The Dining Room Table

Well, What Have We Here

2009-06-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

I kind of abandoned this for SSDD

But I guess, since it's summer and all, I can update. Besides, I have 2 followers, so I feel obligated to.

Recently, my group has picked up EDH. Again. But this time, like, seriously. Because that's all they play up at U of H. So Fidel, the main opponent, is now probably the main proponent. So that's silly.

Anyways, I use a currently untuned Dakkon Blackblade deck. It could use some tweeking, and I made a couple of last minute cuts that I don't feel so sure about. Plus, I just missed out on some obviously good things that, quite honestly, I didn't want to search for while building. Martial Coup, Hinder, some Transmute buddies...

Okay, well actually, I don't have much to say now. Well, I do, but I'm not going to right now. I got some Theatre stuff to work out. But I'm going to be able to regularize this, so...

...

Gentlemen, BEHOLD!

2009-02-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

But first, Type 4 Cube updates post-Conflux prerelease. No one was trading 'flux, so I only ended up with 1 Conflux (the card) after a 2HG flight with Bijan.

First, nonfunctional changes:
Ugly Counterspell for Jace v Chandra Counterspell.
Ugly Fact or Fiction for Jace v Chandra Fact or Fiction.
Nothing Necrogenesis for Signed Necrogenesis!

Additions:
Blood Tyrant
Time Stretch
Path to Exile
Restock
Rafiq of the Many
Necropotence
Benalish Commander
Nullstone Gargoyle
Horde of Notions
Bane of the Living

Removed:
Fungal Behemoth
Stonewood Invocation
Dark Banishing
Whispersilk Cloak
Creeping Mold
Barter in Blood
Compulsive Research
Plumeveil
Spitebellows

Just removing a bunch of stuff that seemed generally lame.

Anyways,

GENTLEMEN, BEHOLD:

5 Color White Gifts With No Creatures or Stuff

24 Lands

4 x Fellwar Stone

2 x Gifts Ungiven
2 x Intuition
1 x Conflux
1 x Demonic Tutor

2 x All Suns' Dawn
1 x Regrowth
1 x Izzet Chronarch
1 x Nucklavee
1 x Eternal Witness
1 x Naya Charm

1 x False Prophet
3 x Swords to Plowshares
2 x Path to Exile
2 x Bant Charm
2 x Wrath of God
1 x Firespout

2 x Living Wish
3 x Decree of Justice
3 x Goblin Assault

I dunno, Man. I dunno. I just want to resolve Conflux so bad that I'll do anything to make a deck for it. I need better black, though. Tutor a tutor? I need some multiplayer beats. I'm feeling Blood Tyrant. We're doing Release... but not on Release. Snow Angel this weekend. Next weekend, though, gettin' a draft together. Triple Conflux. A lot of it. Shouldn't be too bad, huh? I mean, just draft every Domain Card and then pray.

Inspired to Update

2008-12-26T17:38:00.000-08:00

(Look, I can follow a trend: shotgunpriest)

A while ago, around right before States, I read a statement that inspired me to build a lot of different decks. The phrase was 'using tokens as card advantage'. Now, I had always realized the obvious things. If you use a Spectral Procession and trade with three dudes, it's a 3-for-1. Everyone gets that. But that phrase intrigued me, so I read on. Then I read the Policy of Pressure for tokens. Force them to Wrath every turn or they die.

Sounds fun. Except instead of putting a billion cards on the line, you used one. Sweet. So I made the following beauty, and never looked back.

Lands, including Windbrisk Heights

2 x Figure of Destiny
2 x Soul Warden
2 x Ranger of Eos
4 x Crusading Knight
3 x Cloudgoat Ranger

4 x Spectral Procession
4 x Swords to Plowshares
2 x Kiss of Amesha
2 x Tidings
3 x Mirrorweave
2 x Decree of Justice
4 x Mindstone
4 x Repuse

Mirrorweave combos are always fun in my opinion. There's some non-token CA, of course. Tidings or Kiss are backbreakers after they've depleted their hand dealing with your immense threat volume. They are my Cruel Ultimatums. This deck extends to multiplayer very well. It does nothing overly threatening. Having 3 tokens out usually doesn't freak anyone out. But what's great is that other decks give you the fatties. Mirrorweave, my friend, Mirrorweave. And with everyone going Shacrazy, Liege alert! Get's exponential. Also, the 3-color guys from Alara are nice. Fun combo: Have some dudes in play. In response to some token burst (coolest thing I've done with this is cycle Decree for 4 EOT), Mirrorweave a Soul Warden. Everyone got a lovely life boost. I, however, with 8 guys in play, profited nicely. And then killed someone swinging for 12.

Good times, gooood times.

Also, got Jace v. Chandra for Christmas. Seems fairly balanced, comes with some good staples. Nice, nice.

Mirrorweave

2008-08-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Is so awesome. Oh my god, yes it is.

Inspired by Kithkin, I ported a Mirrorweave deck to multiplayer. It's basically WW, except it has all of the reach that it could never attain in multiplayer. This is really helped out by Sacred Gaysa. I'm torn between putting in Mass Removal or not. It's kinda counter intuitive... but a man does not live on Chump Blocking and Swords to Plowshares alone. When I don't make play mistakes, I win with it. I went 2-2 with it in chaos multiplayer.

...

Dass a big deal.

I'll post something else later, I suppose.

My Epic Post ;_;

2008-07-02T20:47:00.001-07:00

I did an EVE set review for my triumphant return.

It's all gone.

;____;

2008-07-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

Cutting EDH

2008-05-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yeah. So, I have to have, what, 99 cards?

Oops.

Hint: The pile of basic lands has 28 lands.

Ouch.

More SHA Drafting

2008-05-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

This deck needs no introduction except "lol". So Many Insane Plays, mirite?

Chunk 1:
2 x Pili-Pala
2 x Power of Fire
2 x Presence of Gond
2 x Rustrazor Butcher
1 x Leechbonder

Chunk 2:
1 x Reaper King
3 x Blazethorn Scarecrow
1 x Rattleblaze Scarecrow

Removal and Fixin's and Other:
1 x Consign to a Dream
2 x Curse of Chains
1 x Burn Trail
1 x Farhaven Elf
1 x Manamorphose
1 x Safewright Quest
1 x Mirrorweave
1 x Elsewhere Flask
1 x Mossbridge Troll

Lands
1 x Plains
2 x Island
13 x Forest/Mountain

Yeah, I had a Turn 4 Reaper King, Turn 5 two Pili-Pala. wut

It took first, and I won a shiny new Fulminator Mage, Hearmender, and 3 Kitchen Finkses. And a Flame Javelin.

My other deck was MonoWhite Hope-To-Draw-Armored-Ascension-Or-Kithkin-Rabble-Or-Steel-Of-The-Godhead. Otherwise, I hoped for mana screw. I got 3rd Place. I'm so good at Magic I don't even know. Painter's Servant and Oona and stuff from my loot.

Did some EDH and got decked. Decked. In EDH. No from mill. From drawing.

Mono U lol. Meloku was my General... I regretted that about 0 turns in. Oona gets that job, soon, and with that comes Terror & co.. What co., I dunno yet. But they will happen.

I think I'm going to convert Proteus Staff.dec to be all Tidespout Tyrants. I might cut black, add more combo pieces, and let myself Gush to victory. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewait -

Quick, Q and A:

Q: Have you seen the eyes on Quirion Dryad's old art?
A: No. Let me see. F***.
A2: Yes. F***.
A3: I am dead so I don't have the above 2 opinions.
A1 to A3: Well then how do you walk?!
A3: Not 10 Pound balls. Dead.

Can't walk in either situation, I'm afraid. Quirion Dryad shouldn't be allowed to walk with that art, either. I may cuff her, knock her out, sharpie her over the eyes, and not call back in the morning.

Cos GAT do what GAT wanna do.

This Is The 4th Title I Thought Of

2008-05-04T17:31:00.001-07:00

So today, I built 5 decks in 2 hours. Yay, new material. Can it be list tiem nao?

Proteus Staff
4 x Gemstone Mine
3 x Forbidden Orchard
4 x Terramorphic Expanse
2 x Plains
3 x Island
4 x Swamp

1 x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 x Tidespout Tyrant
1 x Herald of Leshrac
1 x Hamletback Goliath
1 x Verdant Force
1 x Platinum Angel

3 x Proteus Staff
4 x Brainstorm
3 x Raise the Alarm
2 x Nuisance Engine
4 x Swords to Plowshares
4 x Rune Snag

4 x Beseech the Queen
2 x Enlightened Tutor
1 x Vampiric Tutor
1 x Mystical Tutor
1 x Demonic Tutor

1 x Seal of Doom
1 x Prison Term
1 x Disenchant
1 x Innocent Blood
1 x Breath of Life

It's like a witty-bitty baby Oath! GOOD TIMES. Goldfishing and text forum goodness.

Artifact Stuffs

4 x Great Furnace
4 x Seat of the Synod
4 x Darksteel Citadel
4 x Glimmervoid
3 x Island
1 x Academy Ruins

3 x Trinket Mage
4 x Frogmite
4 x Myr Enforcer
2 x Arcbound Ravager
4 x Epochrasite
1 x Darksteel Colossus
1 x Sundering Titan
4 x Goblin Welder

1 x Tinker
4 x Thirst for Knowledge
4 x Thoughtcast
1 x Darksteel Forge
1 x Welding Jar
1 x Lightning Greeves
1 x Fabricate
1 x Gilded Lotus
3 x Lotus Bloom

Nuff said.

