Do I Have Fans?

Oh, yes I do!

So how was yr Regionals? Harry Potter didn't get there. Oh well. At least we all have a chance to win the car this year as Sam Black made top 4. Dude ripped it up in the sides last year. Actually, if I were him, I'd go do that again. He won like $30,000 worth of stuff last year. He's unlikely to do that well in the main event, given the dismal prize structure for Nationals. Unless they have improved the prizes this year?

I had fun. People were very confused by the whole "not playing" thing. I would have played either Reveillark or Merfolk. There was a ton of Merfolk and only one made it into the top 4. I was half right in my prediction as it was 2 Elves (GB midrange), 1 Faeries and 1 Merfolk getting the slots.

I finally got to vindicate something and woo lemme tell ya. That's some fun shit. Reaper King is pretty awesome in duel, I say . Not good, per se, but awesomely fun to play. In multiplayer, my prediction also proved true. He gets killed a lot. Hey, you know something else? Clockspinning doesn't remove RFG counters from yr general, because RFG counters aren't part of the game! Ass.

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So that pathetic excuse for an explanation of the Vintage bannings from last week did not stand. Turian and Lauer took a stab at it this week and I have to say, that's quite a bit better. Not only did they go into more detail on the Flash (uncontroversial), Merchant Scroll (uncontroversial), Gush (uncontroversial) and Brainstorm (mildly controversial) restrictions, but they dropped quite a few pixels on exploring the Ponder (what the fuck? Ponder? was the dominant BB theme over the last two weeks) execution. The relevant line is right at the end.

Having the most efficient unrestricted deck manipulation card left in the format be a sorcery would inherently power up combo decks (which don't mind tapping mana on their own turn) while hurting the control decks (which really don't want to tap mana on their own turn) that are important for keeping the overall health of the format in balance.

This is a line of argument I understand and can believe. Four Force of Will is supposedly the glue that holds the format together, which is a fancy way of saying control should have a seat at the table. Leaving Ponder out there (a less powerful spell due to it's timing) actually preferentially helps combo, an effect they are trying to avoid. Fine. So why did that take two weeks?

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Anybody got a Workshop list I can borrow?

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My most recent convo with DJTS:

TooSarcastic: Hey man. Do you like to party?

Captain Bondage Goth: It's Milwaukee in the summertime, man! Of course I like to party!

TS: We should party this weekend.

CBG: I am getting a cold.

TS: You fucking loser.

CBG: I know.

At least, that's all I remember through my sinus pressure induced haze.

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Happy Father's Day. I hope you all have fun out there. I was gonna have a draft at my house, but given my relationship with the weather right now (as in, I am feeling under it), I think I am gonna pass. You should build a new EDH in the meantime. And figure out a Grinders deck, will ya?

Waiting

So here I am... waiting for CBG to post... and I hate myself for it.

Chicago Regionals 2008!

What up fools? Well, Regionals 2008 is now behind us. And what fun it was! I was planning on doing some sort of exhaustive tourney report, but then I would need to explain why I went 4-4-1. Instead I will just lay it out for you; I don't normally play Standard, I play tested for about a total of four hours prior to showing up, and most all, I am bad at Magics. There you go.



Let's start with some photos. I hear people love the multimediaz. Thanks to Captain Bondage Goth for the ride down and the help taking these pics.

It's me, TooSarcastic, smiling gaily as I flaunt one of the pretty Faeries that will soon be merrily prancing into the red zone. Uh, actually I think that's a Mutavault.

Tabasco Tony here.

He piloted G/B Elves to a winning record, I believe. More about Hot Sauce and his Garruk exploits later.

The Captain.

Apparently he plays Limited, Vintage, AND Standard. Don't even get me started about the man's EDH decks.

Pseudonymous Drama Student. He played an awesome Zur deck that fetched all sorts of silver bullet enchantments. Rogue, I tells ya, rogue!

***

A Milwaukee native did actually make it in to Top 8. Harry Potter, young wizard and student at an all boys high school (Ha!) slid into 8th place playing G/B Elves to an astounding record of 7-1-1. Good form! He tweaked the maindeck to include the full quad of Garruks, going down to 3x Chameleon Colossus, and also chose basic Swamp over the fancier Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. There were definitely more Elves running around than at PT Hollywood. I don't know if he anticipated more mirror matches instead of Faerie matchups, but I think both changes helped him, since Garruk is a dog to the Fae, but is quite nice in the mirror. Maybe our young friend also got some advantage from his opponent's Urborgs while avoiding the dreaded "Wasteland your Legendary land" moment, I don't know. I'd like to have seen his sideboard, but didn't get the chance. I don't know if he got the Nationals Invite (it was very late and The Captain, Tabasco and I couldn't stay to watch the rubber match). Wizard's site doesn't yet say, and neither does the Pastimes website. If someone knows of young Potter's fate, comment.

