Playable list

Alright everybody, thanks for the help so far. Here's the list I have

3 Hero of Bladehold
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Memnite
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Kor Skyfisher
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Argentum Armor
1 Sword of Body and Mind

4 Contested War Zone
16 Plains

Some questions: Is 20 lands playing it too light? Should I be up around 21-22? Please don't mention again how awesome Stoneforge Mystics are. I know. They are also at least $15 per, which I am not going to spend for a semi-casual event like Mirrodin Besieged Game Day. Take it as a given that I know I should be playing those. I am shipping a foil Colossus and Titan to pay for this deck, but that still wouldn't cover Mystics. I've been through my collection and I think my needs are...

2 Accorder Paladin
2 Memnite
1 Ornithopter
1 Signal Pest
1 Mirran Crusader
4 Squadron Hawk
3 Kor Skyfisher (No, I didn't play during Zendikar/M11)
4 Quest for the Holy Relic
3 Contested War Zone

Somebody offered to loan me a War Zone in the last pack but I don't know who that was.

Victory is MINE!

I decided to wait until after Saturday Night Magic to post since I'd actually have something other than grab bag to post about. I finally cracked my losing streak in constructed, going 2-2. I decided to play Fugie's UW control list. I highly recommend having Ancestral Visions in your opening hand. I don't recommend getting stuck on 2 land vs. faeries.

I lost round 1 vs Harry Potter, playing Block Faeries. By the time my Visions was resolving, he had a spellstutter sprite and mana to play it through my Rune Snag. All else is irrelevant. Game 2, he did the tempo thing, though I had one turn to topdeck either Wrath or a Cryptic Command to win. I did stick Oona against him, but just couldn't untap, because he ripped a Scion to do like 18 in one turn. Man faeries is good. Not that I can win with it, but still. I'll be curious if this briefly drops me below 1500. I don't think so because Harry's Constructed rating is through the roof, what with Regionals Top 8 and all.

Round 2, I won vs someone playing Blink with a lot of four drops. Most of his deck was completely useless against me, and he got stuck on 3 land in game 1. Not that Redcaps are the least bit relevant. I definitely resolved turn 4 and 5 Ancestral Visions and damn does that card feel like cheating. I wish I could borrow a Vintage deck for Chicago.

Round 3, I won vs another someone playing GW Oversoul. You know what else is good? Cryptic Command. Note to random dude. Pro:Blue does not mean cannot be countered. Because it can, sorry. Also does not mean "Cannot be tapped by Cryptic Command". Because it can, sorry. He got me game 2 after I stabilized at 4 and couldn't find a wrath, nor hit enough cards off Oona. Play mistake: You actually name White vs. Oversoul. They play some monowhite cards, but no monogreen. Weird.

Round 4, I lost vs coyoeuglly playing block Kithkin. I almost conceded to him, because honestly? Foregone conclusion. There was a point where I could have made it, having stuck Oona, but Kithkin plays 26 land or some such thing. What a weird aggro deck.

So there you go, absolute proof that even bad players can win at Constructed. I love the silence that greeted my admission that my Constructed win percentage is well below 40%. Shocking, I know. I guess this tourney will bring that up.

Ech

Not like you guys didn't know this already, but I played no Magic at all this week. I hardly read any of the articles. Something was announced but I can barely remember what it was.

I've decided I hate having a large set in the spring time. I haven't even drafted Shadowmoor enough to know if I like it or not. It seems like a pretty fun set, but my exploration of it has been less than minimal. Summer is here now, and the last thing I want to be doing is sitting around inside. I have been trimming hedges, going to baseball games, discovering rabbit nests in my backyard, playing softball and just generally enjoying summer. Magic is awesome, but it and the sun don't go together very well.

So who's up for Nationals? Woo! Fugie has sent me some cool lists. Maybe I should put those together and go play some Standard. I kind of have a inking to go play sanctioned and take my chances. I honestly stopped playing because my constructed rating was 1504 but now, I don't give a hoot. That's right, I said it. A hoot.

