Saturday, December 8, 2012

Grand Prix: Toronto Streaming Live

Wizards of the Coast's event coverage of GP Toronto (Modern format) will be live at http://www.twitch.tv/magicprotour December 8-9.

Enjoy!

Apologies to Rogue Deckbuilder

My apologies to Rogue Deckbuilder if you are reading this.  I did not mean to imply that your deck was trash... It was my version of the Burning Vengeance deck that was total trash.  Apologies on the confusion.  Haven't done much work on it lately.  I will work on it this weekend.

Why I bought Microsoft Windows 8

Yes... This is no typo.  My laptop made its way across the blue, memory dump beyond so I decided to take the opportunity to build a new desktop.  The plan was pretty simple... Grab some acceptable parts, throw together a rig that will give me some good upgrading options as demands on hardware increase, and install a copy of windows 7.  One little caveat, however... OEM licenses don't transfer between computers!!!!!!!!!!!  So I have to actually pay for an operating system.

Enter a unique license option for those who purchase an OEM copy of Windows 8.  If you choose the Personal Use License, you CAN transfer the license to other computers, so long as it is removed from the original computer.  It can also be transferred to the second owner of a machine with the license on it a long as you forfeit all copies of the windows 8 media that came in the package and that were made (along with the product key, proof of purchase, and perhaps sometheing else I can't remember). I'd read up on the license and on windows 8 before making any hasty decisions, however.  There is more to it than what I have said, but those are the basics.

This means if the rig just completely dies or a meteor falls on it, I can still make use of my $100 purchase.  The price point was the other factor for me.  A full fledged copy of Windows 7 would run me $179 on newegg.com.  Thats a tad too rich for my blood.

The nail in the coffin that almost made me begrudgingly place Windows 7 in my checkout cart was the lack of a start button in Windows 8's desktop environment.  Thankfully there is a wonderful, simple solution.  And it doesn't involve regedit, which no longer works as a solution since the beta anyway, or at least that's my understanding. The solution to this is Classic Shell.  It is s brilliant little open source project that re-adds the functionality of the start button.  It can be found at classicshell.sourceforge.net,  and it doubles as a way to help deal with the worthless metro environment (well... At least it is for me as of right now).

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Burning Vengeance control

I have to thank a guy on YouTube for the original idea: Rogue Deckbuilder.  His deck served as an excellent starting point for me.

Here's my list... At least for now with no testing:

(my version of this deck was trash.  After goldfishing a few hands, it became clear that the deck was a piece of garbage. I will toy around a bit to try and work out something better without just running the list he uses).




Let's start with the (seemingly) obvious 4-of's.  Burning Vengeance, Snapcaster Mage, and Pillar of Flame.  Why the last one?  The main reason is that BR aggro is the flavor of the month.  I'd be much happier using a harder hitting burn spell or some extra card draw, but dying to Gravecrawlers and Geralf's Messengers (and Falkenrath Aristocrats, oh my!) is very little fun.  Countering their Falkenrath Aristocrats can really help out your burn spells since BR aggro will no longer have a sac outlet to prevent their Gravecrawlers and Geralf's Messengers from biting the dust permanently.   Geralf's Messengers a little less of a concern because we have more reach than they do generally speaking.

I suspect decks that rely pretty heavily on the graveyard like this one aren't popular because of Tormod's Crypt being in standard... But there were a grand total of 2 in all of the sideboards of the top 16 decks at GP San Antonio.  At the moment, there is no reason whatsoever for this deck to fear graveyard hate since Tormod's Crypt is not a hard counter to the deck.  There is plenty of reach to not have to rely on Burning Vengeance triggers.

The popularity of aggro affects the build a lot, as already mentioned.  It would be a whole lot of fun to build toward a massive Epic Experiment endgame, but aggro makes those early burn spells and random Bears with Benefits extremely relevant.


Friday, November 30, 2012

I'm back!

Good news, everyone!  I have decided to return to the game.  I have a lot of time on my hands right now since I am recovering from a seizure and infection, and can't work or drive.  I'm going to stick to standard for most of my  gaming.  I'm afraid to make any forays into Modern due to the crazy combo decks in there.  I haven't looked into it recently so maybe things have changed, but I'm a tad lazy.  Going to be hard enough to catch up on what the meta in standard looks like as it is.  Since my computer is on the fritz, I am going to be typing on an iPad (boo hiss... Apple), and my ability to play test is going to be SEVERELY restricted until I get another computer.  I might try to wipe my computer hard drive and install Linux, but I'm not convinced the problem can be solved so simply.

I want to put together one deck in particular right now.  It revolves around Burning Vengeance.  It is probably the most fun deck I have seen in standard that can actually pull off wins against top tier decks, and I have a lot of the expensive cards I need for it on MTGO.  Burning Vengeance allows the player to use cards like Think Twice to not only obtain card advantage, but to kill creatures or damage the opponent.  Other flashback cards and cards recast off of Snapcaster Mage provide a massive card advantage when Burning Vengeance is on the battlefield.  Decks that aim to end the game really late or really early can both cause problems for it, however.  Hopefully, I can have a list up by the end of tomorrow and have some sort of sideboard plan to shore up those tough matchups.  I might play around with Search the City to push the card advantage over the edge and give me a better late game.  Delver of Secrets is also in consideration since the deck loves sorceries and instants.  Lots of fun possibilities.

Well... time to get to work.  I will have a list out soon.  See you then!