***

Here's the quick and dirty of my less-than-glamorous Regionals. I promise I'll make it as painless as possible.

Round 1: Quick n' Toast. Draw. He played very slowly, and was nervous, but I saw soooo many Kitchen Finks and Firespouts. I hear they aren't good for little blue men.

Round 2: R/G Big Mana. He is also super slow (and I am not a fast player either) and I get game three on turn five after time is called. More Firespouts/Finks!

Round 3: Reveilark combo, sort of. Got there in two games. He did play a Red Akroma against me in game 2. That was scary, because I didn't have Terror in hand. He swung, I flashed in a Scion of Oona and blocked with three black Bitterblossom tokens. He didn't have the removal for my Scion, but he did pump his Akroma to 10/6, so I took 4, but got rid of the angry Angel. Let's say I didn't expect to be playing against THAT card this weekend.

Round 4: Faeries. I lose 0-2. I did not test the mirror matchup and played like ass in both games, but really the games were over turn 2. The first game I ran out a turn two Bitterblossom on the draw- right into his Rune Snag. Genius. And game 2 I play first, end up ripping an Ancestral Vision off the top turn 2, and suspend it instead of leaving Rune Snag mana up. Yep, his turn 2= Bitterblossom. GG.

Round 5: G/B Elves. Got there in 3, mostly because I drew 4 Damnations total between the post sideboard games.

Round 6: Zvi's Deus of Calamity G/R deck. I go on tilt from here on out. Although I'm not sure what exactly I am supposed to do about turn 2 Magus of the Moon. It's bad news when you die before your turn 1 Ancestral Visions unsuspends. She plays turn 1 Llanowar Elves, turn 2 Magus, turn 3 Chameleon Colossus, turn 4 Chameleon Colossus, turn 5 kill me. Game 2 I should have sided in Damnations instead of Thoughtseize. I didn't. I lost, even though I forced the Magus of the Moon to get discarded turn one, because Deus + Countryside Crusher = better than my Razormane Masticore.

Round 7: G/B Elves. Lost in 2. I didn't draw Damnation post-board.

Round 8: G/B Elves. Lost in 2. This build was bizarre, with Wolf Skull Shamans. I should have gotten this one, but I made many mistakes because I am bad at Magic.

Round 9: I played a small child with what looked like a Block Constructed Kithkin deck. I don't know what's worse, beating up on a kid, or losing to one. I got there, 2-0. Woo Hoo, I guess.



I should have dropped at 3-2-1. But single elim drafts are so pricey, and nobody wanted to EDH. I guess I could have done coverage.

***

MORE PICS!

Tabasco plays a G/W Elves deck. He literally spent six consecutive turns making a Beast token with Garruk to chump a Chameleon Colossus trying kill his planeswalker.

Here we see him about to win, with two Beast tokens, a Shriekmaw, Tarmogoyf and Garruk, still with one counter remaining. Tabasco used his Manlands to chump through the midgame until he out-drew his opponent late.

I don't know why I took so many pictures of Hot Sauce. Here he is facing an underage WI resident (who may not want to be named, I don't know), who is piloting Faeries. I think Faeries got there, but I don't know for certain.

***

My best play of the tournament: Round 2 I found myself in the draw bracket against an opponent who needed to read all my cards. We went to time, after which a bunch of his friends came over to watch. Finally a judge arrives as well. I was at 12 with two Bitterblossoms and three tokens in play. He was at 20 life, with some Elves in play. This is how it goes down:

Turn 0: On his upkeep I cast Mistbind Clique as time is called. He thinks for a long time, taps his land and says, "You got it." I champion a token. He draws his cards and passes.

Turn 1: My turn I beat with the Clique and two Bitterblossom tokens. He goes to 14.

Turn 2: On his upkeep, I cast Mistbind Clique, champion another token, and his friends groan. He thinks, swears, and then taps his lands. He draws his card and passes turn.

