Evan Erwin is hot for The Captain

Man, you win one Vintage Tournament with a metagame breaking deck and it pays dividens for years after! Our own The Captain has had his G/R Beats decklist posted on the Magic show. Erwin recommends the list for Vintage budget players. This will help me justify my impending losses to The Captain at draft tables in the near future.
T

Oh crap.

I totally clicked over to the blog this morning to see the new content.

Internal monologue: Hey, what's on the blog? Oh, the Friday asshole hasn't posted yet. Wait. I'm the Friday asshole. Curse, you Aquascum!

Let's take a look at the big events coming up in the Greater Midwest. Also, Memphis.

Regionals is on Saturday, June 7, down in Chicago (disclaimer:The presence of Chicago in Regionals Chicago is neither explicit nor implied). Actually, it's in St. Charles at the Dupage Eckspo (sry, that's Expo) Center. I may go as Wife of Captain Bondage Goth will be in Houston and Sister of Captain Bondage Goth lives in the vicinity and may be able to provide amusement for Child of Captain Bondage Goth. It's Standard, and the best deck plays like 5 different double digit money cards as 4-ofs. Can CBG buy a match win? Stay tuned!

GP:Indian City (wait, that's Indianapolis (note to self: parenthetical asides? not funny)) is coming up June 19-20 in the great state of Indianania. I have relatives in the area and may be going down. The format is Shadowmoor Sealed, my favorite format. Well, not Shadowmoor sealed. Just sealed in general. Should be a huge tournout as Indianapolis is quite a bit closer to those East Coasters than STL and that had like 460. OTOH, I may not be going down. It is summer. I am busy.

Then, we get Nationals on August 1-3. L2s get an invite. T4 at Regionals get an invite. Where is that? Oh right. Chicago. Here's hoping it's actually, you know, in Chicago. Not that Chicago is all that great, but it beats the ever-loving fuck out of St. Charles.

I just read that link. It's in Chicago. How refreshing.
View Larger Map

I expect to be there, doing PTQs and Car Tourneys and whatever else I can get my hands on.

And then there is Worlds in Memphis, but that ain't til like December, so screw that noise. Peace out.

---CBG-Dog

Shadowmoor Sealed, Week 1

What a difference a week makes. Last week there were very few people (or so I’ve been told) and this week there were at least eight of us by 6 pm. I just guess a new set will do that, but I am also inclined to believe people are sick of Morningtide/Lorwyn sealed.

This week I opened fairly well, a solid Red/Green deck, with the possibility to tap into some White/Green cards if necessary. Without further ado, here is what I played this past Tuesday.

Creatures:
Blistering Dieflyn
Bloodmark Mentor (2)
Boggart Arsonists
Boggart Ram-Gang
Crabapple Cohort
Cultbrand Cinder
Elvish Hexhunter
Juvenile Gloomwidow
Kulrath Knight
Morselhoarder
Mossbridge Troll
Scrapbasket
Sootwalkers (2)
Tatermunge Duo

Spells:
Fists of the Demigod
Jaws of Stone
Puncture Bolt
Scar
Tower Above (2)
Trip Noose

Lands:
Mountain (9)
Forest (7)
Reflecting Pool

A couple of quick comments about some card selections. Blistering Dieflyn is very sub optimal and is the 16th guy in the deck. Also for those who are not aware, Tower Above is amazing!!!

Overall the deck was fairly aggressive and was able to push past the slower more controlling decks as needed. The toughest match up was against Mark’s Red/Green deck as he had way more removal than I could handle (something about getting Puncture Bolted three times in one game). As far are the rest of the games that I saw, I do vaguely remember the Captain getting blown out by Prison Term coming down on his 4/4 indestructible lifeline critter enabling her to swing for just enough, but I’ll let the Captain tell the story of how he got beat down by a girl (no offense to Kerstin as her game play has improved dramatically over the past few months and she has the potential to beat any person at any time).

Here is the pack for next week (I currently can’t find the rest of my pool, but it should turn up):

Safehold Duo
Scuttlemutt
Medicine Runner
Ghastly Discovery
Wildslayer Elves
Woeleecher
Prismwake Merrow
Crimson Wisps
Viridescent Wisps
Cinderbones
Boggart Ram-Gang
Trip Noose
Sapseep Forest
Dusk Urchins
Smash to Smithereens (foil)

Until next time, may the mana gods not hate you.

Shadowmoor Review.... Naked Britney Spears... And General Amusement.... Maybe Just the Last One....

Since the page is apparently dead today. Click here to bring some joy to your workday.

Tips and Tricks

I just made these.

It is fun. Save your tips and tricks cards for me. Yes, all of them. I am addicted. Also, read coyoe's post. It is awesome.

Looking Ahead To Regionals 2008

Regionals is almost here, a mere five weeks away. So I guess that means I should pick a deck and start to play test. Although after Hollywood, it is anyones guess what the format will look like. But with a mere two weeks between Hollywood and Regionals, might as well pick a deck now.

My goal this year is to avoid my historically terrible performance in this event. My DCI history doesn't have last years event on it. But I played B/W/r Slivers and didn't do great.

2006 I think I played Heartbeat and finished 208/256. Ironically I finished a heartbreaking 9th on tiebreakers in a GPT for Toronto that same day.