Monday, August 20, 2012

Soul Searching (continued)

I am growing in the Lord now but still do not feel comfortable returning to Magic.  A lot has happened in my life since my last post.  My life is crazy even without a job.  Finding time to play and make posts may prove to be impossible once I manage to land a job.  Also, I fear I will be in the same boat I left several months ago if I get back into the game.  Being consumed by Magic and gaming is something I need to avoid, particularly during this phase in my life.  I will keep people posted, however.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Soul Searching

Since I have not been diligent in spending time with God and getting into the bible, I have decided to take some time away from gaming and Magic to reset my priorities.  God means far more to me than any game could, but the way I have been spending my free time over the past several months seems to indicate otherwise.  This may or may not be my last blog post... but as for now, I am planning on returning.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Budget Pox Control: Initial Impressions

 Just for review, here is how the deck works.  The ultimate goal is to set up a lock by keeping the enchantment Contamination on the battlefield using token producers or recursive creatures.  You use hand disruption, land destruction, and removal to help set up and maintain the lock, and it works pretty well... at least against most decks.

The main problem I had with the initial decklist is its weakness to decks with black spells or decks that contain Aether Vial.  If they manage to land an Aether Vial, you will suffer for it, and hand disruption will only partially solve the problem.  Creature removal, though something the deck packs a significant amount of, probably will not be enough to stem the tide since they just keep coming.  Decks containing a good number of black spells can still function reasonably well, even under the lock.  Another strike against the build presented in the article: the lock is pretty useless against colorless spells, namely artifacts.

Nether Spirits are also proving to be harder to find than I could have imagined, and I am not happy about the price either.  I decided initially to replace them with Reassembling Skeleton and that worked reasonably well, despite consuming a significant portion of the mana I was producing every turn.  After experimenting with them, I decided I wanted a card that would not be as mana-intensive, so I snap-bought a playset of Nether Traitors, not thinking that the drawback would be all that severe.  With Nether Traitor, you need another recursive sacrifice outlet in order to make him useful.  That is a HUGE downside, increasing the number of cards you need to have online for the lock to be effective.

The price of Hymn to Tourach has also changed my build.  I opted for Distress for the time-being.  It doesn't offer card advantage, but it does allow me a peek at the opponent's hand, assuming it doesn't get countered.  It may change again if I can find a more viable alternative.

Overall, I cannot complain about the deck's performance, particularly since I paid almost nothing to build it.  Once the opponent figures out what Contamination does and how the lock works, they usually concede before the game goes any farther if the lock is effective against them.  I have tried and tried to make a decklist that can function well without the Contamination lock to play as a maindeck so I am not a dog in game 1 against Pox decks, Aether Vial, and decks relying on artifacts.  This has proven to be a very difficult task indeed.  Advice and criticism toward this end would be much appreciated.

I would put up a decklist, but there are a significant number of uncertainties at the moment, so stay tuned.  If you want something to start from for yourself, check out mtgsalvation.com.  Enjoy!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Budget Pox Control for Legacy

An article on MTG Salvation caught my eye the other day.  It is the first article in a 3-part series, containing a total of fifteen budget decks for Legacy that all cost $100 or less, some much less.  The Pox deck there really spoke to me since I have 3 Bitterblossoms laying around in my MTGO collection from when I threw away a bunch of money drafting Morningtide, and I've always thought about getting into Legacy, but the price barrier was a bit too much for me to get over.  Also helps that I like Pox and decks that grind out wins.  It should not be too hard to get most of the cards needed for the deck without spending any tix at all, given that I have some credit on several bots at the moment.  You can view the entire list of decks here.  Enjoy!  I'll get the decklist I end up using posted up and try to have a few games to report on as well.  Should be interesting, as the last time I looked into legacy, Stax and Tooth and Nail were two of the top decks in the format.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Cards to Watch: Jace's Phantasm

Spoiler season for Magic 2013 came very quickly on the heels of the Avacyn Restored release on MTGO and there is already a card that stands out.  Jace's Phantasm seems like it should be fake.  In power level terms, Wizards has put far worse cards in the rare slot before.  Jace's Phantasm is a 1/1 flier for a blue mana out of the gate.  When an opponent has 10 or more cards in his or her graveyard, it suddenly turns into a 5/5 flier.  Few cards I have ever seen got me as excited as I am over this card, assuming it is real.  The reason it gets me excited?

It makes an excellent tool for Delver players.  It is an enormous body for a minimal cost.  I can't imagine Delver players passing this up, unless the meta just doesn't favor it.  U/B control can be a pain since it can interact very well at all stages of the game with Delver's plan.  If it continues to be a contender, Delver will need to look to other tools.  Most lists have token generation, giving them an edge in the matchup as opposed to a build like mine, which relies primarily on Invisible Stalker, and has a lot of trouble after a resolved Liliana of the Veil or Curse of Death's Hold.

Access the complete Magic 2013 Spoiler at MTGSalvation.com.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Avacyn Restored Release on MTGO was Sunday?!

I completely missed the Avacyn Restored release apparently... I have been busy with Diablo III and trying to find a job.  I've had a lot more luck with Diablo III... Finished Hell difficulty the other night.  Inferno is... bonkers.  An entirely different ballgame.

Anyways, I've re-assessed things a bit, and I might be continuing with the Mono-Blue Delver project.  Delver is not a terrible deck right now, and I really like my chances against decks playing Wolfir Silverhearts.  The deck will still need some tuning.  4 Invisible Stalkers and 4 Runechanter's Pike seem correct, even in the face of cards like Curse of Death's Hold and Black Sun's Zenith.  I'd like more answers to it than just Grand Architect and the already stretched thin Mana Leak, but the metagame may dictate that little more is warranted.  I toyed with the idea of using Spectral Flight instead of Runechanter's Pike so my Invisible Stalkers get the benefit from Favorable Winds, but that seems incorrect... Too much has to happen for that interaction to be useful and it doesn't have the raw power available in Runechanter's Pike.  I'm still undecided on what I should add to finish out a long game.  Mill may be the way to go about it since it doesn't involve attacking at all.  Increasing Confusion is an interesting card for this purpose.  Most of the time, it will make an equipped Runechanter's Pike threaten lethal immediately, but it can polish off opponents almost on its own given enough time.  To couple with it, a card that made me giggle at how bad it seemed when I saw it in the Innistrad spoiler: Dream Twist.