Turn 3: My turn I beat with both Cliques and three Bitterblossom tokens. He goes to 3.

Turn 4: On his upkeep, I stop him and say, "Hold on." He shouts "Fucking A!" and his friends yell profanities. Then I say, "Dude, I was just fucking with you. I don't have the third Clique. Go to draw step?" That got a laugh from everyone, even the judge. Yeah, I got the win on turn 5, but just watching him freak out at the thought of getting Timewalked for all his extra turns was the best thing that happened all day. He was a good sport, I probably would have been pissed off.

***

I got some good photos of Asshole Jason, who played a R/B token deck with Gargadon and Nantuko Husk, but I don't know if he would want me posting his mug online, so I won't. I'll leave you with a Magic: The Puzzling type situation. Asshole Jason's opponent is playing some kind of mono-black deck. This photo is shot from the opponent's perspective.

Yes those two lands facing the camera are Leechridden Swamps. The opponent also has a Bitterblossom, one token, one Demigod of Revenge (tapped, attacking) and six Snow-Covered Swamps. As you can see, he has only one card in hand. Now to Jason's side. He has two Faerie Macabre, two Kobold tokens, his own (shiny!) Demigod of Revenge, three Swamps, a Mountain, a Sulphurous Spring, and an untapped Kher Keep. If you squint you can see the life totals- Jason 4, his opponent 15. Jason's graveyard has; 2x Greater Gargadon, 2x Mogg War Marshal, a Mutavault, a Makeshift Mannequin, and a Nantuko Husk. Assume Jason has no hand. How does he win the game before those Leechridden Swamps kill him? I'll give you some space.

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Figured it out yet?

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Still no? That's because he fucking lost, suckers!

Ha!

T

Time for Regionals

I hope you all rip it up at Regionals. I will be there Vindicating things and maybe keeping tabs on one or two matches. I am gonna go out on a limb and say 2 Faeries, one GB midrange and one RG Aggro will get the slots. Not that it matters since I will be going to Nats to do sides and hang out anyway. I have to go pack because I am going down to suburban Chicago tonight.

Ta ta

Eventide booster pack

Yes it's that time again kids. Wizards has graced us with 15 of the new cards from the Eventide set to be released in July. Of course they show the rare: Click here

Yes enemy colors, hybrid ones at that. More 5 mana hybrid deities, I now need to change my pants, because the U/G hybrid is THAT good

Shadowmoor Sealed, Week 1

Quintuple black is a lot to ask for in a black red deck. It should be only a mistake that a noob should make, but alas I too have fallen victim to the delusion that I should play all of my bomb rares that are in any of the colors that I am playing.

Kind of a different intro than I usually do, but I am having a really hard time keeping my thoughts straight. Anyways, this past Tuesday we started over with a fresh sealed deck of Shadowmoor, and I am happy with what I am seeing. Amongst the Painter's Servant, Ghastlord of Fugue, foil Knollspine Dragon, & Dusk Urchins; I have the makings of a pretty solid red-black deck. Add a heaping helping of aggressive dudes, a splash of reasonably costed removal, and season to taste. If only it was that easy.

Well enough of my incoherent thoughts and on to the deck list.

Ashenmoor Cohort
Dusk Urchins
Sickle Ripper
Bloodmark Mentor
Boggart Arsonists
Knollspine Dragon (foil)
Rustrazor Butcher
Ghastlord of Fugue
Gravelgill Axeshark
Ashenmoor Gourger
Kulrath Knight
Murderous Redcap
Sootstoke Kindler
Painter's Servant
Scrapbasket
Tatterkite

Corrupt
Gloomlance
Burn Trail
Ember Gale
Puncture Bolt
Torper Dust
Blight Sickle

(10) Swamp
(7) Mountain

Well as you can see, I've managed to get a deck that wants to (an can reliably) get in there with a guy with both wither and first strike. Unfortunately, you need to actually draw the guys and not all of your removal and all of your lands (with the exception of my games against the Captain, I got mana flooded and failed to draw guys I could play with the mana I had. I managed to get to 11 mana against AJ and not be able to play the Knollspine Dragon in my hand because I only had one mountain in play). Well them's the breaks.

Looking forward to next week, here's what I opened.