2005 was apparently unmemorable enough for me to not even remember what I played. I remember I wanted to play a B/g aggro deck me and Fugie interdependently developed. (I remembered what I played while I was typing this up. It a was Mono U Tron deck that came out of Brazil.) Finished 341/361 bleh.

2004 I played Affinity and got destroyed round one by RGHate.dec. Round two I punted against Tooth and Nail. Don't remember anything after that except it was the worst event I ever attended due to the massive number of people. It was at the old Pasttimes location, and something like 90+ degrees out. You had to go outside to cool down, and get away from the smell because the air conditioner did not keep up. Finish was 548/611.

2003 was my first sanctioned tournament ever. I was playing MBC Control. Round one I got pair against Greg Seaverson (better known as Ryan Seacrest). I got game one, he got game two. Game two I had cast a Skeletal Scrying for one and promptly pulled a TooSarcastic and got a game loss for round three. Welcome to tournament Magic me. I have not yet managed to pull a TooSarcastic off a second time, so lesson learned apparently. 395/443 go me.

So needless to say this is consistently my worst event of the year. According to the DCI I have never been able to get out of the bottom 50. My goal this year I consider modest. Stay in contention through round four. I don't have to Top 8 to consider regionals a success this year. I just want the monkey off my back. Round five and beyond I am considering a bonus.

My criteria for deck choice is pretty simple:

1. I want to play aggro.
2. I want to play something that is extremely consistent and doesn't the exact same thing every game.
3. A deck that top decks well.
4. A deck that doesn't just lose to the combo decks in the format. Preferably by playing Terror (to beat Swans) and Thoughtseize (to beat Dragonstorm).
5. A deck I can actually get the cards for. This could pose a serious problem as I have next to zero cards for the either of the two decks I would like to play.

So time to pick my pony as they say. These are the two decks that are vying for my love and attention. First up the deck I would prefer to play Aggro Doran.

4 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Treefolk Harbinger
2 Llanowar Elves
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Chameleon Colossus

4 Nameless Inversion
3 Profane Command
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Terror

1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Murmuring Bosk
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Horizon Canopy
3 Forest

Sideboard (Guaranteed to change):

4 Squall Line
4 Thoughtseize
2 Darkheart Sliver
2 Riftsweeper
2 Mind Shatter
1 Spring Cleaning

Pretty normal build. The only card that is really unconventional is Treefolk Harbinger. Personally I think this guy is a must play. He gives you perfect mana by getting Murmuring Bosk. Allows you to play the full four Murmuring Bosk without ever having them come into play tapped (15 Treefolk in the deck). Finds you Nameless Inversion when you need removal. Doran or Chameleon Colossus when you want a dooder. Blocks Tattermunge Maniac all day long. Gets in for three with a Doran in play. And is a general joy to have at parties.

Other cards up for consideration in the main or side are:

Bitterblossom
Order of White Clay
Oversoul of Dusk
Shield of the Oversoul
Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
Wilt-Leaf Liege
Roughshod Mentor

Next up is the backup ELVES!

2 Boreal Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Wren's Run Vanquisher
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Imperious Perfect
3 Civic Wayfinder
2 Chameleon Collossus
2 Shriekmaw

4 Profane Command
4 Nameless Inversion
4 Thoughtseize

4 Glit Leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Treetop Village
4 Forest
3 Swamp
2 Mutavault
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Pendalhaven

Sideboard

2 Spring Cleaning
2 Shriekmaw
2 Mind Shatter
2 Primal Command
2 Cloudthresher
2 Squall Line
3 Kitchen Finks

This list is probably subject to change after PT: Hollywood based on how the person that gave it to me does. I am not really going to put a ton of work into until after Hollywood as I intend to just barn the updated list at that point.

But those are what I am going from for now. Anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, or advice?

Evaluating the Middle Tier of Playable Cards in Shadowmoor Limited

The Shadowmoor Release Tourney was this Sunday and it’s safe to say that at this point we all know what the amazing bomb common and uncommon cards are for Shadowmoor Limited. I could list them, but it would be boring. I also don’t care which is better, Kitchen Finks or Aethertow (But just to get the comments rolling, Finks is the correct answer). What I do care about is filling in the15-20 non-obvious cards of a Limited deck. And that requires knowledge of how playable the middle tier cards are. I will list bullet points for a few common and uncommon cards, along with my opinion of their playablility, if I have any. Unfortunately most of these cards will not simply be lumped into “playable” or “unplayable” columns. Our understanding of Shadowmoor tech has advanced beyond that stage already. When are these cards playable, and when would they be better in the sideboard? Comments, good sirs.

Trip Noose

This card seems like a boon in a removal-light environment; after all, it gets in any deck! So what deck really wouldn’t mind paying 2 a turn to neutralize the scariest creature across the table? What about a tempo-based beatdown deck, at the end of a race? Or a control deck, before stabilizing? To be honest I think this card is better than people think.

Repel Intruders/Torrent of Souls/River’s Grasp/Dawnglow Infusion/Firespout

Okay, Firespout is really a no brainer. But Firespout aside… Is there any one you would run with only ONE of the colors, not both? Dawnglow Infusion seems like utter trash (no disrespect, Stream of Life!) in any deck but a G/W one. And Repel Intruders is decidedly suboptimal if only blue or white comes to party. Maybe Torrent of Souls in a B/x deck? What about River’s Grasp in a U/x deck? I would lean toward yes for the former and no for the latter.