I agree that mill is not the most effective possible way to win a game of Magic.  However, further enabling my primary route to victory while allowing for an alternate route in case the game goes late is something I want this deck to be capable of.  For this type of list, I will be moving back up to 23 lands and probably going for a slightly more controlling build.  That means Dissipate will probably make it back in.  Milling myself also makes my Snapcaster Mages all that much better.  Consider this slightly improbable scenario:  I finished my sixth turn and I was fortunate enough to have hit every land drop thus far (yeah.. probably not a good idea to keep 5-land hands, but with Runechanter's Pike and Invisible Stalker?... tough call, at least in my opinion).  Unfortunately, my opponent is attempting to resolve a Curse of Death's Hold and I have no way of dealing with it at the moment and he knows it (Gitaxian Probe).  I do, however, have Dream Twist in hand along with a Snapcaster Mage.  I cast Dream Twist, manage to find a Mana Leak, cast it off of Snapcaster, and my equipped Invisible Stalker lives.

Oh, and if you decide to use something similar to the deck I've described, I'd like to know what kind of results you had if you don't mind.

Deck Review: Birthing Pod

Was going through my list of articles and realized this one never got posted.  It's outdated and short, but its points are still pretty valid.

Podding has not produced as many sound results as anticipated.  The deck, despite its sound strategy of pouring a steady stream of threats onto the battlefield, is difficult to pilot perfectly. 

In addition, the deck fails to attack the opponent on multiple levels.  Two good examples of attacking the opponent on multiple levels can be found in two of the top tier decks: Wolf Run can win through Titan and friends attacks as well as Inkmoth Nexus, and Red Deck Wins has Shrine of Burning Rage.  While Shrine of Burning Rage isn't exactly a different level, it allows the red deck to play a different game than the opponent is.  For every red spell cast and every turn that passes, the shrine can do an additional point of damage, forcing the opponent to play as though he had much less life than  he actually does.

Consistency issues are the final nails in the coffin.  The deck can't count on having a Pod every game, and when it doesn't, it plays out as an inferior ramp deck. 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A U/W Control Homebrew for the New Standard

The format is moving away from tempo-based decks, at least as far as I can tell.  I will continue to tune the Delver list, as it may end up being necessary at the start of the Avacyn Restored release on MTGO.  Control variants and midrange decks are the dominant forces in the format.  My next deck attempt is going to be a U/W homebrew.  I want a no-frills deck that can win through card advantage.  I will be loosely patterning the deck off of Dave Shield's U/B Control deck that he received second place with in Grand Prix: Baltimore this year.  You can view his decklist, other competitors' decklists, and enjoy the event coverage here.  The deck's choice of game-enders is mill (through Nephalia Drownyard) and Consecrated Sphinx beats.  The deck effectively runs 6 board sweepers, none of which can be recast through Snapcaster.  Three Forbidden Alchemy, four Think Twice, and a single Blue Sun's Zenith represent the card draw suite (excluding Consecrated Sphinx of course). 

I want to lean a little harder on Snapcaster than Dave's deck did.  His deck has the advantage of being able to wipe out a horde of X/1 tokens for 2 mana via Black Sun's Zenith.  The only downside to Black Sun's Zenith is that it cannot get rid of Undying creatures effectively.  The -1/-1 tokens reset it so that it comes back every time.

Well, enough of the comparison game.  I need to have a working list.  Starting with the obvious 4-of's:

Day of Judgment
Snapcaster Mage
Think Twice
Mana Leak

Dave's deck features a strong spot removal suite.  Oblivion Ring should be fine here, along with a couple Midnight Haunting.  Now, on to the finishers.  The blue and white Miracle cards may have a place in my removal suite, but that will be to contemplate later. This may end up being an inferior U/W miracle deck, but time will tell.

Runechanter's Pike will be pretty large for this deck.  I think it will serve me well as a finisher on a spirit token... but the deck needs some resilience.  For backup in the finisher department, I have a lot of options.  The budget option would be Chancellor of the Annex or Sunblast Angel.  I really like the idea of Sun Titan, however.  It allows me to accelerate if I need to get ahead on mana, or simply return important permanents such as Oblivion Ring, Runechanter's Pike, or Ghost Quarter.  Its power to converted mana cost ratio is better than the other finishers' as well.

For the card drawing suite, I am going greedy by playing 3 Divination as opposed to the Forbidden Alchemy in Dave's list since I'm not sure how I would hard-cast the flashback on it.  Ok... I think that's a list.

4 Snapcaster Mage
Chancellor of the Annex

1 Blue Sun's Zenith
Day of Judgment
Dissipate
Divination
Mana Leak
Midnight Haunting
Think Twice

Oblivion Ring

Ratchet Bomb
Runechanter's Pike

Ghost Quarter
Glacial Fortress
10 Island
12 Plains

This is where I'm starting anyway.  Oooo... I didn't mention the Ratchet Bomb.  It's an out to Entreat the Angels and other decks with the "randomly win with creature tokens" game plan.  Not sure what things will look like post-board in the mirror.  Hopefully, that won't be a problem.  Let me know what you think.  Sideboard plans?