Standard Legal MBC

21 x Swamp
3 x Leechridden Swamp

4 x Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
4 x Shriekmaw
3 x Epochrasite

4 x Nameless Inversion
4 x Tendrills of Corruption
3 x Corrupt
3 x Damnation
4 x Beseech the Queen

1 x Loxodon Warhammer
1 x Faerie Macabre
1 x Profane Command
1 x Haunting Hymn
1 x Rain of Tears
1 x Slaughter Pact
1 x Dread Return

Because I want a standard deck thats not hated out of the meta.

MRC

18 x Mountain
2 x Thawing Glaciers

2 x Scourge of Kher Ridges
2 x Spitebellows
2 x Torchling
2 x Kumano, Master Yamabushi
2 x Angel of Fury
1 x Taurean Mauler
1 x Hostility
3 x Bogardan Hellkite

1 x Wheel of Fortune
2 x Urza's Rage
4 x Lightning Bolt
4 x Flame Javelin
2 x Incinerate
4 x Jaws of Stone
2 x Molten Disaster
3 x Pyroclasm
1 x Flamebreak
2 x Chandra Nalaar

Whaa?! Sheet.

Vintage MUC - 10 Proxy, Budget

1 x Academy ruins
1 x Stripmine
17 x Island
1 x Sol Ring
1 x Black Lotus
3 x Moxen

2 x Spire Golem
2 x Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
2 x Ophidian
1 x Darksteel Colossus

1 x Tinker
1 x Ancestral Recall
1 x Time Walk
3 x Mana Drain
4 x Force of Will
2 x Misdirection
3 x Spellsnare
3 x Repeal
4 x Merchant Scroll
4 x Mystic Remora
1 x Mindslaver
1 x Fact or Fiction
1 x Mystical Tutor

And such is that is such.

wut

Feeling the Squeeze

2008-05-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

(Editor's Note [bahahahaha]: This is a rehash of an article[? Bahahahaha] found here. It's being reformatted and un-meaned to be submitted to Voice of All. I know I'm 2 weeks behind schedule. Go die in a fire.)

Alright, so I'm home sick from school, and just woke up. I don't know how the idea came to me, but I was contemplating eating ~~Samoans~~ Caramel Delights for breakfast when it did. I felt like writing a casual article. There're also no obvious outside influences, especially not announcements about places where more than 0 people may read what I type. But, man, it's all been done before in some combination, and I don't exactly cater to a large crowd (i.e., "Competitive Casual" Multiplayer - sometimes). But I knew there were things I could say. And then, post-cookie-temptation, I knew what I'd write about. Building on a budget! And yet, that'd been done before. Folks on many websites show you awesome decks you can build without breaking the bank. What could I do that would be different? Inspiration struck again. I wouldn't showcase decks under some certain dollar mark. I wouldn't go on and list out awesome budget alternatives to great tournament worthy cards. No, I'd teach you how to actually build on a budget. I build things on budget constraints all the time, so I should know how, right? "No," my nonexistent readers cry, "that's a lie! Your decks are full of ugly things like Wrath of Gods and mean Thoughseizes and icky Dark Confidants or Chrome Moxen!"

Well, yeah they are. But it's not like I went out and bought them over night. I do build on a budget, you can see. Look at my mana bases. All basics, with maybe some charge lands and Thawing Glaciers. Look at my creatures. Ravenous Rats in legacy Fish? Ephemeron in UW Control. Scourge of Kher Ridges in R/G Big Mana. My entire merfolk deck. But I ramble.

What I am here to do is to speak to the I-have-no-idea-how-above-or-below-or-right-at-average players: the ones who work off of an allowance (like me) or have little left over from a pay check for Magic. But, there's something I want to say first. Because whining gets us no where: Get over yourself. If that didn't apply to you, ignore it. If it did, thanks for reading, let's get on to what's important. There are 3 very easy ways to circumvent budget problems that I'm going to highlight.

The first is probably the one that'll meet the most friction. It'll hurt some of you to read. Seriously. I'm warning you! ...

Stop buying booster packs and opening them on a whim. "But," my nonexistent readers cry again, "they're so cheap! If I pay 4 dollars for that 10th Edition booster and crack a Wrath of God, it's like I just payed 1/4 of the price!" Yeah, well, you could've also just opened The Hive or Rootwater Matriarch. And I'm sure you don't need another Anaba Bodyguard.

And I know the temptation is going to kill you, it's impossible to resist the urge! That's cool. You don't have to stop completely (even though you should, but who am I kidding?). I usually buy a healthy amount of packs when new sets come out. Heck, do it with some friends and you'll all have the commons and uncommons you want, and can fight and fiercely trade over that new 20 dollar rare land. Just, don't make a habit of it. You'll end up with more jank rares than money rares soon enough, and you'll end up in the same position that you hate: discontent and broke.

Secondly, play limited. Lots and lots of limited. This has multiple advantages to it. First and foremost, it improves your game. This will make you a more successful player, even when faced with budget constraints. Next, you still get the joy of cracking boosters, which is always fun. I'm sure it's going to take a long time for that novelty to wear off (It'll take a much longer time to wear off if you're still saying "Score!" to just about anything you open). And lastly, you can win good, expensive rares/uncommons. And that concerns you! Whether you rare draft, or play a solid game and win packs in the end, you can frequently end up with good rares. Especially if you have one vital skill: the ability to make good trades and negotiate. Lets say you just got off a LLM draft, and won a Murmuring Bosk in your packs/first picked one. Now, you have no plans for a treefolk deck. Or Doran. However, you do have a spicy UB deck in the making. So trade that Bosk off for Underground Rivers! 8 of them. Because Doran players don't know left from right and smell funny, so they'll think it's cool.

Additionally, and most importantly, and I know I've made this point before (elsewhere... elsewhen?), but invest. Get tournament staples over time. It's definitely worth saving up for them in the end. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, and you'll feel the pain in the wallet first, but it's worth it in the end unless you're a Magic hating Bolshie. But you aren't, are you?

Something else I'd like to add, and this may be a bit biased, but I also believe a streamlined control deck is easier to build than blistering aggro decks. Aggro decks are unforgiving if you miss a color. A classic example was Rav/TSP standard Boros Deck Wins. You had to go from R to WW to 1WW to 2RR every game in order to hit your curve and beat the Wrath. And don't even get me started on domain Zoo. With control decks, you can keep a 3 Island, 1 Plains, Akroma hand, because you have the time to draw those other white sources.

I guess you could say my opinion falls between Ben Bleiweiss, as seen on the official website, and Chris Romeo over at SCG.com. It's perfectly cool, recommended, and entirely reasonable to get budget replacements for staple cards that can cost quite a bit. Condemn costs 1/4 of Swords to Plowshares. However, I also feel that some things just can't be replaced. If you want a 3 color deck without Green (say, RWB), and you're going to play cards with RR, WWW, RW, BB, and BR, be prepared for some major color problems if you don't have the appropriate duals. That, or you're clogging your deck up with Signets and Lenses. Dreams get shattered; such is life.

1. Singles, not packs.
2. Draft, draft, and draft some more. Then some sealed.
3. Invest in staples!

Articles!

2008-04-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

See here and here.

I'm gonna do more game reports and more not-decklist posts and then submit them.

But not now.

Jeeez. Can't wait for my schedule to slacken up a bit.

Trinket Mage targets are Expensive

2008-04-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I was browsing SCG, because I got money to burn, and just kinda thought of this. Turn 3 Taurean Mauler. Turn 4 Loxodon Hierarch. It sounded freaking cool. So, I thought of a quick removal suite for that. 4 Swords to Plowshares, 4 Lightning Helix, 3 Krosan Grip. 3 Loxodon Warhammer should threatify all threats even more... (everything past this point is being thought of as I type)... 4 Eternal Witness! Recursion is good, and Footbottom Feast is inaccessible. Debtors Knell is a maybe... Spitebellows as my poor-mans Flame Tongue Kavu. Spectral Force? Firemane Angel. Maybe there's a little lifegain subtheme going on here? 2 Feudkillers Verdict if I decided to sway that way. Lightning Bolts, too. Terramorpic Expanse to fix mana... and to pump threshold for Mystic Enforcer! Board Sweepers? Savage Twister, Sulfurous Blast, Molten Disaster. Explosive Vegetation'd be nice. Ill, ill. Hm. Brion Stoutarm. This isn't helping me justify buying Hierarchs.

Okay, scrap that cart. Back to one Vendilion Clique.

Hour and a half later, this tab is open, and Vendilion Clique is out. However, Tron is in!

...

Behold!

12 x Tron
4 x Tolaria West
4 x Island
4 x Darkwater Catacomb
1 x Academy Ruins

2 x Platinum Angel
2 x Venser, Shaper Savant
3 x Shriekmaw
2 x Triskelavus

4 x Repeal
4 x Condescend
4 x Dimir Signet
1 x Coalition Relic
4 x Remand
3 x Thirst for Knowledge
2 x Fact or Fiction
3 x Damnation
1 x Demonic Tutor

Tech.