Leech Bonder

Was great for my controlling U/B draft deck, but I saw 0 copies of him played on Sunday. Is he just not fast enough? Even in sealed?

Gnarled Effigy

Too slow? Too slow. Sideboard only against control decks? Is there a time to be happy playing this in the main? It is removal, after all.

Merrow Grimeblotter

This card has gotten mixed reviews from every person I’ve asked. After playing two of them in a U/W draft deck, I tend to lean toward thinking they’re not very good. Yes, they will trade with a 4-butt (or a couple 2 power guys, which I hear there are a lot of in this format), but if they do, then they die and do nothing else. The best case scenario for Merrow Grimeblotter’s controller is for it to not be blocked because an opponent either a) has no large guys, in which case, congrats you’re winning anyway, or b) has The Fear and lets you plink away for 2 a turn, totally ruining their combat math on the swingback, in which case, congrats, you’re playing a donkey. But most players will simply double block or trade a bigger guy to force the ability to be used on the attack. And rightly so, since Merrow Grimeblotter’s less useful that way. I don’t like him.

Blowfly Infestation

Seems like one hell of a gamble, even in a deck that is built around it. But, grumble, grumble, it IS removal…

Reknit

Terrible combat trick? Or reasonable combat trick in a weak card pool? Is it ever correct to run it to specifically regenerate non-creature permanents? I hear there are a few enchantments that are worth keeping around…

Hungry Spriggan

Hungry? So hungry! This Sunday I heard probably three players with a losing record remarking on how amazing Hungry Spriggan is. And several players in that made Top 8 (Asshole Jason and Tabasco) told me that it was not at all good. It does, after all die to any removal. But it was great for me! (You have a Godhead of Awe? Heh. I’ll just race you with this common.) Does that make me…? Don’t answer that.

Giantbaiting

Again I have heard differing opinions here. Asshole Jason (who, after thrashing me took a look at my pool) was not a fan (“It’s basically a really crappy removal spell, or at best direct damage, but your opponent chooses which one.”) but I think turning a few 2 power dudes into a few 4 power dudes for the turn is just fine. I would run this in an aggressive R/G or R/B deck. Would I be wrong to do so?

Elsewhere Flask

Man, they like this card on the MTG podcasts of GP Brussels, but what does Rich Hagon know about playing Magics? (Answer: Probably more than I do.) It juices Corrupt and Jaws of Stone! It cantrips! It turns on both sides of Firespout (if you tap carefully)! It slices! Dices! Feeds your dog! Gosh, when DON’T you run this amazing bomb ass artifact that does not in any way affect the board on its own? There’s a reason they call me TooSarcastic, folks.

The Duos

I wanted to end with these because I think they illustrate well how difficult it is to evaluate card power in the abstract. Of course a player can safely run a Safehold Duo in a W/G deck. What about a W/R deck? A G/B deck? How many cards does a player need to activate a duo before it becomes worth adding? Asshole Jason and (I believe) The Captain were advocating that I add 2 Thistledown Duos and a Somnomancer to my W/G sealed deck to speed it up. This would have put the total blue cards to 6 (I was playing 2 Curse of Chains and a Silkbind Faerie already) and my white card total to 13. Asshole Jason (who was really quite nice the whole day- it’s just a nickname) argued that the Duo would often be a 3/3 for 3 mana, and sometimes have flying. But doing the math, I would draw a card to trigger the white half of Thistledown Duo (assuming I drew and played the Duo already) a little less than a third of the time. If I start with Thistledown Duo in hand (obviously the best case scenario) then I will statistically have only one other white card in my opener as well (this is on the play, again, the best case scenario for an aggressive deck). This just does not seem good enough. But after I failed to side them in I lost both the last two rounds*, so maybe I’m mistaken. What do you think?

T

*The final round against Captain Essex was particularly awful since after a quick game where he was manascrewed we had a marathon second game that saw both of us with surreal life totals (Me, 50. Essex, 90 something). I scooped after it was clear he actually could kill me (either with damage or decking) with the 15 minutes left in the round. In a hurried game 3 where Essex was ahead on the board he cast Last Breath on one of my creatures. I moved it to the removed from game zone… where a creature that he had Last Breathed in game 2 was still sitting. Essex told me to shuffle it in my library, but I called a judge, by which I mean THE judge, e.g. The Fugitive Wizard. Fugie gave a game loss to the player who presented as illegal deck (that would be me, for having only 39 cards), and it turned into a match loss, which put Essex into top 8. I seemed less concerned than everyone else (Essex was not happy to make top 8 this way, and I think he would have taken the last game by his own effort), but I was tired (and hung over) and was not too disappointed in having to go home just then. Fugie obviously made the correct call, and the only reason I called a judge in the first place was because I didn’t feel like forcing Fugie to DQ me by trying to cover it up, if things ended up badly. Just to muddy the ethical waters I bit, I will note that Essex was playing on Fugie’s dime, and any prizes that Essex won he agreed to give to Fugie. Just out of curiosity, if there were other judges available, would you have let another official handle the ruling, Fugie? Or should it not matter? At any rate, my only regret about the whole day is that I worked very hard to play tight Magic for four or so rounds and then had my effort wasted by my own thoughtless errors. I obviously don’t play in large tourneys often, because I don’t deal well with the fatigue when I am forced to play more than four rounds. I considered writing the whole post as a tournament report, but I realized that people are far less interested in the tragic tale of a player who can’t break .500 at a release event than in finding out things that might actually be of use to them.

