of the Undead
Makeshift Mannequin
Malakir Bloodwitch
Mirri the Cursed

Mutilate

Nameless Inversion
Nantuko Husk
Nantuko Shade
Necromancy
Nezumi Graverobber
Night’s Whisper
Nirkana Revenant
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Okiba-Gang Shinobi
Oona's Prowler
Phyrexian Arena

Phyrexian Gargantua
Phyrexian Rager

Phyrexian Scuta
Profane Command
Promise of Power

Puppeteer Clique
Quest for the Gravelord

Reanimate

Recurring Nightmare

Rend Flesh
Sarcomancy
Sengir Nosferatu
Shriekmaw

Sinkhole

Skeletal Scrying

Slaughter
Slaughter Pact

Soul Collector

Sorin Markov

Stinkweed Imp

Stromgald Crusader
Sudden Death
Tainted Pact
Tendrils of Corruption
Terror
Thoughtseize
Thrashing Wumpus
Tombstalker

Trespasser il-Vec

Twisted Abomination
Undead Gladiator
Undead Warchief

Vampire Hexmage

Vampire Nighthawk

Vampire Nocturnus
Visara the Dreadful
Viscera Dragger
Withered Wretch
Yawgmoth's Will

RED (101)
Aftershock
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Anger
Avalanche Riders
Blistering Firecat
Blood Knight
Bogardan Hellkite
Burst Lightning
Caldera Hellion
Chain Reaction
Chandra Ablaze
Chandra Nalaar
Comet Storm
Countryside Crusher
Crusher Zendikon
Dead // Gone
Demonfire

Devastating Summons

Dragonmaster Outcast
Earthquake
Fiery Temper

Fire Imp
Fireblast
Firebolt
Flame Fusillade
Flame Javelin

Flame Slash
Flameblast Dragon
Flametongue Kavu
Fork
Forked Bolt

Frenzied Goblin

Gathan Raiders

Goblin Bushwhacker

Goblin Chieftain

Goblin Guide

Goblin Matron

Goblin Ruinblaster
Goblin Shortcutter
Goblin Welder

Godo, Bandit Warlord
Gorilla Shaman
Greater Gargadon
Grim Lavamancer
Hearth Kami

Heat Shimmer

Hellkite Charger
Hell's Thunder
Hellspark Elemental
Hissing Iguanar
Incinerate
Insurrection
Jackal Pup
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Jokulhaups
Kamahl, Pit Fighter
Kargan Dragonlord
Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
Keldon Marauders
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Kird Ape
Knollspine Invocation
Kumano, Master Yamabushi
Lash Out
Lava Hounds
Lightning Bolt
Lord of Shatterskull Pass
Magma Jet

Magus of the Moon

Magus of the Scroll
Mogg Fanatic

Obsidian Fireheart
Pact of the Titan

Plated Geopede
Predator Dragon
Puncture Blast
Pyroclasm
Reckless Wurm
Rolling Thunder
Ryusei, the Falling Star

Seal of Fire

Searing Blaze

Siege-Gang Commander
Squee, Goblin Nabob

Staggershock

Stigma Lasher
Sudden Shock
Sulfur Elemental
Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
Tarfire
Taurean Mauler
Threaten
Thundermare
Traitorous Instinct
Tribal Flames
Urza's Rage
Viashino Heretic
Warren Instigator
Wheel of Fortune
Word of Seizing
Zo-Zu the Punisher

GREEN (101)
Albino Troll
All Suns' Dawn
Ant Queen
Avenger of Zendikar
Awakening Zone
Berserk

Bestial Menace

Birds of Paradise
Blastoderm
Borderland Ranger
Briarhorn
Call of the Herd
Caller of the Claw
Carven Caryatid
Chameleon Colossus
Chord of Calling
Civic Wayfinder
Cloudthresher
Defense of the Heart
Deranged Hermit
Devoted Druid
Eternal Witness
Explore