Blagoblag

2008-04-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

21 Lands

4 x Court Hussar
2 x Venser, Shaper Savant
2 x Vendilio Clique
4 x Aeon Chronicler
3 x Epochrasite

4 x Azorious Signet
3 x Chrome Mox
4 x Swords to Plowshares
4 x Accumulated Knowledge
4 x Repeal
3 x Oblivion Ring
2 x Dovescape

No time sleep shit this always happens blarg im ded

If Thou Say So, Withdraw, And Prove It Too!

2008-04-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

It goes a little something like this:

4 x Pillar of the Paruns
Stuff

3 x Brion Stoutarm
4 x Watchwolf
3 x Giant Solifuge
4 x Firemane Angel
2 x Spiritmonger

4 x Gerrard's Verdict
4 x Lightning Helix
2 x Terminate
2 x Putrefy
3 x Mortify
2 x Death Grasp
3 x Hide//Seek

It'll be called something cheesy, like Golden Opportunity. *rolls eyes*

Shadowmoor looks okay. I like the mood, but none of the cards spoiled right now really cater to me. Except the UW demigod. Ohshit, it's going right into MMUC. Oh, I guess I haven't told you about that.

I actually will, I promise. But sleep, lol.

Woot FNM Foils

2008-03-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

Not as cool as Force of Will. Turns out the FNM was limited. Traded Foil Goyf, for some FoW's, etc. Fun stuff. Tired. No update for nao.

FNM

2008-03-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

We're going this Friday. Looking like me, Brett, Bijan, Chris, and Matt(?). Brett's running a very competitive Faerie list. I'm running a Reveillark combo. I need to put another land in... here's what I got.

22 Lands

4 x Mulldrifter
4 x Shriekmaw
3 x Nantuko Husk
3 x Reveillark
3 x Body Double
2 x Mirror Entity
2 x Soul Warden
4 x Riftwing Cloudskate
2 x Venser, Shaper Savant

4 x Momentary Blink
2 x Makeshift Mannequin
4 x Rune Snag
1 x Profane Command

It's less combo centric and more tempo/beats. However, it can topdeck a Body Double and just win out of no where, which is always fun to have those kind of outs. Mulldrifter provides gross CA. I dunno my Side Board, but I'm looking at:

3 x Damnation
2 x Thoughtseize
1 x Pithing Needle
X x Trickbind
Nameless Inversion, Condemn, Stonecloaker, Offalsnout?

Looks good.

Entry X

2008-03-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

Just some normal stuff going on. The deck from last night/this morning was boring because the game locked up in a stall and there was nothing game breaking to break the game. Ah well.

I took red out of the UBR Control deck. Now there's more mana acceleration in the form of Chrome Moxen, and Thirst for Knowledge gives more draw opportunities. Added mucho tempo, with 2 Venser and 4 Riftwing Cloudskates. Good times.

I'm gonna build some good ol' Angel Stompy. Not the legacy deck, just loosely based Angel tribal control. 4 Firemane Angel, 1 each of the Red and White Akroma, 2 Pristine Angel, 2 Lightning Angel, 2 Decree of Justice... blah blah. It was probably my first deck that I ran that was good. It was when I learned that Swords to Plowshares was good/played it for the first time, etc. etc.

Etc.

Jank dot Dec

2008-03-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I grabbed 65 cards from a common/unused uncommons/crap pile, reduced it to 3 colors, and got lands. HERE'S WHAT WE ENDED UP WITH.

2 x Scathe Zombie
Riftsweeper
Phyrexian Rager
Locust Miser
Dewdrop Spy
Festering Goblin
Briarhorn
Elvish Warrior
4 x Game-Trail Changeling
Nevermaker
Orchard Warden
Slipstream Serpent
Festercreep
Tolarian Sentinel
Final-Sting Faerie

Reality Acid
Earthbrawn
Prismatic Lens
Phthisis
Revive the Fallen
Tolarian Winds
Melancholy
Faerie Trickery
Sage's Dousing
Repeal
Evasive Action
Frozen AEther
Deglamer
Krosan Grip
Harrow
Compulsive Research
Cradle to Grave
Scattering Stroke

Let's see how this goes...

Spoiler Season Kick-Off

2008-03-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

Huzzah!

Sweet. I'm sick and stuff. I dunno, I'm out of it, and I don't get to go play Magic... . . . . . .

Wow, you know, I'm going to complain about owning a foil Tarmogoyf. Sure, it's like a 100 dollar bill. It's sweet. I didn't even pay for it, my aunt gave me the pack. Sweet, right?

Wrong! No one wants it! It's like a bond that you can never spend, just claim that you have it. People see it, ooh-and-ahh over it, say they'll trade for it, and back out in the end.

Baww.

I'm gonna try to trade it in at a shop or SCG. At StarCity, it's 60. We'll see how much at Midnights. I'm debating getting some Shocks (Watery Graves and Breeding Pools), or just getting a bajillion good rares. Ooh, Pernicious Deeds. Spiritmonger. 2 Normal Goyfs? Force of Wills :D

... That Being Said,

2008-03-04T08:29:00.000-08:00

This is about budget players again. The last one was a rant, and this one is more constructive and in article form.

Alright, so I'm home sick from school, and just woke up. I don't know how the idea came to me, but I was contemplating eating ~~Samoans~~ Caramel Delights for breakfast when it did. I felt like writing a casual article. But, man, it's all been done before in some combination, and I don't exactly cater to a large crowd (i.e., "Competitive Casual" Multiplayer - sometimes). But I knew there were things I could say. And then, post-cookie-temptation, I knew what I'd write about. Building on a budget! And yet, that'd been done before. Folks on many websites show you awesome decks you can build without breaking the bank. What could I do that would be different? Inspiration struck again. I wouldn't showcase decks under some certain dollar mark. I wouldn't go on and list out awesome budget alternatives to great tournament worthy cards. No, I'd teach you how to actually build on a budget. I build things on budget constraints all the time, so I should know how, right? "No," my nonexistent readers cry, "that's a lie! Your decks are full of things like Wrath of Gods and Thoughseizes and icky Dark Confidants or Chrome Moxen!"

Well, yeah they are. But it's not like I went out and bought them over night. I do build on a budget, you can see. Look at my mana bases. All basics, with maybe some charge lands and Thawing Glaciers (Yes, I know, I have Battlefield Forges, too...). Look at my creatures. Ravenous Rats in legacy Fish? Ephemeron in UW Control. Scourge of Kher Ridges in R/G Big Mana. My entire merfolk deck. But I ramble, and I'm not here to collect pity points or prove anything.

What I am here to do is to speak to the unknowing players. The ones who work off of an allowance (like me) or have little left over from a pay check for Magic. There's something I need to say first: Get over yourself. If that didn't apply to you, ignore it. If it did, thanks for reading, let's get on to what's important. There are 3 very easy ways to circumvent budget problems that I'm going to highlight.

The first is probably the one that'll meet the most friction. It'll hurt some of you to read. Seriously. I'm warning you! ...

Stop buying booster packs and opening them on a whim. "But," my nonexistent readers cry again, "they're so cheap! If I pay 4 dollars for that 10th Edition booster and crack a Wrath of God, it's like I just payed 1/4 of the price!" Yeah, well, you could've also just opened The Hive or Rootwater Matriarch. And I'm sure you don't need another Anaba Bodyguard.

And I know the temptation is going to kill you, it's impossible to resist the urge! That's cool. You don't have to stop completely. I always buy a healthy amount of packs when new sets come out. Heck, do it with some friends and you'll all have the commons and uncommons you want, and can fight and fiercely trade over that new 20 dollar rare land. Just, don't make a habit of it. You'll end up with more jank rares than money rares soon enough, and you'll end up in the same position that you hate: discontent and broke.

Secondly, play limited. Lots and lots of limited. This has multiple advantages to it. First and foremost, it improves your game. This will make you a more successful player, even when faced with budget constraints. Next, you still get the joy of cracking boosters, which is always fun. I'm sure it's going to take a long time for that novelty to wear off (It'll take a much longer time to wear off if you're still saying "Score!" to just about anything). And lastly, you can win good rares. Whether you rare draft, or play a solid game and win packs in the end, you can frequently end up with good rares. Especially if you have one vital skill: the ability to make good trades and negotiate. Lets say you just got off a LLM draft, and won a Murmuring Bosk in your packs/first picked one. Now, you have no plans for a treefolk deck. However, you do have a spicy UB deck in the making. So trade that Bosk off for Underground Rivers!

Finally, and I know I've made this point before, but invest. Get tournament staples over time. It's definitely worth saving up for them in the end. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet, and you'll feel the pain in the wallet first, but it's worth it in the end. If I had to make a list of play sets that everyone should aim to own, it'd be something like this...

10. Pain Lands
9. Loxodon Warhammer
8. Pyroclasm
7. Brainstorm
6. Lightning Bolt
5. Sakura Tribe Elder
4. Duress
3. Wrath of God
2. Counterspell
1. Swords to Plowshares

Now, obviously that list is a little slanted towards control because I myself am a control player,
but I also believe a streamlined control deck is easier to build than blistering aggro decks. Aggro decks are unforgiving if you miss a color. A classic example was Rav/TSP standard Boros Deck Wins. You had to go from R to WW to 1WW to 2RR every game in order to hit your curve and beat the Wrath. With control decks, you can keep a 3 Island, 1 Plains, Akroma hand, because you have the time to draw those other white sources.

Okay, so I started writing this at 10:30 and it's 1:30... I'm fairly sure I lost where I was originally going and have many nonsequitors that I'm not going to go back and check. Damn you, Scrubs and Whitest Kids U' Know. And Cold Medicine.