CBG likes video blogging...

...or vlogging, as the kids say. Stupid kids. Fugie is hosting a release draft at the store tonight, just as this post goes up. Fugie is crazay. Wish I could be there, but my sleep brain needs rest.

Here is my super awesome post for the week.



So what do you say? Would everybody quit Magic if the wrappers were recyclable? I say nay, but only if they don't reprint Masques block. Frickin' Masques block.

-----

And here's a special bonus. I am in the process of cleaning out my attic and I found a short story which I wrote in high school. I found it amusing, and present it here to you, without commercial interruption.

Just Absolutely Sick

I know most people here are not really into altered cards that much, preferring foils, if anything. But these are by far the best altered cards I have ever seen... they're just absolutely sick. The Ancestral Recall

Last month of Morningtide Sealed, Part 5

Well as can be expected, by the time the fifth week rolled around I wasn’t in the mood to play any more Morningtide limited, with the release of Shadowmoor at the end of the week. I did manage to make it down to Game Universe (GU), but decided a few days before to draft Shadowmoor instead. We; namely myself, CBG, Too Sarcastic (TS) & Scoop Phase (SP); managed to put together a four man over at Genesis (For those of you who aren’t familiar, Genesis is a Greek-style family type restaurant up the street from GU. The food is decent and moderately priced and they are very good about letting us hang out and draft after we are done eating). One other thing of note is how busy they were on a Tuesday at 1800. I understand a dinner rush, but every table in the non-smoking section was full on a Tuesday.

Anyways, TS & headed over and met up with SP and got a table and had no more than given our menus back to the waitress and CBG shows up. I am still impressed with your innate ability to show up at the last minute even though you had the shortest distance to travel, but I digress. So while we are waiting for our food we take care of the draft. For ease we decided to draft as we were seated at the table when we ordered (in the past we have switch the seating order after we order and it is kind of mean to the wait staff) with TS to my immediate left, SP across from me, and CBG to my right.

As far as overall picks I only remember a few key ones. Pack 1 pick 1 was a Burn Trail with my second pick being a Mercy Killing. From pack 2, I first picked a Flame Javelin only to have Puncture Bolt come back on the lap. As far as the rest of the draft, I took as much red/green removal as I saw and all of the green fat I could muster. One other note, the black we opened was terrible which leads to my next point. As could be expected in a four man it is highly likely that the person sitting across from you is in the same colors. Well, we managed one better, with both SP and I in red/green & CGB and TS in blue/white.

I will be the first to admit that my deck wasn’t very good nor was the curve great, but it was good enough to go 3-0. I will also not that I had enough removal and curved out enough times to play my 8 drop in three of the first four games by turn nine. Well without further ado, here is what I played.

Creatures:
Intimidator Initiate
Rustrazor Butcher
Crabapple Cohort (2)
Devoted Druid
Foxfire Oak (2)
Gloomwidow
Juvenile Gloomwidow
Woodfall Primus
Sootwalkers
Mudbrawler Raiders
Scuzzback Marauders
Scuzzback Scrapper
Safehold Elite

Spells:
Burn Trail
Flame Javelin
Power of Fire
Puncture Bolt
Runes of the Deus
Mercy Killing (2)
Blight Sickle

Lands:
Sapseep Forest
Forest (8)
Mountain (8)

Other cards of note from the side board:
Ember Gale
Smash to Smithereens
Gloomwidow’s Feast

As far as the matches, I played SP first and managed to turn 8 and turn 9 Woodfall Primus to hit a key artifact and win soon there after. I also may have managed to put Runes of Deus on Mudbrawler Raiders and swing for 13 on turn five.

In the second round I played TS who drafted a very controlling blue/white/black deck with lots of bounce and tap effects. I got the first game due to pure agro combined with four removal spells (including the combination of Blight Sickle and Power of Fire too off his weenies). For the second game I brought in Gloomwidow’s Feast taking out Runes of the Deus (it didn’t out right kill anyone and set me up for a two for one). But missed my third and fourth land drops to die to multiple weenies. In the third game he got mana screwed and I had a slow start (didn’t play anything until turn four). I did have enough removal to take care of his first few plays and managed to beat down with random guy (also not that I never say a green source but managed to see six of my eight mountains).

The last round was me versus CBG and it wasn’t very close with him scooping to me when I managed to get better threats to his many land draws.

Well that’s all for this week and I look forward to next week and Morningtide Sealed league.

Question

Does anyone here do good card alterations?

Fatal Four-Man at Salt-Monster's house

So Tuesday Night the Captain and I go over to Soly's (Salt-monster) for a four-man, our fourth being Matt Freiwald. Seating is randomized and looks like Soly to my left, MF to my right, and the Captain across from me. I end up first picking a Boggart Ram-Gang meanwhile, MF to my right is trainwrecking. His decision was between a Windbrisk Raptors or a Flame Javalin, you can see his conundrum. I develop a grin on my face as I am passed a Javalin to go with my Ram-Gang I start seeing some good black-red hybrid cards and scoop them up. I end up with 2 Fists of the Demigod which speed up games and make for unfair blocks. My second packI am graced with a Din of the Fireherd to top out my curve and give me a late game bomb.