TooSarcastic is dead

I killed him with a gun made of salami and Sunken Hope. Actually, he just asked me to step in and do the post for tonight because he is tired and he doesn't wanna talk about it. I think he has a headache and needs to wash his hair. It's not you, it's him. When you look back on this relationship, I hope you can remember the good times.

I have no idea what to talk about.

I am officially a Magic player now. Somebody just shipped me super secret tech for the very first time. No, I am not going to spill it. Apparently, it's going to hit SCG before the PT, but I ain't publishing shit 'til it's actually out.

Some chica asked me to dance on Saturday. That's never happened before. Very strange. Also, awesome, because while not completely smokin' she was definitely worth the effort. Of course I said yes, you ass.

I may go to Regionals and play EDH. I'll spend the $30 I would have blown on entry on a U Sea instead. Who's with me?

Oh, there's a good topic. Let's do the next EDH in July sometime. I can't do the 20th or 27th, but earlier in the month would be fine.

Reaper King is the next deck. I am thinking about including some five color cycles for fun. Maybe all the Genju and all the one mana tutors. Obv all the changelings and Shadowmoor scarecrows make it in. I wish I had a brain.

Nobody commented on my short story in any way. I hate you all.

Standard is officially stupid. I just wanna draft in my basement and drink.


Fuck yeah

Regionals testing

I think I really pissed Tabasco off Tuesday, which wasn't my intention. I built a Rg warriors deck that I wanted to test. Obviously, I threw it up against Alex Bertoncini's Faeries list. Here's my list.

4 Tattermunge Maniac
3 Firespout
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Obsidian Battle-Axe
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Boggart Ram-Gang
4 Stingscourger
4 Lash Out
4 Flame Javelin
4 Brighthearth Banneret

4 Fire-lit Thicket
4 Karplusan Forest
11 Mountain
3 Mutavault

The good: (1)Banneret. Dropping Battle-Axe, followed by Stingscourger and swinging for 4 is basically the reason to play the deck. Well, that or Keldon Marauders. Is that 12 damage from a single Marauders? Yes. Yes it is. (2) Lash Out is really solid right now.

The bad: (1)Mutavault. This deck really, really, really wants its colored mana. I'd almost rather have Monkeytown since it (a) powers Thicket and (b) doesn't get chump blocked or countered. (2)Gargadon. Hot Sauce says should be Mogg Fanatic. I agree. (3)Firespout. I am a Limited player at heart, and the fact that I didn't immediately recognize this as trash in Constructed says all you need to know about how good a player I am.

The ugly: 0-5 vs. Faeries, 1-4 vs. Hot Sauce's RGoyf anti-faeries list.

I am giving up on this in its present form. Battle Axe is insane on turn 2, much less so on turn 3. I may run RedGoyf as I have most of the cards and it seems good. I do like the idea of maindeck Magus Moon (Man Cow).

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Maybe I should just play Faeries. Or I could shoot myself in the face. That sounds fun.

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coyoeuglly and I were talking and he made some comment about Shadow Guildmage being virtual card advantage. I didn't know what the heck he was talking about because (say it with me) CBG is bad at magic. Once he explained it, I talked about my unnatural love for Liege of the Pit and we promptly made this spicy little sauce monster.

Dirty Aggro

4 Shadow Guildmage
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Inkfathom Infiltrator
4 Dauthi Slayer
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Flame Javelin
4 Lash Out
4 Rift Bolt
3 Liege of the Pit
3 Gathan Raiders
4 Graven Cairns
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Mountain
10 Swamp

I don't know if the lands are right. Maybe one runs more mountains + 2 or 3 Urborg to get there. I think I will at least throw it out there and see how it does. It couldn't possibly be worse than Warriors.

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Tabasco and I have different views on testing. This is because he is good at magic and can figure out what is wrong with a deck after a couple games. I need a little more time with it in my hands just to get the kinks out. Losing tends to be my own misplays as much as anything else so deck doctoring is pretty tough for me. I hope I don't have to forfeit writing on the blog just because I admitted I am complete trash at magic and now have proof.