Traitor'r Roar
Curse of Chains
Somnomancer
Rattleblaze Scarecrow
Devoted Druid
Smolder Initiate
Gloomwidow's Feast
Sinking Feeling
Goldenglow Moth
Smash to Smithereens
Tattermunge Maniac
*Incremental Blight
Dawnglow Infusion
*Ashenmoor Liege
*Burn Trail (foil)

I've marked with an * the three cards I'll try to include in next weeks deck. Well, until next time, may the mana gods not hate you.

DAMMIT

I KNEW you couldn't sacrifice Gilded Drake to Miren and still get the exchange.

Current Oracle Text

When Gilded Drake comes into play, choose one - sacrifice Gilded Drake; or exchange control of Gilded Drake and target creature an opponent controls. If you can't make the exchange, sacrifice Gilded Drake. This ability can't be countered. (This effect doesn't end at end of turn.)

From the Ask the Judge database

Q: If I put the ability of Gilded Drake into stack, targeting legal target and my opponent kills Gilded Drake with Terror, does the exchange still take place?

A: No. When the ability resolves, the things that will be exchanged need to be present. Otherwise, nothing happens.

Argh.

A Miss Mosh of Topics

Lots of diverse topics to write about tonight; I'll get right going.

Cube Draft!
To expand or not to expand? That is the question. I have had a few votes in favor and one "meh" (who stated that he actually enjoyed culling the weakest Cube cards from the cardboard herd). I am sorta kinda against it, but not in any real substantive way. My only arguments are that 1) The completist in me loves to know that we will have a full pool of awesome cards when we have an 8 man Cube draft, and 2) The elitist in me likes knowing that only the very most powerful 360 cards are deemed worthy of such an honor. Changing the number upward is fine, most notably if it gets people engaged in the Cube process again, which has been lacking since the increase in the number of expert level expansion releases this year. Also, I need to actually bring it along to Magic nights. And then there's EDH to blame too. God damnnit is EDH fun. It just wrecks other formats. But I digress! Here are questions that need answering if we want to expand ze Kube.
1) How do we decide the number of cards to add to the Cube?
We can do arbitrary, i.e. 100, or another 360 (not recommended, super duper power level drop off alert), or 140 (because that's the number that after much deliberation we estimate will provide the most delicious add-ins without a significant power drop off); OR we can just start tossing in good cards until we have a consensus moment when we say "stop." This would be something like, "Well, Armored Ascension is good enough but we need to draw the line at Silkbind Faerie." Or something like that. I would argue for some iteration of the former, not the latter, lest mass chaos erupt.
2) How do we decide which CARDS to add to the Cube?
Sounds kind of "obv" worthy, right? But the biggest argument for increasing Cube size has come because of the large amount of rad ass uncommons of Shadowmoor. True, there are many awesome potential includes in Shadowmoor, but we have also cut dozens of cards prior to this. Are those rejects now getting a new lease on Cube life? What about cards that were in other Cube lists that we rejected during building? Are they now too in the running? I guess my point is that thousands of cards may be competing for a scant 100 or so slots. Are we up to the challenge? Or will we provide some guidelines going in, like new cards have priority, or that we are only adding Shadowmoor cards? I really do come down egalitarian side of every card having an equal chance here. If we are expanding the Cube then all those mint Shadowmoor cards should have to compete with the dusty also-rans of yore. The Cube is about distilled power level, whatever else it is about. Adding cards is one thing, but not allowing all cards consideration for entry is ageist. Yeah I went there.

Regionals!
I will apparently be there! I have not tested at all, but might try to do so Wednesday eve. I am running the consensus "best deck" (duhr Faeries, duhr) because let's face it; me+ type 2 + no testing = Hope to be Lucksack McGee or 0-2 drop and EDH. I am leaning to the latter more than the former, but at least Faeries can just win sometimes. Here is a list of cards I need, should you be so kind to loan them.

1x Faerie Conclave
1x Underground River
1x Mutavault
2x Pendelhaven
3x Razormane Masticore
3x Thoughtseize
3x Ancestral Vision

And any sideboard/maindeck tech against Chameleon Colossus/Squall Line/Cloudthresher, and/or Kitchen Finks, because they all scare the hell out of me. Makes me want to play more counterspells out of the board or something. Lookit me, all pretending to know about Standard and shit!