Explosive Vegetation

Fertile Ground
Fyndhorn Elves
Garruk Wildspeaker
Genesis

Golgari Grave-Troll

Grazing Gladehart
Great Sable Stag
Harmonize
Harrow
Hystrodon

Imperious Perfect

Indrik Stomphowler

Iwamori of the Open Fist
Joraga Treespeaker

Kodama of the North Tree
Kodama's Reach
Krosan Grip
Leatherback Baloth
Life from the Loam
Llanowar Elves
Lotus Cobra
Master of the Wild Hunt
Mire Boa

Moment's Peace

Mold Shambler

Mycoloth

Natural Order

Naturalize
Noble Hierarch

Oracle of Mul Daya

Ohran Viper

Omnath, Locus of Mana
Overrun
Pelakka Wurm
Phantom Centaur
Plow Under
Primal Command
Protean Hulk
Rampaging Baloths
Rancor

Reach of Branches

Regrowth

Restock

River Boa
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Sakura-Tribe Elder
Scryb Ranger
Scute Mob
Seal of Primordium
Seedborn Muse
Simian Grunts
Spectral Force
Stonewood Invocation
Survival of the Fittest

Sylvan Library

Sylvan Scrying
Tarmogoyf
Terastodon
Terra Stomper
Thelonite Hermit

Thornling

Tooth and Nail
Troll Ascetic
Uktabi Orangutan

Vengevine

Vinelasher Kudzu

Vines of Vastwood
Viridian Shaman
Yavimaya Elder
Wall of Blossoms
Wall of Roots
Werebear
Wickerbough Elder
Wild Mongrel
Wild Nacatl
Wolfbriar Elemental
Wood Elves

MULTICOLORED (90)

W/U
Azorius Guildmage
Court Hussar

Dismantling Blow

Mirrorweave
Mistmeadow Witch
Momentary Blink
Plumeveil
Swans of Bryn Argoll

U/B
Nemesis of Reason
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Psychatog
Recoil

Ribbons of Night

Shadowmage Infiltrator
Soul Manipulation
Sphinx Summoner

B/R
Ashenmoor Liege
Bituminous Blast
Blightning
Murderous Redcap
Sarkhan the Mad
Shambling Remains
Terminate
Torrent of Souls

R/G

Ancient Grudge

Bloodbraid Elf
Boartusk Liege
Boggart Ram-Gang
Burning-Tree Shaman
Fires of Yavimaya
Tin Street Hooligan
Sarkhan Vol

G/W
Armadillo Cloak
Enlisted Wurm
Kitchen Finks

Knight of the Reliquary

Loxodon Hierarch
Mystic Enforcer
Qasali Pridemage
Wilt-Leaf Liege

W/B
Angel of Despair
Debtors' Knell
Mortify
Necromancer's Covenant

Necrotic Sliver

Stillmoon Cavalier
Tidehollow Sculler
Vindicate

B/G
Cankerous Thirst
Creakwood Liege
Lord of Extinction
Maelstrom Pulse
Pernicious Deed
Putrefy
Putrid Leech
Spiritmonger

G/U
Mystic Snake

Plaxmanta

Simic Sky Swallower
Snakeform
Spitting Image
Temporal Spring
Trygon Predator
Voidslime

U/R
Call the Skybreaker
Electrolyze
Fire//Ice
Izzet Chronarch
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Nucklavee
Prophetic Bolt
Suffocating Blast

R/W
Ajani Vengeant
Balefire Liege
Brion Stoutarm

Duergar Hedge-Mage

Figure of Destiny
Goblin Legionnaire
Lightning Helix
Orim's Thunder

Tri-Color
Bant Charm
Broodmate Dragon
Doran, the Siege Tower
Lavalanche
Lightning Angel
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Rhox War Monk
Rafiq of the Many

Sphinx of the Steel Wind

Woolly Thoctar

ARTIFACTS/COLORLESS (65)
Æther Vial
Artisan of Kozilek
Azorius Signet
Basilisk Collar
Bonesplitter
Boros Signet
Bottle Gnomes
Chrome Mox
Coalition Relic
Crystal Shard
Cursed Scroll
Dimir Signet
Duplicant
Eldrazi Conscription
Eldrazi Monument