My decklist looked like this:


1 Manaforge Cinder
1 Scuzzback Scrapper
1 Sickle Ripper
1 Power of Fire
1 Blight Sickle
2 Fists of the demigod
1 Puncture Bolt
1 Flame Javalin
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
2 Tattermunge Duo
1 Lurebound Scarecrow
1 Corrosive Mentor
1 Boggart Arsonists
2 Sootwalkers
1 Cultbrand Cinder
1 Kulrath Knight
1 Gloomlance
1 Grief Tyrant
1 Rattleblaze Scarecrow
1 Din of the Fireherd
9 Mountain
8 Swamp

The rest of my pool:

1 Wooded Bastion
1 Tyrannize
1 Pyre Charger
1 Rite of Consumption
1 Fate Transfer
1 Scar
1 Hungry Spriggan
1 Gravelgill Axeshark
1 Tatterkite
1 Boggart Arsonists
1 Zealous Guardian
1 Elsewhere Flask
1 Bloodshed Fever
1 Torture
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Inescapeable Brute
1 Aphotic Wisps
1 Mudbrawler Cohort
2 Manamorphose
2 Torpor Dust

Round 1-I played MF with U/W
His deck was slower and tried to be more controlling, He had a Windbrisk Raptor but never saw it against me.

Game 1-I open with a turn one cinder followed by a fists to make him a 3/3 first strike, wither followed the next turn by a Ram-Gang. Things aren't good when you are at eleven by your third turn. he almost gets me with a Scrapbasket wearing Steel of the Godhead I manage to put a -1/-1 counter on it with Corrosive Mentor wielding the Power of Fire to only take 4 and put me to 1. I untap and rip Flame Javalin like a Champ. I all in with team which is Grief Tyrant, Cultbrand Cinder with Fists, Manaforge Cinder with Fists and Corrosive Mentor he blocks Tyrant and Cultbrand to only take 4, I play Sootwalkers and Kill his only dude (Scrapbasket) and sit with team ready to bring the pain next turn. Game 2-He drew nothing but land, I drew only mountains as mana sources Holding Gloomlance and a Sickle Ripper who wants to join the fray. I did still curve out playing Scuzzy turn 1 followed by Ram-Gang Turn 3 and Sootwalkers turn 4. I eventually hit my Manaforge Cinder to give me some black mana and seal the deal.

Round 2- Soly with U/B
His deck was also slower and tried to be more controlling.

I curved out purfectly against him as well, Cinder turn 1 Puncture bolt on his turn 2 play Eot, and Ram-Gang (wtf is this card stuck to my hand) turn 3. Sootwalkers soon to follow. He drops the U/B Hill Giant and I Javalin it so I keep my Ram-Gang. He was stuck on 2 land until turn 5, while I curved out. Game 2 He draws nothing but land and drops Isleback Spawn to try and stop the bleeding from my Corrosive Mentor wielding a Blight Sickle, Grief Tyrant, Rattleblaze Scarecrow, and Manaforge Cinder. He has 8 lands and taps 3 swamps to cast Beseech the Queen, He is one short of getting and casting Corrupt and Gloomlance was uncastable that turn due to him only having 4 swamps in play. He gets a creature and I kill him next turn with Din of the Fireherd in hand and only 7 lands in play.

Round 3-The Captain with G/W
His deck was more aggro with strong white removal and Windbrisk Raptor

Game-1 I play Turn 1 Manaforge Cinder Turn 2 I punture Bolt his Spawnwrith Eot, turn 3 I play Ram-Gang and bash (are you sick of seeing this yet). he untaps tries to tell me than my play was Illegal (I played Ram-Gang off of a swamp and 2 mountains) I kindly ask him to read Manaforge Cinder and he then understand's and continues his play of Wildslayer Elves which is followed by a remark of "I have to pay 4 for mine and it doesn't have haste." He next turn trades Wildslayer for Ram-Gang. I get it a few turns later by putting him to 4 and having Flame Javalin Snide remark also follows this. Game-2 I could not deal with a Windbrisk Raptor with 2 outs left in my deck (Gloomlance and Din of the Fireherd) Game-3 I struggle to get to four lands having 2 and 2 I casted Flame javalin for four to kill one of his threats but he has the upper hand pretty much to whole game, due to my inability to cast threats.

After rounds the records look like this:
Me 2-1
Captain 2-1
MF 2-1
Salmonster 0-3

I beat MF, MF beat Captain and Captain beat me. nice. circle jerk

we roll off and I take first, captain takes second, MF takes third, and Soly was fourth

I first pick a Wooded Bastion the only money opened and end up snaging the 2 foils lands as well.

By the way I looked at Wooded Bastion and was reminded of Gilt-leaf Palace. I compared the two and they are a warped mirror image of one another. See also Wanderwine Hub with Sunken Ruins, Auntie's Hovel with Fire-Lit Thicket, Ancient Amphitheater with Graven Cairns, and Rustic Clachan and Mystic Gate (this picture is a bit different but by the same artist).