Big Changes with Shards of Alara!
I am still processing this, but off the cuff it seems like having what amounts to super-duper rares is not an idea I can really support. I already spend way more money on this stupid hobby than I should. The realization that no one really learns the game through the Core Set seems like an open secret finally being publicly acknowledged. How many people watching a Magic game for the first time see people playing Xth edition cards? And we know that's how newbs learn, from watching non-newbs play. I personally am happy to see the number of cards printed per year go down. Learning Limited formats takes time, and I feel like I never really got enough play out of Lor/Lor/Mor draft before the switch. I KNOW I won't have drafted trips Shadowmoor more than 15 times before the new rotation, mostly because of new time constraints on my part. I guess the real problem here is the Wizards needs to give us more time between set releases, not fewer cards per release. Yes Rav/Guild/Diss was boring by the end, but at least we had time to "figure out" the format. And that was a format that turned out to really give players a lot of enjoyment for doing so. Now only the super die-hard drafters are going to "get" the current format before it rotates. You hear that? I'm not enough of a Limited player to keep up anymore! What the hell is this world coming to?


Geekerus Miscellaneous!
Fans of Wizards of the Coast and their business interests should note that Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition will be in stores this weekend. Wizards is a crafty company, and have recruited several behemoths of webcomicry to inaugurate this occasion. Penny-Arcade's Gabe and Tycho (or Jerry and Mike) and PVP's Scott Kurtz have agreed to do an adventure DMed by a Wizards employee familiar with the new 4E rules. The result a series of podcasts and comic panels, drawn by Mike and Scott. Because all of these men are hilarious the experience is worth a listen even for those hypocrites who decry paper and pencil Geekery. D&D players will glean some knowledge of the new system and have an opportunity to hear how the system works in real time.

DJ TooSarcastic!
New mix is up. Tracklist here. It is dark. Not much melody up in here. I was inspired by the kind of music that I most enjoy dancing to; rhythm-heavy techno. I ended leaning toward progressive house vibe as well. I thought I gave that sound up in college, but apparently I was not well-informed. It was a really easy mix to make, two takes, a few edits and that was that. I am much more used to mixing music like this, since this was what I enjoyed playing when I used to have proper gigs. I put this into my Itunes and it appears to have compressed the volume or something such that one or two tracks sound pretty fucking awful. I promise that if you listen to the MP3 file on its own it won't sound as terrible.
T

Shards of Alara

For Reference click here

Shards of Alara is the next block after Eventide is released to finish off Shadowmoor block

Well they have really changed things, Mythic Rares with Red expansion symbols.

New Gold Planeswalker(s).

Basic lands in every pack?

Now packs will have the following distribution: starting with Shards of Alara, every booster pack will have one rare (replaced occasionally by a mythic rare), three uncommons, ten commons, and one basic land. This new rarity distribution will be applied to every core set and expansion (large and small) moving forward.

OMG

Best thing to ever happen to T1!

Regionals

This year Regionals is going to be held at the new DuPage Expo Center:

Location

Dupage Expo Center 4050 East Main St St. Charles, IL 60174 Tel: 866-239-EXPO (3976) www.dupageexpo.com

Directions to the DuPage Expo center -Click here

taken from Pastimes.net

Dammit Edna!

I was totally going to write this last night but I bought a bottle of Don Julio Reposado instead. Tequila > Magic. My tumbly is rumbly.

Reaper King EDH strikes me as the most tedious deck to play ever.

"And then I will play my general"
"Counter it."
"I will play my general again."
"Kill it."
"I will play my general, paying 14."
"Steal it"
"Dammit Edna!"

Did you know Clutch of the Undercity is tech versus Stealy Stealy? Of course blue has the best answers to blue! Why wouldn't it?

I still have done a grand total of 3 Shadowmoor drafts, one of those being a bizarre 4 man, where 2 people went RG and 2 UW.

You should look elsewhere for Regionals tech. Or you should be a good pro and play Quick 'n Toast.

Ugh. I really have nothing this week, because I don't want to talk about Reaper King before I play it. Go away.

Possible Shadowmoor Additions to the Cube

Well, we done had a BBQ at Scoop_Phase's place for Memorial Day. It was nice. There was EDH. And I forgot to bring the Cube. When I left the house I was trying to figure out how to email 40 megs of real estate pictures to my father. (Tip: Don't put them in a .ZIP file and try to send them via an attachment. I'm a genius.) I got distracted. But it would have been great, because it's free and we haven't Cubed in way too long. That got me thinking about our options for Shadowmoor additions to the Cube. I have a non-exhaustive list of potential candidates and would love to hear some feedback. There are lots of powerful cards in Shadowmoor (especially at the uncommon level) that kind of change the expected math that we use to evaluate cards. Is a 3/3 with haste and wither for three mana good enough? What if all the mana is colored? What if the card can still be played consistently in a two color deck despite the colored mana restriction? These are the sort of questions we haven't had to answer very often in the past.