Was working up a follow-up article to this and realized the original never got posted.  Oh well.  It's here now.  Enjoy.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Nixed Sixth Edition... 6.1th Edition anyone?

Sixth edition got nixed before it made it to a Standard queue.  My balance of creatures and spells is off.  Also, my abysmal matchup against Wolf Run and similar decks leads me to reconsider some things.  A budget Spirit Delver list I found here revealed some major flaws in my deck.  An inability to deal with creatures effectively, as well as an inability to push through damage outside of a Runechanter's Pike does not allow this deck to succeed.  The other deck features Fiend Hunters and Oblivion Rings as solutions to problematic permanents.  The deck also features 20 instants and sorceries to help flip Delver, while my sixth edition mono-blue delver list only has 17.  Drogskol Captains protect the other Spirits in the deck and also pump them.  They are also pumped by Honor of the Pure.  I feel the two decks have very different paths to victory, and the path to victory my version uses is fairly narrow and less resilient than the Spirit Delver list.  Token generation provides a very rapid recovery after a board sweep, whereas my deck leans on countermagic to answer a board sweeper.  With that said, I now must decide if I want to further protect the threats I present, or move to a more resilient plan.  Given the evidence presented in that forum, a more resilient plan seems to be the correct answer.  I have really liked Invisible Stalker, but in thinking things through, I can't remember very many occasions where it was actually better than any other evasive creature.  I'd love to turn off removal spells altogether with hexproof and deal with sweepers using countermagic, but I can sacrifice a few counterspells for ways of dealing with difficult creatures after they have hit the table, and I really like that possibility.  Niblis of the Breath gets me pretty excited.  However, the creature's toughness makes me depressed.  With a Grand Architect in play, it's a little less scary.  Yes, I'm moving back to that plan again.  This time, I think I am wise to the mistakes I made, so.. hopefully this won't end in another failed list.  There's a blue uncommon that pumps fliers.  I think it fits the bill nicely here.  A lack of token generators is a problem here, however, and is where the list stalls out a bit.  I think we can cheat by with two routes to victory here, however.  Dropping down on the countermagic suite and revising the creature list a bit should help.  Snapcaster Mage doesn't get into the red zone very frequently, so four seems like the wrong number.  I really need evasive, aggressive creatures.  Dungeon Geists really isn't what I want either in spite of how good it is.  4 for a creature is a bit much.  Early pressure and cards that stall an opponent's threats are things I need more.  I've revamped my spells to add to my ability to stall out creatures.  Though I'm still worried about allowing Titans to return to play over and over, I think my spell selection will help significantly in giving me that added bit of reach I need toward the end of a game.  I'm afraid to post a list because I fear the deck will be revised again before it makes its way into a standard queue, particularly since you don't see Niblis of the Breath at the top tables.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Mono-blue Delver: Sixth Edition

I have been unhappy with the build I have been experimenting with.  Dropping down to 20 lands hurts as it really cuts down on my options.  An interesting game I had with a build I'm very dissatisfied with almost makes pursuing the concept of a 20-land delver list worth the effort:


Increasing the potential for craziness and dumb luck is always nice, but I am unsure where to take the deck.  I want a list that I don't have to worry too much about hitting land drops in, as that has been quite an issue in the several games I have with the build featured in the video above (could simply be variance).  The mana cost of the spells is another factor.  Forbidden Alchemy is one of my favorite cards in the earlier builds of this deck, but I fear not being able to cast it when needed if only using 20 lands.  Moving to 21 or 22 lands might be correct.  Mana cost wise, it is less efficient than Thought Scour... but having selection over what you draw and pitch is worth it more often than not.  There are enough Delver decks in the format at the moment to prey on, so it may be correct to just hope for the best against Frites and other decks that 'go big' in a hurry.  Nonetheless, I'd like to have a puncher's chance against Frites and Wolf Run Ramp.  That is why I am upping the Dissipate count to 3.  Erring towards being more reactive may be incorrect, but even in the most aggressive builds I have played with, Frites has a pretty good shot of casting Unburial Rites on Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobyte before I can kill them.  Elesh Norn is nigh impossible to come back from.  I've survived Gideon Jura, Day of Judgment and other difficult-to-deal with shenanigans, but Elesh Norn takes the cake.  A few Surgical Extraction  or a couple Phantasmal Image would put Frites on its back heels, but $10 each is more than I am willing to pay.

An article on Wizards' website used Grand Architect in their budget Delver deck, but Grand Architect has underperformed for me.  Granted, the deck on the site had more artifacts than my list does.  I like the card, but I would prefer something else in that slot for my list.  2 Dungeon Geists may be where it's at, along with a fourth Forbidden Alchemy.  Dungeon Geists has performed very well for me against the decks that go big in a hurry.  He also helps to nullify the effects of Elesh Norn until I can bounce and counter him.

I decided to get a few Butcher's Cleavers for the sideboard in case mono-red decides to be a pain.