Engineered Explosives

Etched Oracle

Gilded Lotus
Golgari Signet
Gorgon Flail
Grafted Wargear
Grim Poppet
Gruul Signet
Hammer of Ruin

Isochron Scepter

Izzet Signet
Juggernaut
Lightning Greaves

Lodestone Golem

Loxodon Warhammer
Masticore

Memnarch

Memory Jar
Mox Diamond
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Nevinyrral's Disk

Obelisk of Alara

Orzhov Signet
Pentavus
Phyrexian Furnace

Phyrexian Processor

Platinum Angel
Powder Keg
Rakdos Signet
Razormane Masticore

Scroll Rack

Selesnya Signet
Sensei's Divining Top
Simic Signet
Skullclamp
Smokestack
Sol Ring
Solemn Simulacrum

Static Orb

Su-Chi
Sundering Titan
Sword of Fire and Ice
Sword of Light and Shadow
Tangle Wire
Triskelion
Umezawa's Jitte

LANDS (60)
Academy Ruins
Arid Mesa
Azorius Chancery
Badlands
Bayou
Bazaar of Baghdad
Blood Crypt
Bloodstained Mire
Boros Garrison
Breeding Pool
Celestial Colonnade
City of Brass
Creeping Tar Pit
Dimir Aqueduct
Flooded Strand
Gargoyle Castle
Godless Shrine
Golgari Rot Farm
Gruul Turf
Hallowed Fountain
Izzet Boilerworks

Kor Haven

Lavaclaw Reaches

Library of Alexandria
Marsh Flats
Maze of Ith
Misty Rainforest
Murmuring Bosk
Mutavault

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood

Orzhov Basilica
Overgrown Tomb
Plateau

Polluted Delta

Raging Ravine
Rakdos Carnarium
Riptide Laboratory
Sacred Foundry
Savannah
Scalding Tarn
Scrubland
Selesnya Sanctuary
Simic Growth Chamber
Steam Vents
Stirring Wildwood
Stomping Ground
Strip Mine
Taiga
Temple Garden
Thawing Glaciers
Tropical Island
Tundra
Underground Sea
Urza's Factory

Verdant Catacombs

Volcanic Island
Volrath's Stronghold
Watery Grave
Windswept Heath

Wooded Foothills

(Deep) Analysis:
First- we increased the size of the Cube to 720 (a 16 person draft) last update, but I have dragged my feet on updating the list, so if you're seeing this online and are surprised at the difference in size between this and the last update, that's why.
I did these changes autocratically, so if anyone in the playgroup wants to give input regarding these changes feel free. These changes are not written in stone.

NEW MULTICOLOR POLICY:
From this point forward any card with more than one colored mana symbol anywhere in the card frame will be considered multicolored. There are two exceptions- otherwise colorless cards which have colored activation costs or mono-colored cards with colored mana producing abilities. This should really make sorting the Cube more easy.

Example I: Ancient Grudge and Ribbons of Night will no longer be Red and Black cards, respectively. They will be multicolor like Court Hussar and Plaxmanta.
Example II: Cliffrunner Behemoth and Sejiri Merfolk will remain Green and Blue, respectively since although they interact with different colored permanents and lands, respectively, they don't actually contain more than a one type of colored mana symbol in the card frame.
Example III: Obelisk of Alara is still considered colorless despite having multiple colored activation costs.
Example IV: Noble Hierarch and Izzet Signet are considered Green and colorless respectively despite having multi-colored mana producing abilities.

One other benefit was that it allowed me to cut multicolor more deeply without actually giving up that many multicolored slots. I only reduced the number of multicolored cards by five, but I decreased the total number of cards with multiple mana symbols within the card frame by thirteen. I evened up the number of cards in each two color combination as well- eight now. I don't think it matters to the draft experience, but I do think it will matter if a multicolor card goes missing. Finally I actually (slightly) increased the number of tri-colored spells. I want people to be able to draft multicolor as a strategy and be rewarded, but I don't want it to be correct to splash for a third color as a matter of course. Hopefully this enables aggro a little more but also allows hardcore multicolor players to play the most powerful spells without any difficulty. One last thing: I changed the format of displaying mulitcolor to conform with the two-color "guild" model and then tri-colored spells. This is the only way I ever divide them anyway, and if a card is missing it will be much easier to isolate now.