Keep in mind we had only seven additions for Morningtide. I would guess that number is probably about right for Shadowoor as well, maybe even fewer. The stuff in the Cube is REALLY good, arguably the best cards in the last ten years or so of Magic (we don't run Power, so we can't claim to go all the way back to Alpha). Additions need to surpass this already excellent card quality. Oh, because of the multicolor slant to Shadowmoor, please recall that our Cube has absolutely juiced G/W already. I don't know why it worked that way, but it just did. G/W cards have an even higher standard. Kitchen Finks is still at the top of my list, but I'm just sayin'. Here is the latest Cube list, and the Morningtide additions, for reference.

White

Armored Ascension
Ballynock Cohort
Niveous Wisps
Prison Term
Runed Halo
Twilight Shepherd

Blue

Cursecatcher
Savor the Moment

Black

Beseech the Queen
Faerie Macabre
Dusk Urchins
Midnight Banshee

Red

Flame Javelin
Furystoke Giant
Intimidator Initiate

Green

Crabapple Cohort
Devoted Druid
Prismatic Omen
Tower Above

Artifact

Elsewhere Flask
Grim Poppet
Painter's Servant (Only if we add Grindstone!)

Multicolor

Aethertow
Augury Adept
Godhead of Awe
Mirrorweave
Mistmeadow Witch
Plumeveil
Thoughtweft Gambit
Somnomancer
Swans of Bryn Argoll
Inkfathom Infiltator
Inkfathom Witch
Oona, Queen of the Fae
River's Grasp
Scarscale Ritual
Wasp Lancer
Ashenmoor Gouger
Murderous Redcap
Din of the Fireherd
Fulminator Mage
Boggart Ram-Gang
Deus of Calamity
Firespout
Tattermunge Maniac
Tattermunge Witch
Vexing Shusher
Wort, the Raidmother
Dawnglow Infusion
Kitchen Finks
Mercy Killing
Oracle of Nectars
Oversoul of Dusk

***

Can we cut that down to 5-7 cards? Including the cards that are awesome that I am sure to have missed? I think maybe top ten lists would be worthwhile, so we can (hopefully) come to a consensus. I seem to like lists lately. Post yours in comments. Mine would run like this:

1. Kitchen Finks
2. Oona, Queen of the Fae
3. Swans of Bryn Argoll
4. Boggart Ram-Gang
5. Tattermunge Maniac
6. Firespout
7. Beseech the Queen
8. Flame Javelin
9. Murderous Redcap
10. Godhead of Awe

Old Fart Regionals Playtesting

i will be at game universe for old fart tonight. seeing how its the last week and i dont have a deck for it... i will be looking to play t2 if anyone is interested.

Decklists

Day 2

Top 8

Top 30 Shadowmoor Cards- EDH

Lookit me, I'm a Captain Bondage Goth! In Bizarro World maybe.

I'm doing top ten lists here for Shadowmoor EDH; one for commons, uncommons and rares. See if you agree.

Commons:
10 Safewright Quest - Search up your green or white dual for 1 mana. Could be worse.
9 Turn to Mist - Dodge removal (mass or targeted), use as a combat trick, abuse CIP effects.
8 Manamorphose - Mana fix, cantrip.
7 Niveous Wisps - It's one mana, and it taps Akroma. Cantrip.
6 Faerie Macabre - No one will see this coming until after they cast the Regrowth.
5 Strip Bare - Goodbye equipment! (Except, uh, SoLaS and Lightning Greaves)
4 Last Breath - Gets those pesky utility guys for good.
3 Gloomwidow's Feast - One more than Wing Snare, but it's instant and you get another speed bump for fliers. Really not too bad for killing say, a dragon.
2 Mine Excavation - There will be targets. Getting the conspire is pure gravy.
1 Crimson Wisps - Would you pay one more mana to give your bomb haste and make it cantrip?