Yeah, yeah, wrap up:

1. Singles, not packs.
2. Draft, draft, and draft some more. Then some sealed.
3. Invest in staples!

A Very Nice Record

2008-03-03T13:17:00.000-08:00

Alright, the UBR deck went through some slight changes to be finalized.

20 x Lands

3 x Aeon Chronicler

1 x Chandra Nalaar

2 x Urza's Rage
2 x Terminate
4 x Recoil
4 x Fire // Ice
3 x Duress
2 x Thoughseize
2 x Mind Twist
4 x Accumulated Knowledge
3 x Deep Analysis
3 x Damnation
1 x Demonic Tutor

1 x Sol Ring
3 x Prismatic Lens
2 x Coalition Relic

And it's pretty good. Out of ~8 games, it only lost twice. Once was to Merfolk, where I got Mana Screwed, and the next was from a nuts draw where I got Duress'd, losing a Fire // Ice, and got promptly stomped by 2 Dark Confidants with Jitte's. Change's I'd make after testing would include adding another Aeon Chronicler some how, probably taking out a Duress.

Accumulated Knowledge is so swingy. Cycling the first one off smooths a hand, the second one builds tempo, and all of them after that leave your opponent in the dust. After a really cool play where I swung with an Aeon Chronicler and, before damage stacked, triple Accumulated Knowledge'd (for 2, 3, and 4), I was inspired to think up Aeon Chronicler.dec. It could abuse Merchant Scroll easily, methinks. A skeleton:

4 x Aeon Chronicler
4 x Fathom Seer

4 x Accumulated Knowledge
4 x Gush
3 x Merchant Scroll
3 x Firestorm

Counters, Burn, Howling Mine, and Tidings? Sure.

Fathom Seer and Gush give Aeon Choniclers +4/+4 or +3/+3, respectively, and after swinging for a dozen, I can Firestorm for the win. Kinda inspired/similar by/to Ben Bleiweiss' Aeon in Flux.

Sorcery Speed Control

2008-02-24T18:23:00.001-08:00

Not something I normally do. Nor am I going to talk about it, I'm just gonna drop the list and talk later. It's reminiscent of U/B(/r/x/x) TSP Block control, to me.

Well, here we go.

2 x Thawing Glaciers
3 x Mountain
6 x Swamp
6 x Island
2 x Dreadship Reef
1 x Molten Slagheap

4 x Prismatic Lens
2 x Coalition Relic

3 x Aeon Chronicler

2 x Chandra Nalaar
1 x Liliana Vess

2 x Thoughseize
3 x Duress
2 x Mind Twist
3 x Recoil
3 x Deep Analysis
4 x Accumulated Knowledge
4 x Fire // Ice
2 x Urza's Rage
2 x Pyroclasm
3 x Damnation

A lot of those numbers just feeeel right. Plus, most of my utility cards have a single color cost, so I can smooth out my draws and delay 'til I can fix my colors if I need to. And, as always, Thawing Glaciers will probably win my games for me. No joke. That card is amazing. I suggest casual control players around the world pick up at least 2. It's brilliant.

Anyways, this deck is designed to capitalize on 2+ for 1's. If it's pinpointed, like Duress, then it's really good at what it does. And it's weird... no counterspells to keep my mana open for. I get to play Big Sorceries... it feels funny. And yet, I don't even have my usual Big Sorceries in here, like Molten Disaster or Tidings. The original copy had Rune Snags in it, but those got cut for more Recoil and Mind Twists. Plus, a land went. I think it's a good change in the end, though. All cards at least break even, including the bounce! Whee. So, assuming I make the correct play 90% of the time, I should always have a greater than or equal to card situation than my opponent, which is always good.

Haha, Oh Wow!

2008-02-19T13:21:00.000-08:00

So, Magic night this weekend was pretty cool. I got in some play the night before the first aid meet. Just played with some Merfolk and BGr Madness, then. But, Saturday night, we got, what, 7 people together? Everyone but Bijan. Also, I built two decks. The first one was rebulding an old idea that I had great success with, and only took it apart because it became too much of a target. Well, I also only had 1 Wrath of God then. And no Ghostly Prisons. You'll see what I mean.

21 x Plains

2 x Sundering Titan
4 x Sacred Mesa
1 x Debtors Knell

4 x Ghostly Prison
4 x Wrath of God
2 x Solar Tide
4 x Swords to Plowshares
2 x Condemn
1 x Seal of Cleansing
2 x Enlightened Tutor
4 x Oblivion Ring
3 x Loxodon Warhammer
3 x Bonesplitter
1 x Glorious Anthem
2 x Extraplanar Lens

Mhmm. Mono white control. Mono white Mesa! I love Sacred Mesa. It's just so versatile, it's hard to describe without cussin'. But it's nothing revolutionary for me. It's control, and it has mass removal, an it uses Swords to Plowshares and Ghostly Prison, and it kills with what Fidel has christened Sacred Gaysa. Nothing new.

But midrange? That's fairly revolutionary for me. I dream of it, but I never really built it 'til now. And let me tell you, that final product was, as always, nothing like how it started it out. This thing originally had white... 3 guesses as to what removal lured me into that.

Anyways, without further ado, something that I don't normally do. It has more creatures than removal... makes me itchy when I think about it.

3 x Tranquil Thicket
3 x Barren Moor
4 x Swamp
10 x Forest

3 x Scryb Ranger
4 x Eternal Witness
3 x Briarhorn
2 x Masked Admirers
2 x Juggernaut
4 x Shriekmaw
3 x Spectral Force
3 x Nacatl War-Pride
2 x Triskelion
1 x Tombstalker

2 x Terror
3 x Syphon Mind
3 x Cream of the Crop
2 x Footbottom Feast
3 x Loxodon Warhammer

Bam. Black Green midrange. For. The. Win. Cream of the Crop is awesome, and Feast rebuilds after Wrath. Everything else is efficient at what it does. Things I've found out I really like: leaving mana open on turn 4 with Briarhorn, then flashing it in and pumping itself. A neat little trick. Triskelion with a Warhammer also wards of about every attack on the ground. War-Pride is my Wrath of God for this deck, and every card that does beat provides CA. Good times.

On more important news, I got comments! And I just found this out, too. For silly reasons. I was taking paragraphs from my blog, then translating them from English to French to German to French to English in a crappy online translator (read: Altavista's Babelfish) and then laughing. Scrolling, when a number catches my eye. 1! 1 Comment! Freakin' sweet! And it's on multiple posts! That's freakin' awesome! Apparently someone followed my sig from the forums. Neat. :D

In short, THANK YOU. The comments make me actually pay attention to this. I now feel that I should have a daily effort payed! Sweet.

Time to post without proofreading or spell checking.

I'm not sayin',

2008-02-18T19:11:00.001-08:00

But I'm just sayin'.

I'm not sure if anything in the Magic community bothers me more than whiny budget players. People using the terms Cashseize, Moneyvault and Dollargoyf annoy me to no end. I just wish I could shoot them through my USB port. I myself am a budget player, and I'm content with how I play the game. Yes, I do have chase rares and big-money playsets. I have a playset of Wraths, 9 pain lands, 3 Damnations, 2 Thoughtseizes, et. al. But get this: none of those cards are vital to any deck. Sure, they help out. But assuming that you're not on the way to a PTQ (in which case, quit your whining, the best deck does need money. Get over it, hobbies cost money, especially if you want to earn money, etc.) all of those are replaceable.

Arg. And even if you have budget constrictions, there are easy ways around it. It's really simple, and all upside: Play Limited! If you care about winning, getting better at limited pumps your DCI. Then, with your winnings, you can trade off for your money rares. That's basically how I did it. I win big, then traded big. Yes, I order singles. There's no reason for me not to, as the singles I order are within my budget. Also, people on budgets should realize the power in investing. You can usually see money rares coming from a mile away, and should gun for them at prerelease or release events. Also, buy things that you know will have stable value/use. Like the Pain Lands, for instance. They're perfectly reasonable, and they make any deck for them better.

And people who complain about stuff like this are basically scrubs. There is no reasonable argument you can give for whining about being on a budget, anyways. Magic is a freakin' hobby.

Hm, it seemed more elegant when I thought it up. I had better points, anyways.

I should get people to read this D:

The Winds of Change (Morphing pt. 2)

2008-02-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

So where I left off, I was thinking of getting some damnations, and evolving it to be massively multiplayer friendly, sorta. I still had Fact or Fiction, where any information revealed to a player is enough to make you a target. And 'Tog was still finding it's way in there. Now, I'm going to use my artistic license and rewind the plot a bit. Brett and I were talking during one night, and eventually the whole group got involved. We were debating if we really needed to play by the B&R lists... which meant buying a set of FoF would not set me back once extended rotated. Sounded tasty, to me.

Anyways, to make this thing work for multiplayer, I needed two big changes. First of all, finishers and threat selection. Psychatog? He'll take out one or two characters, then leave me high and dry. Meloku will set me back versus a whole table. Tombstalker, if I delved him out, would make me a target. If I just hardcasted him, he'd be worse than the Akromas and Vampiric Dragons floated around. Secondly, my suite of removal. I could tempo out and handle early threats, but I had no way to last the long game with so many threats from so many different places. That being said, I still had gallons of mass removal, which is what woulda made this deck truly shine.