As stated before B/R aggro is strong but does need some direct damage/removal. Fists of the demigod is absolutely rediculous on a 1 or 2 drop black-red dude, and although I had Din of the Fireherd I never casted it :( Red is good especially when you are the only person drafting it. MF did snag 2 puncture bolts from me so my deck could have been more absurd.

Until next time,
Hot Sauce (Tabasco)

P.S. I would like to point out that this blog has produced more material in the form of posts in 4 month's of 2008 than all of Last year (2007). Nice Job guys keep up the great work!

What do we know about Shadowmoor Draft?

A scant three days prior to the Release of Shadowmoor, I am trying to put together some general principles that are universal to all Shadowmoor drafts. I have only drafted the set three times, but hope to do so again tonight. I am trying not to overstate things, but still come to some useful conclusions. Here is what I can come up with thus far:


Green is good.

G/(R or W) seem to be the de facto strongest color combinations, given the aggressive curve and incredibly efficient creature drops at uncommon and to a more limited extent, common. Having enchantments at uncommon that nerf -1/-1 counters and fliers doesn't hurt. And hey, if you think there is a better color out there, let us know why in the comments.


White removal is probably better than any other color.

It is certainly better removal than white usually gets. I have discussed it before, but I will do so again; Last Breath, Inquisitor's Snare, Prison Term, Curse of Chains, Mercy Killing, and Æthertow. These are all at uncommon or common. Pairing white with blue gives control decks a chance to beat aggro.


The mill deck appears to be unviable. Or at least more difficult to build than expected.

Our Pseudonymous Drama Student attempted to draft this last Friday, at a ten man table. If ever there was a time to try out this sort of a deck, triple base-set draft with ten people early in the set's life would be the time. But it did not pan out. (I did see at least one game that the PSD took by milling, but as CBG reported, I think the total record was something like 0-4 in matches, 2-8 in games.)


R/B aggro can work. But it appears to have less staying power than Green aggro decks.

The Captain drafted one hell of an aggro deck last week, with multiple Ashenmoor Gougers and Sootstoke Kindlers. He curved out in game one and ran my B/U deck over like nothing. Only hitting my Din of the Fireherd game two (I think it was on turn 8) allowed my to get there and game three was very tight as well. I think with some direct damage to seal the deal, this could be a real contender.


Mono colored decks don't just draft themselves.

But Mark Rosewater keeps telling me to draft them. It may be possible to go mono, but thus far it appears that conventional two or three color decks are proving more successful- and ubiquitous. Drafting mono may require a surfeit of underdafted cards in a single color, or perhaps just a totally new perspective on drafting. Or maybe I should just try it some time.


Counter manipulation is very good against non-aggro decks.

Leech Bonder is sick against any deck that doesn't try to kill by turn eight. Actually, it's still not terrible against aggro decks either. On the first swing it will trade with a 3/3, assuming you have the one blue mana to untap it. Paired with Persist creatures (on either side of the board), the Leech becomes downright unfair. And that's only one card. There are a few -1/-1 counters flying around Shadowmoor, I hear. When in doubt, draft the Fate Transfer.


Any disagreement is welcome in the comments, in addition to other principles you have found to be true. I want people going into the release weekend with a solid base to work from.

T

ps- Shameless plug: NEW MIX! You can Download here.

This is one of several spontaneous, one-take mixes I did to prep for an upcoming show- The Marquette University COEP Diversity Gala. Because the focus is diversity I used some housey tracks with a diverse feel. I tried to mix in some "authentic" world music artists (Issa Bagayogo, Anslem Douglas, Despina Vandi, etc.) with more mainstream names as well (M.I.A., Groove Armada, Boozoo Bajou). I tried for a more "live" feel, no editing, more effects processing on the fly.

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.

Last month of Morningtide Sealed, Part 4

Despite having gone to the Shadowmoor prerelease last Saturday, I was still looking forward to Tuesday night Old Fart Magic. I think that I may have started to turn the tide in the war against mana screw. I only mulliganed once in 6 games this past week.

As far as my two matches, all but one of the games was really good. My three game set against the Captain was by far one of the better limited matches I’ve played in a while. Winning the clash on Gilt-Leaf Ambush to get rid of his Taurean Mauler and his other guy was key to turning around a game in which I had few outs (Some times you just get lucky).

My second match really came down to Ed (Tesch) not getting Taurean Mauler with his Elvish Harbinger on turn 3 of the first game and instead getting Wren Run Packmaster (he forgot that Elvish Harbinger can make red mana as he had no other red sources in play). He did manage to crush me in the second game (this would be the one that wasn’t even close). The third game was really tight until I got down Wolf-Skull Shaman, Bramblewood Paragon, & Lys Alana Huntmaster (getting free 2/2 wolves every time you kinship an elf and then getting a free 2/2 trampler every time you play an elf spell is ridiculous).

As far as the final week, here is the pack of Lorwyn:

Oblivion Ring
Quill-Slinger Boggart
Bog-Strider Ash
Aethersnipe
Tarfire
Gilt-Leaf Seer
Protective Bubble
Ingot Chewer
Amoeboid Changeling
Spring Cleaning
Veterans of the Depths
Makeshift Mannequin*
Jagged-Scar Archers*
Fathom Trawl
Island (foil)

Cards of note:
Jagged-Scar Archers warrants serious consideration in my mostly mono green elf deck.