Uncommons:
10 Firespout- Hey, it's probably removal and card advantage.
9 Spiteflame Witch - About four or five damage for 2 mana is pretty good, even though you'll pissing people off.
8 Tower Above - It's just a combat trick I know, but it's still pretty damn good one, especially at 3 mana.
7 Mercy Killing - Is it Chainer's Edict? No. But You're playing G/W. It'll do. I'd still rather have 11 1/1s swinging at me and a Darksteel Colossus in some one's library than having to deal with indestructible dudes.
6 Thoughtweft Gambit - This taps every one's creatures but the caster's. I imagine there are ways to abuse this. Multiple Time Walks, anyone?
5 Prison Term - Makes opponents think twice about playing creatures, even shuts off activated abilities. Bites it to mass removal, unfortunately.
4 Reknit - But I really like my enchantment (or land/artifact/planeswalker). I don't want it to go...
3 Mistmeadow Witch - Sick things start to happen at 8 mana.
2 Torrent of Souls - Paying both R and B is really good in a format with bomb creatures and sweepers that routinely hit before summoning sickness wears off.
1 Beseech the Queen - Was there any doubt? This tutor is sick.

Rares:
10 Fire-Lit Thicket, Graven Cairns, Mystic Gate, Sunken Ruins, Wooded Bastion, and Reflecting Pool. Let's get them out of the way, shall we? In a three color deck, they really are amazing.
9 Fracturing Gust - Bomb. This will wreck EDH games all over at instant speed. The life gain is occasionally relevant.
8 Memory Plunder - The spells you are potentially casting get juicier in a format with numerous graveyards and bomby spells.
7 Din of the Fireherd - It "only" hits one player, or it would be higher on the list. Kingmaker anyone?
6 River Kelpie - I will predict you will be drawing lots of cards.
5 Rage Reflection/Mana Reflection- This is cheating, but they're both awesome. 6 mana is a lot to invest but I believe that both of these enchantments are worth it, not least because enchantments stay around longer than most permanents in EDH.
4 Puppeteer Clique - Haste, graveyard hosing, reusability, evasion, the list goes on. The real deal.
3 Polluted Bonds - This needs an answer quick, before things get out of hand.
2 Twilight Shepherd - Wrath Insurance. Sol'Kanar's got nothing on this bitch.
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae - The new hot General. RFG FTW, people.

Top 1 lists.
Top 1 most annoying thing to hear stupid people say: "It is what it is." Yes. This technically applies to everything in the universe. Congratulations. Unless there is some other meaning that can be intuited from making this statement, please don't.
Top 1 everyday occurrence that makes me feel like I'm being anally violated: Being thankful that I'm "only" paying $3.95 for regular unleaded. Thank you mister OPEC! May I have another? I never thought I'd have to write that.
Top 1 best track to be trippin' balls to: I have made this known elsewhere. "Your Face is a Mess" by Gel Abril. Try the Deetron remix for extra paranoia. I was going to do a list about what track is best the best soundtrack for getting high on every illicit drug I could think of but then I remembered what I do for a living and decided I prefer to keep my job instead.
Top 1 worst idea for a post on this blog: a loosely autobiographical short story titled "The adventures of Salty McMonster." Me whining for ten pages, anyone? Oh wait, you were all probably there when the whining actually happened.

Night kids.

T

Shadowmoor Sealed, Week 3

I can’t wait for May to be over. May has been nothing but bad week followed by worse week. So this past weekend I head back up to the Twin Cities Friday night for my brother’s graduation from law school (by the way Hamline has a really beautiful campus) only to have to drive back Saturday night so I can be back at work on Sunday. I finally thought that we had gotten over the hump, but we always manage to find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot.

To further complicate things, I am train my counterpart from Irwindale (near LA, CA) on the BrewAS tool that I use. It has moderately increased the amount of time I am spending at work this week, but at least the scenery is nice.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it to the store on Tuesday, but did make it down to TS place Tuesday night for a cook out and a few games of EDH (I didn’t get done at work until after 6 pm). One conclusion I can draw in two player is that the person on the draw wins ~80% of the time (that extra card is a huge advantage).

I do intend to try to make it down to the store next Tuesday, but with the way things have been going, I won’t hold my breath. Well until next time, may the mana gods not hate you.

Nineteen to go!

There is justice in this world

I know that Lou Pearlman isn't going to jail for 25 years for spawning all those 80's and 90's boy bands, but I'd like to think that he's getting what he deserves one way or another. Kizzarma!

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