Well, the removal is solved easily. Throw in some Seal of Dooms, Propogandas, and Innocent Bloods. That'd tremendously boost the deck.

But the threat selection was something I'd need to definitely work on. Obviously there were multiplayer thugs like Kokusho and Spirit of the Night, but I had those not. Serra Sphinx leaves some to be desired... Inspiration struck just in time, though. I was reading invitational coverage again, more specifically, the Cube Draft (for other inspirations) and I saw exactly what I needed.

Palinchron! He left me open (the good kind) to protect myself. He could bounce himself. He swung for bajillions in the air! Everything that I would want in a finisher.

In he went. After that it was simply a matter of scrolling Gatherer and SCG spoilers to find dudes who bounced themselves. I settled on Ephemeron as nice back up. After all, I could discard Accumulated Knowledge or Rune Snag for a bonus, late game lands, and even tap out and fear naut but Sudden Death. Sweet.

The deck came back together.

4 x Palinchron
4 x Ephemeron

4 x FoF
3 x Damnation
3 x Evacuation
2 x Decree of Pain
4 x Rune Snag
4 x Counterspell
4 x Accumulated Knowledge
4 x Seal of Doom
4 x Propoganda
1 x Demonic Tu-

Wait, isn't that already too much? Especially for a control deck. And look at that mana! It's terrible. More cards with double B than single? That's living risky... especially when there's 9 - 10 black cards in the entire deck. That seemed wrong... And that Fact or Fiction still seemed so out of place! Plus, I didn't want to buy so much for the deck, despite the fact that I already want to buy Propogandas.

Then it dawned on me. I have Propoganda. In white. Take out the black! I have a 'set of WoG's, more than the 3 damnations, and there's pretty much no doubting that WoG effects are the single most powerful effects in multiplayer, probably second only to infinite combos. And Swords to Plowshares is so efficient! Oh, and I've wanted to solve things for W for so long, it's been a while since I played White based control. And boy, did thems FoF need replacing. I've always wanted to try out Spellbook/Rhystic Study/Feldon's Cane. It's got nice synergy with the Ephemerons. Maybe I could squeeze in Waterfront Bouncers to replace the Seals as another rattlesnake effect? Might as well take out the AK's, since the cane hoses them. Aww, hell, Akromas and Debtor's Knells want room, too. After much debate, and little attention payed to 1st period biology, I got to this finalized-but-untested list:

2 x Thawing Glaciers
4 x Calciform Pools
18 x Basics (4 Should be Mishra's Factories. Schade...)

4 x Palinchron
4 x Ephemeron

4 x Accumulated Knowledge
4 x Wrath of God
3 x Evacuation
4 x Swords to Plowshares
4 x Ghostly Prison
4 x Rhystic Study
2 x Reminisce
2 x Spell Book
1 x Feudkiller's Verdict

It can play bully when it wants to, and last until the late game, where the inevitability wins out. Yeah, inevitability still exists in multiplayer.

Urg, this took too long to type up. I was gonna play some Chrono Trigger. Whoops.

Morphing (Not the Mechanic), Pt. 1!

2008-02-11T18:46:00.000-08:00

What began as a UB Turbo FactOrFiction deck is now UW Multiplayer Control. Here's the morphing, with approximate deck lists at each stage!

It all began when I was reading some Vintage articles, and BBS was brought up. For those of you who don't know what it is, BBS stands for Blue Bull Shit. It was basically Counter the Important stuff, and Back to Basics kept your opponents duals tapped down until Morphling came in and kicked some ass. Well, the particular article was based on a tournament of hypothetical decks with one key feature: their strongest card and, effectively, the key card, was all unrestricted. There was Burning Wish Long (which went undefeated, IIRC), The Balance Deck (Sucked), Trix with 4 Necro, etc. Well, one deck was BBS with 4 Fact or Fiction. As the win con. Sorta.

The tutorability and the CA crushed decks. EOTFOFYL finally made since in my eyes when Tog wasn't involved. I mean, I knew it was good, but I never cared to whip it up.

In the mean time, another vintage article talks about the return of BBS as a way to dodge the ever present Magus of the Moon, among things. This, coupled with some videos and decks I've seen, mentioned how Meloku was Blue's new It! creature, replacing Morphling. Also, during this time, I reexamined the Accumulated Knowledge draw engine. I always edged it out of decks to something that I felt showed immediate results with no set up, like Thirst for Knowledge. I did that this time, with FoF. This also came around a time that I felt instant speed mass removal was the bees knees. Evacuation and Decree of Pain for the win!

So I set out and made a list. Something like:

3 x Meloku
3 x Psychatog
2 x Tombstalker

1 x Damnation
3 x Evacuation
2 x Decree of Pain
4 x Fact or Fiction
4 x Sudden Death
3 x Wipe Away
4 x Mind Stone
4 x Dimir Signet
4 x Dark Ritual

Yeah. It conflicted with itself, I don't need to hear that... Anyways, that was the frame work that I set out with. I liked the card advantage factor that FOF presented, and I dreamed about filling my hand with Decree of Pain and then Togging for the win. Whatever. The deck is stuck on the back burner. It could hold its own in multiplayer with the split second and mass removal. Not too bad.

The Morningtide release comes around, and this deck has seem various faces with different win con configurations. Nothing too wild. Some have Snap and Propoganda and are more multiplayer friendly, some sport Wishes and Fact or Fictions and Thoughseizes to nuke a single player. Anyways, I open/win 2 Countryside Crushers and a Mutavault. This catches Matt's interest... and his Damnations catch mine. Hmm. Big Black control? Oh wait, isn't there that BU deck you have... yeah. Big Blue(black). Is it time for Big Black(blue)?

Thoughts flew everywhere.

And so does the time. Clock me out.

Cube Updating and, uh, more

2008-02-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

First, things that I'm considering for the cube, and will most likely make it in:

Burrenton Bombardier
Swell of Courage

Mind Spring
Nevermaker
Disperse

Mind Shatter
Bitterblossom (Unfortunately, none usable in the group)

Titan's Revenge
Spitebellows

Fertillid
(Hunting Triad?)

At least of usable cards. Of course a Mutavault would be nice in there, but I'm definitely not putting mine (which won't be mine for long, anyways) in there.

Speaking of the Vault trade, I'm looking at doing these:

My:
Mutavault
Reveillark

Brett's:
Countryside Crusher
3 Thornbite Staff
Stuffs

Then, My:
3 Countryside Crusher

Matt's
2 Damnation
2 Shriekmaw
Stuffs

Yep.

Also, anyways, deck idea. This one's specifically multiplayer. It revolves around Taurean Mauler. Basically it's GR mid-range with some cool synergies.

4 x Taurean Mauler
4 x Magus of the Vineyard
4 x Flametongue Kavu
X x Scryb and Force?
Beats and Burn.
3 x Empty the Warrens!

I dunno. Just a core idea. Just a core idea... The UB big deck now has a new finisher set up. 3 Palinchron, 3 Tombstalker, 2 Meloku. I feel that's good. Palinchron is delicious in multiplayer. Leaves me open (the good kind, not vulnerable) and recurs (well, dodges basically all removal).

The Draft!

2008-02-05T09:34:00.001-08:00

Yeah, remember how I said I'd document at least a few drafts? Well, couldn't do that. We had to cram in 4 drafts in ~7 hours. Yeah, we were short on time. Overall, I went 15 - 3. 2 of the losses were in the last draft, the one time I tried to go Rogues.

The first draft, I was drafting W/r, with a 7th pick Titan's Revenge (!!) and 4 Weight of Conscious. Ended up dropping red and went Mono White. Undefeated, easily. Gross Kithkin beats.

Second draft, I actually did go W/r. With a Titan's Revenge in the deck... with 3 Weight of Conscious and 2 Spite Bellows. Again, Undefeated, easily. 5 Burrenton Bombardiers. Dear, God. Mutavault!

Third draft I made a deck I call Fertilid Control. 3 Colors, basically the rock. I had a billion on color bombs, including FIVE WEIGHT OF CONSCIOUS YOU'D THINK PEOPLE WOULD LEARN. And Reveilark, Bitterblossom... arg!

Fourth draft was lame Rogues. Blech.

My pulls, though, were exciting. Between winnings in drafts and a half of a box I split, I got some very nice money rares, and a few things I wanted to use.

Money!:
1 Mutavault
2 Countryside Crusher
1 Bitterblossom (foil)

Stuff I like!:
3 Cream of the Crop
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Reveilark
1 Grimmoire Thief
2 Sigil Tracer
3 Leaf-Crowned Elder
1 Reach of Branches

And assorted Trade fodder that other people have interest in.
Also, I'm sick. No fun typing here.

EOTFOFYL

2008-01-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

Big Blue. Such an awesome name. Unfortunately, as I built the deck, turns out black was needed. Lemme whip up that there list. And dude, I would KILL for Mana Drain. Also, the unrestriction of Fact or Fiction. Luckily, my group is testing playing with no banned lists. So, I need some Gushi.

3 x Meloku, the Clouded Mirror
3 x Psychatog
2 x Tombstalker

4 x Fact or Fiction
2 x Decree of Pain
1 x Damnation
2 x Evacuation
3 x Sudden Death
2 x Wipe Away
~14 more slots for CA and Removal. Gush, maybe? For the kill!

Le Lands, including 4 Charge lands and 2 Thawing Glaciers.

Right, right. Trust me, I'll get something. Tomorrow's the big day... here we go!