Here's the list I'm thinking about putting through a Standard queue on MTGO:

4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dungeon Geists
4 Invisible Stalker
4 Snapcaster Mage

3 Dissipate
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
2 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag

Runechanter's Pike

Buried Ruin
19 Island

Sideboard:

Disperse
Dissipate
Negate
3 Butcher's Cleaver
Nihil Spellbomb
Ratchet Bomb


I'll try and remember to record everything so you have an accurate idea about how this deck ends up performing.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Avacyn Restored--Cards I'm Excited About

I must say one of my favorites in the entire set so far is Vessel of Endless Rest.  Frites has been giving me fits.  I virtually can't beat it with Delver.  There isn't even a point in posting the videos... they were a complete massacre.  Vessel of Endless Rest is a very attractive solution to the menacing deck.  Thwarting all their hard work with a single card that accelerates me as well is pretty sweet.  Sadly, there is little Delver can do with extra mana laying around.  I am therefore tempted to move away from a hard-nosed, aggressive build.  I will not let go of it without a fight, though.  Dropping my land count to 20 and taking a second look at my spell suite will probably be my last attempt at a viable mono-blue Delver list until Magic rotates online.  If that fails, I will look to move to a more controlling, late-game deck that relies on Delvers for early pressure in the matchups where it proves useful.

I promised myself I wouldn't rabbit trail in this article and look what I did...  Moving on.  Cavern of Souls makes me want to cry.  Humans, humans, humans... and zombies.  I don't see myself playing decks that would merit that land, so if I pull any, they will be sold once those decks realize how good the card is against control.  Great for solving color issues in those tribal decks as well.  However, if Humans decide to get smart and start playing Islands, I may have to acquire a few.

All of the nonbasic lands in this set are pretty spicy.  Decks meeting the conditions they require would probably be interested in these.

Conjurer's Closet is interesting, though its mana cost is very restrictive.  Blinking a creature each turn can be sick given all the enters the battlefield triggers on the creatures in this set.  Great for limited.  Not convinced it will see play outside of that at 5 mana.

Moonsilver Spear is a card I can get behind in limited.  Swinging with a random dork into a clogged board just got interesting.  Sure the thing dies, but he gets replaced with a 4/4 Angel you can re-equip the sword with.  Outside limited, 4 mana is probably more than a lot of decks can afford to pay.  I think the Swords will be the go-to equipment until Scars of Mirrodin rotates.

The big ol' mythic dual-color cycle of angels.... They certainly make me feel like I am playing the wrong deck... Frites, meet your new reanimation targets.  Thank goodness they don't nerf Delver as hard, but they all hit like trucks so I feel that is an inadequate consolation.  If you say, "they all die to removal," you are correct.  Sadly, they do not die to all removal and that means they will be royal pains.  Oh, and don't forget the grandmother of them all, Avacyn herself... an 8/8 flying, vigilant angel for 8 that makes all of her controller's permanents indestructible.  Good luck with that... unless you play Islands, Plains, or Swamps.  In that case, you are fine... no need to worry.  Oblivion Ring, Vapor Snag, Smallpox, and Helvault (oddly, it IS mana-efficient to use it on Avacyn... Her flavor text matches this even... interesting) to the rescue!  Wait.. Helvault is colorless.  But need I go on?  Granted you are still dealing with an 8/8 flier... getting hit by that thing probably isn't an option, so don't expect reinforcements to arrive in time.  Chump blocking with Spirit tokens seems fine.

I think I've made my point.  Avacyn will most likely not see much play.  She might be a good sideboard card for Frites against certain matchups, but she is no all-star, and she is hard to hard-cast, relegating her to the sidelines (as far as I can tell... perhaps a ramp deck will make effective use of her).

Terminus is also beautiful.  A Wrath of God for Frites, Zombies, and other nasty graveyard-exploiters.  This and Vessel of Endless Rest may be enough for Frites to consider adding a few shuffle effects to keep all their goodies off the bottom of their library.

I suspect everyone and their brother will be putting together an Angels deck, so prepare...  Also, prepare to profit from this set.  I suspect the angels will be big-time sellers in the secondary market, possibly as big as Vampires was if a competitive version becomes available.  I might pull the trigger on my first booster box ever.  With only 244 cards in the whole set, a big score could put me in the black before I finish opening all the packs.

Treacherous Pit-Dweller is an interesting gamble.  The flavor is awesome: "This guy over here managed to kill me, so he must be stronger than my other master; I'll join his side."  It seems like a good card.  A 4/3 for 2.  Will be interesting to see if this guy gets a shot in competitive.  I have a feeling the risk will be well worth it.  Lots of Ebay sales have him at $0.99 for 4.  May end up being random junk, but only time will tell.  Personally, I'm keeping my evil eye on this one.

Silverblade Paladin.  Another interesting card.  Yes, the double strike is fragile as well as the creature that confers it, but unchecked, this guy can bruise many, many ribs.  Also one of those sleepers.  There are enough blink effects between white and blue to make me believe soulbound will be a legitimate mechanic in competitive.

Entreat the Angels, as expected, has not escaped the hype.  Ebay presale prices are already starting to get up there.  There was this one card waaay back in Scourge called Decree of Justice.  It saw some significant time in the limelight as a way to end games.  Control mirrors were fought over resolving this spell.  Perhaps those times have returned?  Only time will tell.

Devastation Tide gets me extremely excited.  Finally, a foolproof way to deal with all those stupid tokens!!!!!!  I'd love it if this card got some love, but I don't have my hopes up.  The hard-casting cost is rather reasonable, so who knows...  And the ebay prices are higher than many of the other cards.

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage seems really good.  He protects himself and has a significant impact as soon as he enters the battlefield.  People have already caught on.  Pre-sale prices on ebay are over $60 for 4.

Cards with an X in their cost are always good for second looks.  Divine Deflection is no exception.  XW to prevent the next X damage taken by you and permanents you control and deal it to target creature or player.  Using it in MTGO is going to be a pain, but it may be worth it.  This is a very interesting card with a multitude of uses.  I cannot wait to see how the price on this card changes.  It seems it would be nearly impossible to lose against some decks once you have this in hand and enough mana to redirect any lethal assaults.  Having this in your deck will drastically change how people play.  The opponent will be forced to plink you to death slowly once he is wise to the trick.  The highest price I see for the pre-sales that are not Buy It Now (which are overpriced) is $4.57 for 4.  That may be where it stays.