Makeshift Mannequin seems like an interesting combat trick or way to recur Shriekmaw at instant speed.

Moving along to tonight, current plans are to draft Shadowmoor tonight @ CBGs. I am sure that CBG will do the post mortem tomorrow, but I would just like to send out a special thanks to Scoop Phase for hooking me up with two more draft sets of Shadowmoor.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!!

Donkey

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.

Coincidence?

When Steve Sadin posts a prerelease report the same day as mine, I know there's no chance of mine being seen in a favorable light. I promise I didn't copy his article, but that's not the point. Listen to this-

"Last week I made plans to meet up with my friends Asher Hecht and Gabe Carleton-Barnes (who from hereon will be referred to as GCB) to get breakfast on our way to the Prerelease."

GCB- CBG? Coincidence? Or does Captain Bondage Goth have an undercover fan?
T

Shadowmoor Prerelease: Sealed Lessons

I am posting my sealed build, partly because I did well with it, but also because I can revisit it for laughs in a few months- when we know what is going on in the format. I regret not being able to play more blue/white, but I decide to go green/black for a few reasons. We had talked about how pairing enemy colors freed up more of the hybrid cards for inclusion. If I go G/B I only lose the W/U hybrid stuff, whereas if I go (for example) W/U I lose the hybrid G/R and the B/R stuff. I got to play most of my bombs this way as well. Maybe I should have gone W/B but then I lose dudes and gain removal. I tend to prefer running more dudes in sealed if possible, since sometimes you just win that way. The singleton mountain can be fetched by Farhaven Elf in case the Valleymaker is out.

Sealed Build:

8 Swamps
7 Forests
1 Mountain
1 Sapseep Forest

1 Medicine Runner A fine two drop, especially with persist guys.
1 Oracle of Nectars Bomb.
1 Rhys the Redeemed
2 Raven's Run Dragoon
1 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Juvenile Gloomwidow
1 Valleymaker He’s big.
1 Ashenmoor Gouger Turn three he is awesome.
1 Cultbrand Cinder Very solid.
1 Murderous Redcap Bomb.
1 Faerie Macabre Never regretted drawing her.
1 Inkfathom Infiltrator Solid.
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae Bomb.
1 Thornwatch Scarecrow

1 Barkshell Blessing
1 Shield of the Oversoul Your Mileage May Vary.
1 Giantbaiting Better than it looks.
2 Scar Gets persist guys to go away.
1 Incremental Blight Bomb.
1 Scarscale Ritual Quite good, especially against players with white removal that doesn’t kill your guys.

Sideboard:

Ballynock Cohort
Barrenton Medic
Goldenglow Moth
Inquisitor's Snare
Kithkin Rabble
Mistmeadow Skulk
Strip Bare

Curse of Chains
Mistmeadow Witch
Repel Intruders
Silkbind Faerie
Thistledown Duo

Consign to Dream
Deepchannel Mentor
Drowner Initiate
2 Kinscaer Harpoonist
2 Sinking Feeling
2 Whimwader

Fate Transfer
Helm of the Ghastlord
Oona's Gatewarden

Cinderhaze Wretch
Hollowsage
Smolder Initiate
Wound Reflection

Emberstrike Duo
Sootstoke Kindler

Bloodmark Mentor
Boggart Arsonists
Crimson Wisps
Intimidator Initiate
2 Mudbrawler Cohort
Power of Fire
Rustrazor Butcher
Smash to Smithereens

2 Runes of the Deus

2 Gloomwidow's Feast
Presence of Gond
2 Toil to Renown

Safewright Quest
Seedcradle Witch

Chainbreaker
Heap Doll

Madblind Mountain

Round One: White removal is really good.
I am mana flooded, but come out of the gates swinging Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers. Which is met with Curse of Chains. Then I drop Cultbrand Cinder. The first swing in- Inquisitor's Snare. Then I drop my Thornwatch Scarecrow. Nope. Gleeful Sabotage. I lose. Game two he plays his Wilt-Leaf Liege. Then he plays his foil Wilt-Leaf Liege. I could not resist doing the droll Captain Bondage Goth-esque “Nice. Open.” comment. He went on to go 3-1, losing only to our own Scoop_Phase (who 4-0ed the pod). Vengeance!
Lesson 1: Curse of Chains, Inquisitor's Snare, Last Breath, Prison Term. White may have the best removal at common and uncommon of all the colors in Shadowmoor. How often has that ever been said? Also, there will be that one time that you Curse of Chains your own dude that has an untap ability.
Lesson 2: You can run disenchants in the main. There are awesome enchantments, and lots of scarecrows. No fear. Do it.
Lesson 3: Finally, double Liege creatures are the bomb. Good luck opening them.