Everybody's Working for the Weekend!

2008-01-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

It's so true. At least, I am. And I'll be damned if I'll let something like school or this is a dead thought that hit a wall.

I made it to a second page! That's freakin' awesome.

Huh. I like the Wooden Marble, by the way.

Alright, alright, I need concrete topic. Uh, uh.

Okay, aight, got one.

I wanna build Doran.dec. Not the extended super mega-beast that's dominating the metagame at my last check. A deck built for dudes with big butts. I'm talking having a single tutorable Indomitable Ancients. For. The. Win. Also, multiplayer friendly. Hmm. What do I need...

4 x Doran
4 x Harbinger
1 x Indomitable Ancients (two?)
2 (3?) x Leafcrowned Elder
Some of those new Wardens, Thorntooth Witches, Regenerators, that new Champion guy.
More fun stuff.

4 x Nameless Inversion
4 x STP
4 x Prison
Demonic Tutor and Regrowth?
X x Footbottom Feasts.

And Murmuring Bosks! I shall get them this weekend, after I win 5 foil Mutavaults in the draft.

Dude, I can not follow a train of thought to save my life. Just you wait!

Drama!

2008-01-28T18:18:00.000-08:00

At the Magic boards! Crazy shit going down. I got an account on the Wooden Marble myself, but I'm not leaving the WotC site. I like it too much, and quite honestly, the stuff that's going down doesn't effect me too much. It's just that the people who's opinions I respect (some of them) are leaving, so I shall follow. I like getting all sides of my stories.

By the by, I couldn't update this weekend. Totaled my bike and went to the emergency room. Whoops!

That being said, still not much Magic done recently. I played some the night I got out, borrowing a deck. I won both games off of a Chandra... fun stuff. I need more of her, I have only one. Also, no Magic will be done for a while... 'til this weekend. I'm totally fully documenting at least 2 MOR-MOR-MOR drafts.

Damn, I'm excited.

By the way, they'll be 6-man drafts. Matt's working, Fidel sucks. Et. Al. At least it's a small set.

My Cube is the Cloverfield Monster

2008-01-23T18:18:00.001-08:00

Updated, Bagged, and Tagged.

Pretty much all I have to say. It's proxying a Golgari Signet. Unless Brett can hook me up. What the hell. Also, Morningtide draft next weekend. Freaking sweet. I won't be playing Magic this weekend, training for the MS 150. Soo, until next weekend. Game report time them. Yep.

Exploding

2008-01-20T14:56:00.001-08:00

Wow, so on a whim on Wednesday, I'm brainstorming deck ideas and came up with the idea of 11Wurm.dec. It was RGB madness, with 4 Arrogant Wurms, 4 Wreckless Wurms, and 3 Roar of the Wurms. It'd have a sweet removal suite, 4 Lightning Axes, 4 Dark Witherings, and 4 Fiery Temper. Then there'd be some nice outlets, like Urborg Syphon-Mage, Llanowar Empath, and everyone's favorite: Wild Mongrel. Top it off with some neat effects with Anger, Grave Scrabbler, and then some Threshold beaters, and things would be nice.

Well, the only problem is that, for some reason, my group can not pull together commons. In 3 boxes of Lorwyn we can crack the essentials for Elves, Merfolk, Faeries, Goblins, Treefolk, and Giants. But we can not get 4 Lightning Axes or Syphon Mages. Out of anyone. A little disheartening. But, I still played on with what I could get together.

And it was awesome.

This deck was fairly explosive, and I'd call it one of the first real aggro decks that I've seen successful in Multiplayer. Having several 4/4's and 3/3's with various benefits being sent out to the red zone each turn was awesome. Plus, there were two occasions where I got to knock 3 players out of the game by comboing off Forced Fruition and having crazy Mongrels. The deck is super explosive, and I think I'm going to get more essentials for it soon.

In the mean time, Morningtide prereleases went by. It seems Rogues are broken in limited, but you need to hit a crazy high critical mass so you can guarantee Prowl. I think Warriors would be plenty fun, just beating face with an efficient drop each turn.

We shall see in 2 weeks.

Bestiaire Drafting

2008-01-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

First, it's a terrible site. Secondly, it's an awesome site.

So I was playing around with it, and made 6 packs of 10th Ed. with 5 rares and 15 commons, with 15 drafters.

And I got this.


	Fear Mortal Combat	Stun	Angelic Chorus Angelic Wall Bandage Beacon of Immortality Benalish Knight Cho-Manno, Revolutionary Demystify Demystify Ghost Warden Ghost Warden Ghost Warden Heart of Light Heart of Light Holy Day Holy Day Holy Day Holy Day Holy Day Holy Day Honor Guard Honor Guard Kjeldoran Royal Guard Reviving Dose Reviving Dose Reviving Dose Samite Healer Skyhunter Prowler Skyhunter Prowler Steadfast Guard Story Circle True Believer True Believer Tundra Wolves Tundra Wolves Venerable Monk Venerable Monk Venerable Monk Venerable Monk Warrior's Honor Wild Griffin Windborn Muse Wrath of God Youthful Knight	Ambassador Laquatus Arcanis the Omnipotent Aven Windreader Cancel Cancel Cancel Cancel Cephalid Constable Clone Cloud Sprite Cloud Sprite Counsel of the Soratami Counsel of the Soratami Dreamborn Muse Dreamborn Muse Fugitive Wizard Lumengrid Warden Lumengrid Warden Lumengrid Warden Lumengrid Warden Lumengrid Warden March of the Machines Merfolk Looter Merfolk Looter Peek Peek Peek Peek Peek Remove Soul Robe of Mirrors Rootwater Commando Sage Owl Scalpelexis Sea Monster Sunken Hope Sunken Hope Sunken Hope Sunken Hope Sunken Hope Time Stretch Traumatize Twitch Twitch Twitch Twitch Twitch Twitch Unsummon Unsummon Unsummon Unsummon Unsummon	Naturalize Root Maze	Crucible of Worlds Crucible of Worlds Crucible of Worlds Doubling Cube Doubling Cube Howling Mine Howling Mine Howling Mine Howling Mine Jayemdae Tome Millstone Pithing Needle Pithing Needle	Adarkar Wastes Adarkar Wastes Brushland Terramorphic Expanse Terramorphic Expanse Terramorphic Expanse

Welllll that copypasta'd funny. Anyways, If you actually read through that, you'll see that I drafted UW turbofog. I lol'd.

Anyways, jus' saying that once again I have nothing to say today, even an hour later.

i think casual is a pretty cool guy

2008-01-16T17:11:00.001-08:00

eh is fun and doesnt afraid of anything.

Okay, so maybe that one was pretty lame. But seriously, I love casual. Why? Because of what it allows me to do. I'm all about the eternal formats. I hate restrictions, and almost nothing feels better than a 1st turn Brainstorm. But the problem with any eternal format is, inevitably, the cost. Fetches and Duals and Forces are quite expensive to get a hold of. And you pretty much need those to play (read: You pretty much need those to play any deck I want to play).

That's where casual comes in. Casual lets me play with all of the cards I'd want to, but it's perfectly cool with me having only so much at my disposal. Case in point, my (multiplayer) UGW thresh deck that I'm lookin' at.

21 x WHERE AN EXPENSIVE LAND BASE WOULD BE
And some Nantuko man-land things. And one of them Krosan Verges. And Terramorphic Expanses.

4 x Werebear
4 x Nimble Mongoose
3 x Mystic Enforcer

4 x Ghostly Prison
4 x Brainstorm
4 x Ponder
4 x Impulse
4 x Swords to Plowshares

And junk. By the way, totally off topic, but this deck'll never win. It ain't got crap going for it. No finishers, no huge threats, and not enough staying power.

Back to where I was. If I wanted to take this to Legacy, ForcesFetchesAndDuals would all be necessary. First of all, they'd speed up the deck and give it the proper defense it needed. Secondly, consistencylol. Casual is forgiving. If you trip up and are color screwed for a second or so, the game is probably not done just yet.

And, jesus, this deck sucks. Okay, let's scrap it. Also, I had something else I was going to say about Casual... awesome buddies, no pressure, etc... but screw it, I'm just looking at a deck idea now.

UR Midrange, once again, Multiplayer Friendly. This isn't a list, per se, but stuff that I think needs to be considered and, of course, will make life harder when I have to cut stuff.

Torchling
Kumano, Master Yamabushi
Meloku
FTK
Tauren Mauler
Serra Sphinx
Niv-Mizzet
The Blue and Red Martyrs

Snap
Lightning Bolt
Electrolyze
Fire//Ice
Compulsive Research
Deep Analysis
Izzet Signet
Mind Stone
Brainstorm
Ponder
Impulse
Sulfurous Blast
Pyroclasm

So, there's a problem here. Blast and 'Clasm can deal a number on me with Meloku, FTK, Mauler, and the Martyrs. Fire//Ice and Electrolyze need to be maxed out for their potential or not run at all. The Signet, Mind Stone, Brainstorm, Ponder, and Impulse all serve as the same thing: setting me up to do better things. Research and Analysis are all late game dig. And, oh, all of my beaters have ~5CMC. Bawww. Bah, I'll table this deck, too.

0 fer 2 right now. Grrrreat.