Restoration Angel has not been spared from the limelight on the pre-sales... over $5 for 4.  To be expected, as it is probably one of the best given its ability to trade 1-for-0 with targeted removal spells.

Infinite Reflection feels as though there should be a way to break it.  The mana cost is high, but so is Hive Mind.  If it finds a home in some sort of combo deck, expect the price to bump up a bit.  Its price at the moment is minimal.  Should be able to pick up copies during the pre-sales on eBay  for $0.99 for 4 or perhaps a bit more without too much trouble.

Deadeye Navigator is an interesting card.  It is difficult to deal with save for mass removal.  It does not have any kind of evation, but combining it with a common soulbond creature (Wingcrafter) will solve that issue.  I like it, but doubt it will see much serious play.  Should be no trouble getting some of them for dirt cheap on eBay.  

You can view the entire spoiler at www.mtgsalvation.com.  Just click on the Avacyn Restored spoiler tab.

That's about all I have for now.  Good luck and have fun in the pre-release this weekend.  So, what cards will you be keeping your eye on?

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Mono-Blue Delver: Fifth Edition

I decided to step up to the plate and add the other two Snapcasters.  Having them as an access point to more counterspells, bounce spells, or filtering spells seems pretty nice.  In addition, they leave room for complete blowouts if I catch the opponent napping since I can drop him at the end of his turn, flashback Vapor Snag to bounce the blocker the opponent left behind, play and equip Runechanter's Pike on my turn, and swing for the win.  I really like the deck against the mirror.  I have only lost 2 games out of about 8 to the mirror and both of those losses were due in part to misplays, so if there is any matchup I would be willing to sacrifice a few games to, it would have to be that one.  Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite is a huge beating and I have tried pretty much everything to improve my chances against him, including Phantasmal Dragons.  Most Delver decks run Phantasmal Image, but I am not ready to spend close to $10 each on a card that will not be around too much longer.  My most recent attempt at a solution is Mind Control.  Stealing the creature is better by far, anyway.  It forces them to throw another one up to deal with him, which will be harder than getting the first one up since their mana dorks are dead draws once you steal him.  This is a solution I could not recommend to other Delver decks, as their filter package does not dig as deep as mine, and they do not run as many lands.  Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to deploy this solution despite the fact that I have one maindeck.  I am hesitant about going to 2 maindeck since it is almost worthless against Delver and I really have no maindeck means of protecting it other than counterspells, but.... my Delver matchup is really good as it stands, and I have an uphill battle against ramp decks that pack a lot of fatties so that may be my only legitimate choice.  Here's what I'm planning on running now:

3 Invisible Stalker
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Dungeon Geists
4 Runechanter's Pike

4 Ponder
2 Dissipate
3 Forbidden Alchemy
3 Mana Leak
Thought Scour
Vapor Snag
Mind Control

Buried Ruin
21 Island

The numbers seem all wrong to me on paper, but that might actually be a good sign given how wrong I usually am about what is actually good.

Sideboard:

1 Bonehoard
4 Disperse
2 Dissipate
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Invisible Stalker
1 Mana Leak
1 Mind Control

Seems horrible, but I guess we will find out...  Comments and suggestions are welcome.  As far as the logic is concerned, I have found Dungeon Geists to be less useful than many of the other cards in the deck against Delver, so I dropped one out in favor of another Mind Control.  That way, the slot has a minimal impact on my Delver matchup.  I am down to 12 creatures maindeck.  I'm not entirely sure what to expect.  Hopefully, dropping out a few creatures will have a minimal impact on the early pressure the deck is known for.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Mono-Blue Delver vs. U/W Delver

Not happy how I performed in this match... I made a couple of really stupid misplays.

I was not impressed by Nim Deathmantle or Darkslick Drake either.  They were dead draws.  It's back to the drawing board on that part of the sideboard.  Disperse has not had an opportunity to truly shine, but I think they are fine for the time-being.  The extra Dissipates were fine also.  Nihil Spellbomb never had a chance in the limelight.  I saw no need to board them in against the mirror.  There are some cards I am contemplating for replacement of Nim Deathmantle and Darkslick Drake: Trigon of Rage, Manor Gargoyle (immune to Ancient Grudge and other "destroy" effects... at least while it's on the defensive), Pierce Strider (since it has an immediate impact and a rear end that's just big enough), and the other 2 Dungeon Geists.

Anyway, enjoy the match!  Let me know what you think.  My nerves got to me a little.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Mono-Blue Delver: Fourth Edition

After a little thought, I realized quickly that although Negate  might be a good card in several matchups, it will not work to throw them in along with all the other countermagic in the deck.  Assuming you are not swapping them out for 3 of the Mana Leaks, you are looking at a troublesome time.  From six counterspells to a full nine, assuming no more were added.  Aggressive decks are fueled not by counterspells.  This must be rethought in light of an actual plan against the decks.  Now, they might still be correct, but I truly was contemplating just throwing them in with the Mana Leaks.  Instead, adding 2 Dissipates to the sideboard sounds better.  So.. for the G/R/x ramp decks, my sideboard strategy will look something like this:

+2 Dissipate, -3 Thought Scour, +2 Nim Deathmantle, +2 Darkslick Drake, -1 Runechanter's Pike, -2 Delver of Secrets

Yes.. a Delver deck that boards out its cornerstone card.  While Delver is the meat to these potatoes, square meals that do not include meat are actually pretty darn good.  Keep in mind that this plan was constructed in about 5 minutes, with only 3 games as a reference point.