Round Two: Murderous Redcap is Amazing.
I play against a gentleman who is obviously pissed to be 0-1. He looks at me oddly when I shuffle his deck after he presents it. Game one I curve out with turn three Ashenmoor Gouger. I proceed to trade three of his guys for my Murderous Redcap. Win. Between games I go to shuffle his deck and he stops me, saying that I’m not allowed to do so, “Because it wears on the cards [he did not use sleeves] and is rude.” Dude is obviously pissed and I have no desire to be a jerk. I try to think of a way to tell him that actually, at higher level tournaments players are REQUIRED to shuffle their opponents decks, but instead of saying something that might diffuse the tension, I opt for “You don’t play at a lot of tournaments, do you?” I decided I did not need to bother trying to enlighten this opponent to the DCI floor rules, so just said “You know, never mind,” and cut his deck. I curve out again and win on 20 life. Afterward I apologize about the whole shuffling thing, telling him I didn’t mean anything by trying to shuffle his deck. He picks up his things, stands up, and walks away without responding.
Lesson 1: Murderous Redcap! Draft him. If you are green/white draft him. If you are blue/white draft him. If you are green friggin' blue draft him. No you can’t splash him. But if you are getting shipped Murderous Redcap at any point, more black and red will be coming your direction. I literally 4 for 1ed an opponent in my second draft of the day with him. It is entirely possible that he the best uncommon for limited in a set with tons of amazing uncommons.
Lesson 2: Sorry you’re losing man. I am all for good stewardship to less experienced players, but some guys are bound and determined to be pissed off, and not willing to learn anything either. I really do feel sorry for them, because I’ve been there. But the phrase “cutting off your nose to spite your face” comes to mind.

Round Three: Aggro Wins (also, don’t play with 47 card sealed decks).
Yeah, nobody reading this blog is going to learn anything by me recounting how hitting your land drops and curving out wins against opponents who can’t buildi a 40 card deck. Also Rhys the Redeemed is a reasonable rare. It really needs to be dealt with in about three or four turns, or sick things occur. I will say that my opponent was a genuinely pleasant human being who was enjoying himself regardless of wins or losses. We did some trading later. I think he had different reasons for being at the prerelease than I did. Nothing wrong with this.
Lesson 1: There is no lesson. Actually there is a red/black aggro deck (Giantbaiting FTW!) out there waiting to be built in draft, but that’s a story for another night.

Round Four: Down to the wire
Game one I am very flooded and he cannot take advantage of it. I feel like I am ready to win because my Faerie Macabre is plunking away, but then he gets a blocker. He could have won this game by choosing to attack about two turns earlier, but is uncertain and doesn’t press his advantage. When he finally has overwhelming board presence he comes in. Next turn I rip Oracle of Nectars and now I am gaining more life than he can attack for. He Memory Sluices with the conspire, milling 8 away. I have 7 cards left in my library. With almost no offense left on the board, I have to be seriously worried about decking. Then I rip… Oona, Queen of the Fae! The turn I cast her I still can mill him for four (yes, I had 11 mana. It was very late-game, I know), then I untap, mill for ten, GG. Game two is a race. I see a Prison Term I didn’t in game one, and it is the key for him. Also key were the two Gloomlances on two of my green guys. Rough Beats. I get him to 7 life, that’s it. Now we have five minutes for game 3. I know I can tempo him out with the right draw. I see what I want and I keep. He is a little slow on the play speed, but I only warn him once and he is moving just as fast as I am. I begin my attack with a few dudes on the board, swinging in for four a turn. He plinks me to 18 and then time is called. He leaves his only guy back as a blocker. He is at 12, me, 18. A judge is there immediately. I get turn one of extra turns. I have a decision to make. I can either play another guy and swing for 3 with my Raven's Run Dragoon (leaving my Medicine Runner back against his 2/3 blocker) and cast another dude or I can cast Incremental Blight targeting his 2/3, my Prison Termed Oracle of Nectars, and the Raven's Run Dragoon. Then I swing in to his empty board for 4. I only have 3 turns, and in three turns (if he has no other blockers) my four power of guys will get there. But if he drops another guy (with power less than three) next turn I can two for one him on the Incremental Blight. I decide that the chances of him laying another blocker with under two power are probably better than the chances of him laying no creatures at all, and so I swing for three, drop the extra dude (can’t remember what it was, but I think it was Faerie Macabre) and pass turn. Turn two of extra turns, he lays a one-butt. He has to play for the draw, even though at 2 wins 1 loss it gets him nothing, because he can’t race me when I’m at 18 and he’s at 9. So he passes turn with two blockers. I play the Incremental Blight, wipe his board, swing in for 7 (taking him to 2), he has no tricks to stop me. Turn four he lays a blocker but turn five my guys pile in and get there on the final turn! Hell of a match. He is a great sport and extends the hand, “Good game!”s all around, all that sort of thing.
Lesson 1: There is a mill deck floating around there somewhere. Scoops got milled for 12 cards in one turn. In sealed! Drowner Initiate turn 1, Drowner Initiate turn 2, turn 5 Memory Sluice with conspire, paying all four Drowner Initiate triggers. Opening Oona, Queen of the Fae would help, too.
Lesson 2: Play your bombs. But you already knew that. Oracle of Nectars. Oona, Queen of the Fae. This is sealed. Make the mana work.
Lesson 3: Incremental Blight is really good. Don’t expect to see these going too late around the draft table. Double black is a commitment, but it is really worth it.

I went 3-1 and got 3 packs. There are so many other cards I want to discuss, but I am out of time and energy tonight. Next week I want to discuss drafting Shadowmoor, and I will hopefully have a few more drafts under my belt to help.
T