Oh, okay, more deck construction. Brett and I are considering doing some T2 FNM. He's got a very nice Fairy Deck, effectively the best build in the format. I'd lend him my Thoughseizes. However, what would I run? I dunno. I don't have many components for the best decks. If I could get some Shriekmaws, I'd have Commandless Mannequin. So, while looking at my collection, I had a fairly duh moment. I have a playset of Wrath of God's. Durr. While Damnation may be preferred, and people may like black better, I'm also only trying to win an FNM here. Further exploration into my Standard legal white shows I have a set of O-Rings, Condemns, and Sacred Mesa. Alright, seems good. I could probably pick up Martyr of Sands. A Snow engine would probably be a touch expensive, but I've always wanted one. So, my white could be fairly strong. But would it stand alone?

Because after those dozen-and-some cards, the power runs thin. There's an Akroma (and some decks just can't deal with her) and, uh, the white Ghostly-Prison-Muse. And some Austere Commands. If I stretch, I suppose I have, well... Mana Tithe. Temporal Isolation. Cloudgoat Ranger? Budget finisher for the masses, mirite?

No.

Okay, so, we've established that my white is good. But is it good enough to go monocolored? It better be, as my only pains are Battlefield Forges. The power in that combo is Brion Stoutarm, good burn, and then it dries up after a Chandra. Although, that wouldn't be too bad. I've always liked midrange Aggro Control like decks.

Other good T2 cards I'm looking at show up in blue. I have Rune Snags... And Mulldrifter? And a Venser. 4 Riftwing Cloudskates! Yeah, no. I ain't building me no Blink. But Pickels... Eh. My Black is lacking. Just, 100%. Theres 2 Seizes, Terrors, and NADA. I have no Goyfs. Green's out.

So I think my options are looking like this:
Mono W Mesa (with Loxodon Warhammers and Gauntlets of Power, too)
RW Aggro Control (probably a blast to play, obscene amounts of removal)
UW Control (Hey, there's Cancel, too!)
W/u/r (The most power cards, with Numot and Angel. But Riskyyyy)

I'm feeling the RW Aggro Control. I'd kill for some Lightning Helixes, but you gotta suck it up and go with it some times.

Alright, the shell:

3 x Brion Stoutarm
2 x Bogardan Hellkite
4 x Bottle Gnomes
1 x Akroma
(1 x RAkroma?)

7 x Incinerate/Lash Out
~11 x Pyroclasm/Sulfurous Blast/Wrath of God/Austere Command
4 x Condemn
4 x Oblivion Ring
~8 x Specialties (Disenchant, Mana Tithe, Sudden Shock)
~ 3 x Sacred Mesas
1 x Chandra

That's already about 48. Hmm, less point removal. And Oblivion Ring takes card of special situations. We'll see, we'll see.

I've written a lot of words but not said much. I'm too busy tearing people up on the forums =D

No, but srsly though. I'm good-point-making'd out for now. I'll come back when I have something real to say and not just thinking out loud.

Game Reports and Fish

2008-01-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

Alright, guys, I got some game reports for you. I'll just jump into it. I had 2 semi-okay nights of magic. One was with the brothers, Chris, Bijan, and a new guy, Kevin. Kevin basically got 6 packs of 9th Edition and 3 of Mirrodin. I helped him build his deck. It was like sealed deck, just much shakier. So, without further ado, game time!

Game 1: Me (Running the UGW Gifts deck I just recently built, also the only deck I brought that night) vs Bijan, running a RW Midrangeish deck.

The first few turns are spent keeping off an early rush of Boros Swiftblades and ilk with Snaps and Ghostly Prisons. I had a fairly nice hand, and on turn 7, I drew a Gifts Ungiven. My Current hand was Eternal Witness and Compulsion, so I was fairly sure I'd be happy with whatever I gifted up. I lay Compulsion and passed the turn. On his turn, he Incendiary Commands (?!) dealing 4 to me (...) and making each of us get a new hand (!!). Arg! My new hand is crap: Lands, STE, and Explosive Vegetation. Wow. End of his turn I cycle some stuff away with Compulsion... right into Eternal Witness. Nice. I play the regrowther, getting Gifts, and pass the turn. This turn, I meet no opposition, grab my Gifts package (Wtiness, Roar of the Wurm, Debtor's Knell, Decree of Justice). He gave me the Roar and the Decree. I discard the Roar and draw into a Witness, get the Knell, and shortly recur my whole graveyard, winning with a dozen tokens and Witness beats, fighting through another Incendiary Command.

That's pretty much exactly how I want the deck to run. Awesome that it works on its first test run.

Game 2 was now a multiplayer FFA. I was running Gifts, of course. Bijan got out his much stronger UW Control deck, Morty went BU control, Chris went with his bajillion-card Mono Blue deck that wins off of Forced Fruitions, Windfall, and stupidly large Skyscribings. Bijan won the die roll, so I was last. Schade...

The first action of the match was on turn 2, and it was a doozy. Morty dropped a Shapesharer, and it resolved. I put up some early defenses with Carven Caryatid and Sakura Tribe-Elder. No Ghostly Prison to be found, though, and it's always a star in Multiplayer. However, there're no worries, as there's nothing aggro going on. A turn 4 Kami of the Crescent Moon from Chris meets a Rune Snag, but it gets payed for. Then, a turn 5 Grave Pact by Morty puts everyone on the edge, and makes them careful with creatures. I just drop my 4th (lol) Sakura Tribe-Elder and ship the turn, planning to Wish for a possible Gifts or something. Maybe a Krosan Grip. However, something else comes up. Bijan Drops a Grand Arbiter (Augistine the 4th? Something) and everyone else passes priority to me. I could wish up a Counterspell, but that seems so... wasty. Instead, I go for a flashier play. I Cunning Wish up a Hunting Pack, and then play it for 3 4/4's. I'll just beat him down instead.

The turns go around with nothing scary, and I beat Bijan for 12. He then Solar Tides. Dang. Come everyone's EOT, I try to Gifts Ungiven, but it gets countered. Then I Witness back the Gifts, and just when everyone things I'm the big threat, now, Morty drops a No-Stick (Counterspell on an Isochron Scepter). I'm forced to Krosan Grip it, and I have to hard-cast a Roar of the Wurm. I swing it at Bijan and he freakin' blocks with the Arbiter! And, just when I think it couldn't get better, I resolve a Debtors Knell. With a Field of Witnesses and STE's (I had enough mana, I chose to just wait and Block-and-Sac), I was confident that I could pull ahead quickly... until Bijan drops Akroma. It would have come at me if it wasn't for 2 Prisons I had pulled up.

And then Morty drops Ascendant Evincar. This kills his own Shapesharer, and everyone has to Sac a creature and lose their x/1's. Basically: The field is now the Evincar. I knell up Akroma, and swing it at Morty. Then the game breaker came. Bijan Austere Commanded for all Bigguns and Enchantments. Wiped my freaking board, two turns in a row. EOT, I Gifts (resolves), and I get Roar and Ghostly Prison while an Eternal Witness and Academy Ruins go into the graveyard. Everyone else explodes over the next turns while I play catch-up. Chris Body Doubles Akroma, Bijan has a double Guile, and I get Glimpse the Unthinkable.

I witness up the Knell, it resolves... and I get Glimpsed again, and milled FTL. Bijan ended up winning that by stealing spells and beating face with 2 unblockables.

Game 3 was a Three-Way Two-Headed Giant... and this game was a marathon. Throughout the game, there were over a dozen Sundering Titan triggers. The teams were Me and Chris, with Gifts and Sliver/Dragons, Morty and Kevin with Clerics and WUr Stuff, and Bijan and Alec, with RW Midrange and MostlyU Artifacts.

We lead off with a Heart Sliver and STE, but our x/1's were quickly put in check by a Viridian Longbow by Kevin. Bijan and Alec basically have no early game, while we have a steady flow of Slivers (including a Sinew, most importantly) and defense, with Prisons and Caryatids. Morty and Kevin are only at 21 after repeated attacks because of a Lenoin Elder that has triggered off of all the artifacts being played.

Morty gets a Daunting Defender and Vile Deacon, and suddenly all of my attention was shifted to them, and not to the guy who had just pulled a Teferi and Broodstar off of some tutors.

Game Highlight! I go to Wish for a Gifts, and Bijan says, and I quote: "Don't counter it... I just remembered Akroma's not an Instant."

Yeah, wow. Over the next few turns, Alec resolves Teferi, Bijan clears all of Morty's bombs, and we take that opportunity to punch through with slivers for the kill on the KevinMorty team. Then, the first Sundering Titan. Pow, sock! On the very next turn, though, Bijan DOUBLE FREAKING HEATSHIMMERs the Sundering Titans. Chris, with Domain, loses all of his lands. I most of my basics. Bijan loses... a plains. We block with Caryatids, and a stalemate begins. Bijan Brightflame's some of our slivers, and the life totals are suddenly very far apart, 16 to 43. With a constant Debtor's Knell/Eternal Witness, I'm able to hold off with a single Snap until I drew into a second Snap, allowing us to break the stalemate and being able to recommit to Slivers than defense.

Here comes Brightflame number two, wiping the board of all green creatures. It is now 16 to 99. Then Alec Copy Artifact's Sundering Titan. And then again. And then Heatshimmer.

Once again, no lands. One gets trample from a Loxodon Warhammer, and they all charge in. Everyone, including Teferi! With the choiciest blocks, we drop to 10, and I promptly Knell up Teferi. Then, I return to the Snap/Witness routine, holding off a 15/15 Broodstar. Once I draw into a Triskelavus, we're able to start Knelling slivers. We nab a Gemhide, Telekinetic, Sinew, and Sidewinder over the next few turns. With flanking, Alec's indestructable weenie blockers eventually wear out, and we can tap them down long enough to swing for the win.