For Solar Flare lists, I will be doing something similar.  Only here, I will not board out my Delvers:

+2 Dissipate, -3 Thought Scour, +2 Nim Deathmantle, -1 Runechanter's Pike



I really shouldn't even be posting sideboarding strategies because they will vary greatly by the time I put pen to paper and finalize a build.

Anyway, here is a completed decklist and sideboard (no links to the cards because I really want to get to testing):

4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dungeon Geists
4 Invisible Stalker
2 Snapcaster Mage

2 Dissipate
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
3 Thought Scour
4 Vapor Snag

4 Runechanter's Pike

2 Buried Ruin
21 Island

Sideboard:

2 Dissipate
2 Darkslick  Drake
2 Negate
3 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Nim Deathmantle
4 Disperse

Bounce spells that can get rid of Curse of Death's Hold and other nonsense will make life difficult.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Mono-Blue Delver: Revised

Testing went well.  Granted, I spent much of my time in the casual room.  RGW Ramp can be an issue.  Gideon Jura is a major roadblock, as is Day of Judgment.  When combined with some absurd finishing power, the deck is hard to deal with if you do not get the early jump (of course, it would also help if you had a sideboard for games 2 and 3).  Snapcasters may find their way into the deck before the week is up, at least enough to replace the two Phantasmal Bears.  I actually like the matchup against Zombies.  I never saw a Gravecrawler, so it may have just been a casual budget list.  Humans is a real deck as it turns out.  They can wipe the floor with Delver too.  Being able to trade 1-for-1 with Lingering Souls via Dissipate helps, but it's not their only token producer, and it's not their only threat.  Gideon, in my opinion, is one of Delver's biggest bullies.  I don't like bullies.  That's why it's time for sideboard tech, and for me to step up the testing.  No more casual room stuff.  Time to play matches in the Tournament prep. room.

One thing really caught me by surprise in testing: Delver is actually a control deck in some matchups.  Sometimes you stall out your opponent and then drop a finisher, which just so happens to cost a lot less mana than most decks' 'finishers.'

Starting out with 3 Negate is the right way to go.  Gideon is almost as good as multiple Time Walks against Delver.  Also, Day of Judgment is pretty good in the current metagame.  I think it will see more and more play.  Negate works against removal, Curse of Death's Hold, Swords and other equipment, Green Sun's Zenith... need I go on?

Flashfreeze may be overkill against Wolf Run Ramp.  I think the deck can live without it, particularly with a couple of Snapcasters in the maindeck.

I need a solution to Nihil Spellbomb and similar graveyard-desecrating cards.  Simply answering it with counters seems fine, but what about when they cast it with counterspell backup?  I don't want that to be game over if the game goes long.  I need a way to finish out the game if the Pikes aren't of much value.  Many Delver lists run a couple of Swords maindeck.  I'm cheap, so I really don't like that option.  I am contemplating a card I had in my original deck as a 1-of: Nim Deathmantle.  Now hold your pessimism for a week or so until I prove to myself that the card is completely worthless.  I think it could also be useful against decks featuring Curse of Death's Hold.  It would allow me to still play out my X/1 creatures.  I'd have to pay a lot more for them, but it's better than them being completely dead draws. 

U/W Delver decks have access to a card that makes effective use of creatures in their graveyard: Moorland Haunt.  Since this is not an option for a mono-blue deck, I may need to change things a bit.  Getting value out of dead creatures is something a lot of the decks like to do.

Nihil Spellbomb... they are probably worth a few slots.  Zombies, other Delver decks, Sun Titan decks, shutting down the random Burning Vengeance decks one might encounter... not being able to cantrip is not a huge drawback.

A few extra finishers would be good.  Something with a bigger rear end than everything else in the deck.  The problem is deciding on creatures to fill that role.  The fact that I am playing an aggressive deck limits the mana cost for this role.  I am tempted to add in 2 Dungeon Geists and call it a day, but I want something a tad meatier.  Sadly, the card that continues to hold my gaze is Darkslick Drake.  The creature has a hefty rear end, replaces itself when it dies, and has a reasonable mana cost.  It and Nim Deathmantle are buddies as well, so how could I refuse?  No need to tell me it's a terrible card and this strategy will not work.  I'm thinking that right now, and that's part of why I want to try it as my initial impressions of some things tend to be wrong.  I want to leave you with the Grand Prix: Baltimore finals.  Two very skilled players go at it in an excellent match that goes to 3 games.  U/W Delver vs. U/B Control.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Mono-Blue Delver: Unlimited

Ok... the previous deck list will not work... I don't have enough spells to power up my Pikes and I have too many low-curve 1 power creatures.  As far as spells are concerned, my only real options are Gitaxian Probe, Thought Scour, and Think Twice.  I have considered and reconsidered Twisted Image, but I don't think the card is maindeck material.  Forbidden Alchemy seems like it might be the ticket as well.  The only problem there is the mana cost.  Casting it at the end of an opponent's turn might be reasonable, though.

I am willing to give Thought Scour another shot since it seems pretty common in Delver lists.  The card makes me lean toward Think Twice more and more even though neither card performed up to my expectations in the first iteration of this deck.

I am not all that happy with my options on the creature side of things.  I may be forced to either go with an illusion build or suck it up and pay for the high-dollar cards.  A playset of Snapcaster Mages will probably run me around $30 on MTGO.  That seems reasonable since it is going to be a blue staple in a lot of formats for quite a while.  Phantasmal Images are a little too expensive for me to consider as they run over $10 a piece on MTGO.