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My current Constructed rating : 1504

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I don't deny that the correct strategy for the EDH is to gang up on me and kill me dead. I just hope you all hate yourselves while doing it. No mercy. I will attempt to kill you. Actually, right now I just wanna Tunnel Vision coyoeuglly after he inexplicably activates his Mistveil Plains. Who does that?

Nope

Dstorm

Round 1-lost 1-2 v. Faeries
Round 2-Bye (no, this does not count)
Round 3-lost 0-2 to quite possibly the shittiest UW control deck since last I played UW control.

Shadowmoor draft

We had a 10-man Shadowmoor draft last night and I believe a good time was had by all (though feel free to speak up in comments if that wasn't the case). I ended up 4-0ing with an aggro-ish nearly mono green deck. Pack one started me down the green road, with a second pick Kitchen Finks and multiple Safehold Elites. I kept taking 2-4 drops through pretty much the whole pack. I think the only non-creature card I took out of this pack was a Giantbaiting, which does a pretty good impression of a creature. Pack two presented the choice between Oona, Queen of the Fae and Boggart Ram-Gang. I ended up resisting a strong urge to hate the Oona and was rewarded a pick or two later with my second Finks. The only cards I ended up needed red for were the activation on Tattermunge Witch and Flame Javelin. The witch was a superhero for me.

Overall, my deck had the ability to produce a ton of damage very quickly and that seemed to be the case across several of the decks. I played separately from the rest of the crew for the whole night and at least one match was done in less than 15 minutes every time. There were certainly matches that went to time, but I really feel like aggro has a leg up in the format. That would be even more the case if not for Consign to Dream. There were five in our pool and man is that card ever a beating.

Let's see...don't draft mill. Or maybe I should say, if there's is a mill deck, Pseudonymous Drama Student didn't draft it. CMC 3 is the new 4. There are a ton of great creatures at 3. There are definitely controlling decks out there of wall-ish guys with untap effects. Time will probably show us how to draft them to beat aggro. If I am drafting control in the format, I am definitely on the bounce wagon, because Shield of the Oversoul is almost format defining. There are a ton* of solid GW drops at every point in the curve and indestructible fatties with flying tend to get there. I was always finding my Lorwyn drafts getting bogged down at 4 but had no such issues with Shadowmoor.

First was G/r, second was G/W, third was U/B, fourth was U/W, fifth was U/B/r, sixth was major_luck with I am not sure but U-something, seventh was G/W, eighth was R/B, ninth was U/B/R, I think, and tenth was the mill deck, which was base blue I believe.

*1-Elvish Hexhunter, Seedcradle Witch
2-Safehold Elite, Medicine Runner
3-Kitchen Finks, Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers

Theses are just the commons and uncommons.

Limited v. Constructed 2.0-A Cry for Help

So how's that "Get the ole Constructed rating up" initiative going, CBG? Well I am glad you asked. Since making that resolution, I have participated in one event and gone 0-3. This dropped my rating another 7 points, to a new low of 1511. I really am starting to get a little embarrassed by this. After 3-1'ing my flight at the prerelease, my Limited rating is back up to 1654, only 4 points shy of the 1658 I reached after ambushing Gaudenis Vidugiris for 29 points at the PTQ-KL last year*. I still feel a little bad about that, especially since he won out to make top 8 and I, uh, 4-4'ed. A 143-point spread. Ouch.

So like I said, I am getting a little embarassed, and I am asking for help. What should I play at FNM or SNM to get that Constructed rating back up? Will somebody please test with me? It occurs to me that I play Constructed games like Limited games and that is hurting me. What do I need to do to get better at Constructed? Help me Obi-Wan, you're my only hope!

*Incidentally, Gaudenis was a really nice guy and got horribly mana screwed game 1, and lost to a ridiculous 4 removal spell draw game 2. No disrespect intended or implied.