This game took ~2 1/2 hours. Yeah, we were done for the night.

The next night, the crew was different. It was just Me, Brett, and Chris. I built a cheesy Mind's Desire/Empty the Warrens deck. It goes off for 160 Goblins. Pyrohemia. Next game, though, I kill. That deck got old, fast. When Matt got here, I comboed off for 42 Gobbo's. Meh. Done with that deck.

The only big multiplayer game of the night was dull. Chris had consecutive Forced Fruitions, and after I'm forced to deal with him, my fliers are tapped out for Brett's fairies. Weeeak.

So, that night, I decided it was time for me to build one of my favorite Archetypes: UB Fish. It could've been cool. It actually has a 3-3 record. But, the problem is, it just stalls out, and sometimes I just can't force through the damage.

Here's the list:
10 Swamps
7 Islands
3 Chrome Mox
2 Lotus Petals

4 Dark Confidant
4 Looter il-Kor
3 Rakdos Guildmage
3 Ravenous Rats

4 Cabal Therapy
2 Thoughseize
1 Duress

3 Mana Leak
4 Spell Snare

3 Brainstorm
3 Impulse

3 Loxodon Warhammer

1 Profane Command

Specific card choices:
Ravenous Rats - Until there's a 2 cost Cantripper that's not Silvergill Adept, I need this guy. He effectively replaces himself.
Rakdos Guildmage - Removal, 2/2 for 2.
Looter - With a warhammer, he's a wincon. Loots, which is good.
Profane - It can kill, 2-for-1, kill, or kill. All are great choices.

I need efficient beaters. And Force of Will. Schade.

Hooray for the last card in Morningtide! The set looks pretty sweet.

Gifts Ungiven

2008-01-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

Is really freakin' awesome. The card is so versatile. It's a tutor for anywhere from 1 to 4 things, and it's so skewed towards the caster, not the splitter. There's the classic GiftsRock package: Eternal Witness, Cabal Therapy, Genesis. There's the Tron package: 1 of each piece of the Urzatron and Life from the Loam. Hell, I'm sure there's some janky package with all flashback cards. The card is just damn versatile.

So, of course, I had to order two more from SCG to compliment the one I got a long time ago from Midnight Comics. 'Course, this means no vintage anymore... but I think I can go without Sol Ring and Frantic something-or-other. Balance would be such a sweet singleton, though. Also, to my oversight, I ordered stuff for UG Madness. Bad UG Madness. We're talking about... well, bad UG Madness. But damn, I wish I got me a Genesis instead of Arrogant Wurms. And some Roar of the Wurms. And Mongrels. And Compulsions. Actually, I like the Roars and Compulsions. But Damn those Arrogant Wurms. When added up, they're the same price of that lean Green recurring machine.

Well, the reason I say that, is I now has me a Gifts deck. However, I don't know exactly what to call up as the package. Currently, when it's time to win the game, I go for this: Eternal Witness, Roar of the Wurm, Debtors Knell, and Decree of Justice. By the way, did I mention that this is a Big Mana deck? 8 Mana going into turn five isn't too uncommon. STE, Explosive Vegetation, etc. So all of those things I just tutored are reliable threats.

Personally, I'd probably give me the Roar and the Decree. They're both expensive, so I won't be able to play then on the same turn. And, Debtor's Knell and Witness is such a crazy CA engine that to give it to me would be, well, crazy.

But, do you really want 2 4/4 angels and 2 6/6 Wurms across 2/3 turns? Or a dozen EOT soldiers? I mean, that is a lot. Card Advantage is good... but swinging for the win is better. But I mean, come on, you're not going to give me the Witness. I think that's legally idiotic. And, if you dump the Wurm in the yard, that's a 6/6 that's +1 CA if you kill it, and comes in with counter back up.

Ouch.

I'm thinking of another package in there, but I don't know what to just yet... I feel like it's going to be Witness, Academy Ruins, Debtors Knell, and [INSERT BIG SCARY ARTIFACT CREATURE], like Sundering Titan. I think that gives maximum recursion possibilities and guarantees a win con, more or less. I dunno, though, mang, I just dunno.

If I had the money and stuff, I actually think I'd straight up buy, card for card, the current best GiftsRock archetype. I love Gifts Ungiven, and I love BG Rock-like decks. It'd be sweet. Plus, with Collective Restraint, I could play it in multiplayer. What's not to love?

So, Morningtide. At my last check, 18 cards left unspoiled.

I'm excited that this is the set we're doing boxes and not a Prerelease. I just want a lot of cards from this set.

Also, does anyone want a foil Goyf? It's too expensive, and no one wants to trade for it. Not enough vintage pimps in the area.

The Cast of the Show (and the Show itself)

2008-01-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

What is this blog? Why did I make it? Well, two things. First of all, I've had this idea floating around for a while in my head. Always thought it'd be something cool to do. And secondly, I'm bored as hell. And, wow, that's a swift introduction. And a short one. So, uh, what is this. Well, obviously, it's a blog. That has something to do with dining room tables...? Yep. That sounds about right so far. Who am I? Well, my names André, I have some hobbies, a girlfriend, school, etc., but most importantly, and why I'm here, is because I play Magic: The Gathering. Semifrequently, too. About as often as I can, really. Now, to some people, that means nearly 24/7. And those people are MODO snobs trying to go infinite and break the system (though not that I blame them. Infinite drafts and infinite packs? Cool). I don't frequent PTQs. I've never gone to Regionals or States.

No, none of those. I play at the Dining Room Table. Yes, I play casual Magic. I do have a DCI number, but I'm only in it for the PreReleases. I have a group of buddies, with up to 8 regulars, and we get together on weekends and holidays, and card sling. It's that simple. I'd like to think that we at least play some form of competative-casual. We have a Cube, and it's not without its broken cards. You'll face a choice between Balance and Skullclamp. Rather than crying about how our Serra Angel just got Rend Fleshed, we laugh at how inefficient that is compared to Swords to Plowshares, and why in the hell you're using something that costs 5 and doesn't win the game. We just don't, you know, don't do tournies. We do a lot of other things, though. We have giant free-for-alls. There's 2HG. We do head to head and duels. Hell, we have RPG Magic going as a current project, and we actually tried to do something as wild as incorporate Risk into the game (one deck to rule the world!)

We just play to have fun. And, well, I'm going to write about it. Anyone who might actually read this could get ideas, or grow angry at Fidel with us, or freak the hell out at how awesome Morningtide is like OMG!, or discover, uh... something.

Oh, yeah, speaking of that Fidel guy.

As I said, there's a coupla guys in my group. We spread across the whole spectrum, Timmy-Johnny-Spike/Vorthos-Melvin, from beginners to a higher level of playing. Each game is different, as everyone has at least 2 distinct decks (or, a dozen in some cases), wild ideas, and stupid ideas for politicking this game around.

So, who is there. There's Brett. He has a dozen decks. He's definitely JohnnyTimmy, and easily one of the strongest players in our group. And, he's probably who I lookout for in a draft. Being seated next. And then Matt. He's fairly Spikey, I'd say. He's at least flexible with what he can do, even though can make mistakes before the game starts (choosing a color before drafting, going after the last winner even though he's not a threat). But not everyone gets to see a 20something/20something Draining Whelk. Except Fidel, cos Fidel sucks, and will do anything to ruin your day. He's cool, easily. And one of the best players within the group. It's just, the time you're in monogreen, he Dark Rituals out a turn 2 Kokusho. Or Elves when your Wrathless. I give him crap, but you know, he's just asking for it by playing the way he does. You know, to win. And stuff. And take stupidlong turns.

There's Morty and Alec, brothers. They inherited cards from their dad from something like 4th edition. Anyways, they play with obscure stuff. And bad stuff. And good stuff. I dunno, it's a grab bag of skill and cards when you play against them. Morty is strong at limited, at least. Alec, well, 1st-picks Horde of Notions.

And Chris. Same as above, but without the old cards. Oh, and he's a lifeguard. And takes long turns with his 160 card deck that Skyscribes for 23 and drops a Forced Fruition. Bijan is entirely hit-and-miss. He has good decks. But, say, he'll Austere Command, killing all creatures, before swinging with his jillion/jillion avatar Token. Le Sigh.

And me. I have a dozen or so decks, too. Not to brag, but I'm the best player in limited, and I'm fairly sure that's undisputed. I overthink my decks, though, and they come out too well done. Like a steak left on for too long and spoiled what could have been good. Nawatimean? At least I'm threaty enough to be a target.

Then we have some not-so-regulars. Bobby and Billy are just learning how to play and stop by randomly. Scott has things like Force of Wills and other good cards of ye olde times, but doesn't use them... Just annoying stuff, like wizards.dec. There's Cedric. I played with him once. He suspended a turn 1 Heroes Remembered. That's all I remember.

And that's the show. We got a game night coming up Saturday, so I'll have stories from that. And we're drafting MOR MOR MOR when it comes out, at least thrice (so we can easily split 2 boxes). I'll share my super-secret draft tech that won't mean crap.

I like how I'm addressing a 'you' that doesn't exist. Yet!

Srsly, though, I plan on making other people hate Fidel. It will work!