Another option to consider is to move to a more midrage-style deck.  Unfortunately, that kills the power of the namesake card.  I think I will wait on building in that manner.

Well, here is my new list for the time being:

Delver of Secrets
Dungeon Geists
Invisible Stalker
Phantasmal Bear

Dissipate
Forbidden Alchemy
Mana Leak
2 Marrow Shards
4 Ponder
Thought Scour
Vapor Snag

Runechanter's Pike

Buried Ruin
21 Island

The Marrow Shards are there to deal with all the decks that feature Lingering Souls and other aggressive decks with a ton of X/1 creatures.  They seem pretty common right now... perhaps gearing up for the release of the final Innistrad set.

As for a build including Snapcasters?


Delver of Secrets
Dungeon Geists
Invisible Stalker
Snapcaster Mage

Dissipate
Forbidden Alchemy
Mana Leak
4 Ponder
Thought Scour
Vapor Snag

Runechanter's Pike

Buried Ruin
21 Island

I believe this list actually has a pretty reasonable shot.  The Snapcasters seem like they will push the deck over the top.  This list lacking Marrow Shards is not a big deal.  Having access to Mana Leak 5-8 via Snapcaster more than compensates.
 

Friday, April 6, 2012

Mono-Blue Delver: Beta

I planned on Stoic Rebuttal over Cancel, per the suggestion, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of DissipateLingering Souls is pretty common online it seems.  Not to mention Snapcaster and other annoying shenanigans involving decaying corpses.  Having a 1-shot answer to that would be nice, but we will see how things pan out with this list.  Ok, so for the record, here's the build as it stands now:

Creatures:

4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dungeon Geists
4 Invisible Stalker
4 Phantasmal Bear
4 Vault Skirge

Spells:

4 Mana Leak
2 Mutagenic Growth
4 Ponder
2 Stoic Rebuttal
4 Vapor Snag

Artifacts:

3 Runechanter's Pike

Lands:

Buried Ruin
21 Island

Did you catch my derp in the last post? Put Vapor Snare instead of Vapor Snag... it actually took me a bit to figure out why I had 5 CMC spells in my deck.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Revisions after a night of playtesting

Gut Shot did not make it into the initial build due to the card's cost on MTGO (3 tix each).  Unsummon is not the card you want replacing it, but was what I ended up using.  I got in about five games with the initial build.  The deck is clunky.  It trips on mana quite frequently.  Some cards were surprisingly good, and others simply sucked.

Let's start with Unsummon.  It sucks... especially in this iteration.  It does not protect your delvers because if they're flipped, you must work to flip them again after you recast them.  Every time I saw the card, I wished it could bounce things other than creatures.  Might consider getting a different bounce spell in there, but I am thinking about Mutagenic Growth to protect the Delvers.

I was hoping the Armored Skaabs would hold the ground for me, but every time I cast them, they ended up eating a removal spell.  Additionally, they do not hit hard enough.  Granted, it would help if I didn't play into removal half the time...  They will be replaced with Phantasmal Bear for the added aggression.

Pretty much anything is better than Thought Scour.  9 times out of 10, if those were any other card in the deck, the game would have gone better.  To replace them, Vapor Snag, a card in the original build.

Vault Skirge was an absolute all-star.  The card wins games single-handedly, and it's immune to a lot of the 'big boy' removal running around (Doom Blade and Go for the Throat).

As should have been expected (don't know why I included it in the initial build... too lazy to think things through I suppose), Think Twice was utter rubbish.  Horrible.  No other way to put it.  Stoic Rebuttal will overtake one of its slots, while the other two will be Vault Skirge.

As for the Stormbound Geists, they were never drawn, so I don't feel safe calling them bad.  However, a commenter suggested Phantasmal Dragon.  I'm willing to try it, but I always seem strained for mana, so I will go for more Phantasmal Bears for the time being.

Cancel, of course, will be replaced by Stoic Rebuttal.

Now for the final tally...

-1 Cancel
-3 Thought Scour
-2 Armored Skaab
-2 Unsummon
-1 Nim Deathmantle
-2 Stormbound Geist
-3 Think Twice

+2 Stoic Rebuttal
+2 Vault Skirge
+4 Vapor Snag
+4 Phantasmal Bear
+2 Mutagenic Growth

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Mono-Blue Delver: Initial build

Save perhaps for Fish, blue is infamous for drawing out games until they can land some kind of finisher.  Delver of Secrets is changing this perception.  Once they flip into the 3/2 flier form, they can bring the beats, especially when sworded up.  Delver decks in the past few Grand Prix have featured 2 colors.  I am on a mission to find out if it is possible to create a mono-blue delver deck.  I have a feeling this task is destined for failure, but I figured it would be worth a shot nonetheless.  Here's the initial list I've decided on:

Creatures

2 Armored Skaab
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Dungeon Geists
4 Invisible Stalker
2 Stormbound Geists
2 Vault Skirge

Spells

1 Cancel (yeah... srsly)
2 Gut Shot
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
3 Think Twice
3 Thought Scour

Artifacts

1 Nim Deathmantle
Runechanter's Pike

Lands

Buried Ruin
21 Island

That's it!  Now, all that's left is to build it and see what it can do.  Thoughts and comments are appreciated.  Also, if you notice any broken links, let me know.  Won't be any trouble to fix.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A Complete Lack of Activity Over the Past 6 Months

My life has changed dramatically since my last post.  My grandmother passed last October,  I finished school, and have been in and out of two jobs since then.  My family moved to a different home.  Now that mourning is complete for my grandmother for the most part, and that I have a good bit of free time now in between jobs, I can press on and get more active on here (hopefully).