COLORED CARDS:
Blue is Blue- always very strong, with a small variance between the weakest and strongest cards. Green is in a great place as well, with a very narrow power band. These are the most consistent colors and it shows in the difficult cuts I had to make. White is next best off, still a very consistent color right now as well. I took out Hallowed Burial to ease back the mass removal and enable aggro. I would have liked to have cut two board sweepers in White, but the next "worst" White sweepers are probably Planar Cleansing or Rout and I didn't have the heart to cut either. I added some combat tricks to help out decks with lots of creatures to keep alive, hopefully aggro decks. Red and Black are still in rough shape in my opinion. Both have relatively wide power bands that make drafting them as a main color risky. I removed bigger dudes and spells from Red in favor of some cheaper spot removal. No one was playing seven mana dragons anyway. Black- well what can I say about Black? We didn't get a lot of strong additions from Rise to help replace the dreck. At least we are rid of two cards that never saw play. I wanted to remove a Black sweeper like Mutilate, but I couldn't justify leaving in a card like Dead Reckoning to cut a great card like Mutilate, not at this time. M11 should be kinder to us.

ARTIFACTS/COLORLESS:
I only added two Eldrazi spells, Artisan of Kozilek and Eldrazi Conscription. I thought they might be worth the high cost for those effects. I don't know if this was correct. I could also see adding none at all or some of the big Eldrazi like Kozilek or Emrakul. Let me know what you think.

LAND
No changes. But I am hearing what people are saying about dialing back the fixing. If multicolor is still out of control, I think we can cut either the Karoos (probably the best choice) or the Worldwake manlands when we add M11. Be thinking of good lands to replace them with. I would like to see more cards like Kor Haven and Oran-Reif the Vastwood; powerful mono-colored effects. The last option is to cut the signets but I think they're more vulnerable than lands and thus more interesting to play with and against. Let's see how the changes I've made now play out though, first.

Finally: If anyone has a copy of Nirkana Revenant for trade or sale, let me know. I thought I had one, but must have traded it. I have all the other adds.

Here are the most recent changes:

White
In
Oust
Emerge Unscathed
Transcendent Master
Wall of Omens
Student of Warfare
Gideon Jura
Linvala, Keeper of Silence

Out
Planar Cleansing
Jotun Grunt
Stormfront Riders

Blue
In
Coralhelm Commander
Sphinx of Magosi
Lighthouse Chronologist
Sea Gate Oracle
Enclave Cryptologist
Regress

Out
Guile
Illusionary Servant
Mindbreak Trap
Permafrost Trap
Sejiri Merfolk

Black
In
Guul Draz Assassin
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Nirkana Revenant
Consuming Vapors

Out
Bloodchief Ascension
Dead Reckoning

Red
In
Staggershock
Kargan Dragonlord
Lord of Shatterskull Pass
Devastating Summons
Traitorous Instinct
Forked Bolt
Flame Slash

Out
Lavaball Trap
Ricochet Trap
Shivan Hellkite
Devastating Dreams

Green
In
Vengevine
Joraga Treespeaker
Pelakka Wurm
Awakening Zone

Out
Cliffrunner Behemoth
Moldervine Cloak
Tower Above

Multicolor
In
Sarkhan the Mad
Doran, the Siege Tower

Out
Deathbringer Thoctar
Mirari's Wake
Wort, Boggart Auntie
Lim-Dul's Vault
Wrexial, the Risen Deep
Stun Sniper
Intimidation Bolt
Blitz Hellion
Spellbreaker Behemoth
Vithian Renegades
Azorious Herald
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
Lorescale Coatl

Artifact/Colorless
In
Artisan of Kozilek
Eldrazi Conscription

Out
Karn, Silver Golem
Sigil of Disctinction