UR Control: Why NOT to build it like UW...

In all honesty, UR Control seems fair, but some of the cards clash pretty hard.  I've been running Trading Posts in place of the Young Pyromancers I don't have and am too cheap to purchase right now.  The deck is durdly, even for durdly decks, and really wants to be on the offensive... or at least it seems that way.  Ral Zarek is pretty unimpressive without some kind of backup, or creatures to clear the way for, or to untap after they attack.  Elixir of Immortality is in primarily because U/W control runs it, but hitting it with Steam Augury is REALLY miserable.  Sure, you can get four cards off your Steam Augury when that happens some of the time, but you would rather have the Elixir in those situations.  You're also not going to be drawing 10 cards every turn like U/W gets to do.  Not gonna happen. Period.  Don't get me wrong... Steam Augury is an all-star of a card, but it can under-perform when you are digging for one card in particular and your opponent knows it (cough, cough,  Aetherling,  cough...).

If you get to Aetherling mana, the game will be over in quick order usually.  Overloading Cyclonic Rift is sometimes your only way to stabilize, which makes a pretty good case for adding Mizzium Mortars.  The only way I can conceive of to compensate properly is to make the deck more aggressive.  (earlier posts have a link to the original control list if desired).  The deck really wants to be on the more aggressive side.

Here's what I'm thinking:

8 UR sources
2 Islands
13 Mountains

total: 23 lands

2 Hammer of Purphoros
3 Izzet Charm
1 Ordeal of Thassa
4 Steam Augury
1 Bident of Thassa
4 Lightning Strike
2 Counterflux
1 Negate
1 Voyage's End

total: 19 spells

4 Firedrinker Satyr
2 Frostburn Weird
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Gore-House Chainwalker
4 Splatter Thug (sort of trades w/ Reckoner, solid blocker in the matchups where it's relevant.  Probably should be Reconer, but I'm cheap and not running Fanatic of Mogis, which is probably incorrect...)

total: 18 creatures

sideboard:

3 Ral Zarek (goes in against UW Control, red aggro, mono-B devotion.. I'm sure there are others...)
2 Negate
2 Counterflux
3 Divination
1-2 Island (or UR source once Born of the Gods comes out?)
1 Frostburn Weird
1-2 Prognostic Sphinx
1 Ordeal of Thassa

The post-board controlling version seems decent, but will be a bit top-heavy on its curve, even after adding 1-2 lands.  That might be reason enough to cut another Ral Zarek from the sideboard or make Prognostic Sphinx a 1-of in the board.  The Sphinx is a solid blocker against most of BW midrage's threats, Mono-G, Mono-R, and Mono-U devotion decks, and lets you rifle through your deck or set up for some stacked Steam Augury's.

Prognostic Sphinx won't be in against UW because of their wraths, which will undoubtedly get left in.

The mise Ordeal is to provide a mana sink, add extra damage, and make for a ruthlessly explosive start in some games.  I can't see running more than two Ordeals, and it might be right to just run none of them, but give me a break... I came up with this from scratch with no playtesting to support it.  I think Ordeal of Thassa barely edges out Ordeal of Purphoros because of its ability to compensate for the card disadvantage when you manage to cash it in.  Riding a turn 1 Cackler to victory seems pretty satisfying, and it seems more likely to happen when you're drawing 2 extra cards when you attack on turn 3 instead of dealing 3 damage to a player/creature.  I don't think it would be the case in a less controlling deck, but here, I think it is.  Madcap Skills would get the nod over Ordeal if the curve were dropped further and the deck became still more aggressive.

Counterflux is a great card to have against control.  Sphinx's Rev, a late Detention Sphere, an Azorius Charm to stay alive...  They can't fight over anything they are casting!  The drawn-out counter-wars will revolve around the spells you are trying to resolve.  Since many of your spells are low casting-cost creatures, you should have a bit of an advantage in the mana department.  Unfortunately, the U/W wrath isn't counterable.  That doesn't mean there are no ways around it.  Hammer of Purphoros provides a sustainable stream of attackers and Voyage's End lets you save a creature from certain doom.  It's probably better to save that to protect Hammer against Detention Sphere, however.

Esper has a bit of an edge through Duress and Thoughtseize.  Getting your hand torn apart is a real possibility.  If given the opportunity, trade Izzet Charms for Thoughtsiezes and Duresses.  It won't be useful outside of that unless they have Pack Rat in the main.

That's all I've got for now.  Merry Christmas!

MTG and the Modern Era: Keeping up with the Joneses

Staying up to date on professional Magic: the Gathering can be a full-time job in and of itself.  Knowing the top 8 decklists from last week seems rarely relevant.  With so many GP's and Pro Tours to keep up with and so many new decks entering a seemingly well-established metagame, it seems there is a new flavor of the month every week.  There are half a dozen MTG websites to split my time across, and there would probably be more if I spent the time to find them.  This is neither the time nor place to delve into specifics, however.

I bring this up only because I recently started using an RSS reader to help me keep up with all the goings-on in the Magic realm, and it has made a tremendous difference.  I only have to go to one site to get the information I seek, and don't have to dig through entire web pages for the one or two articles I want to read.  The one I chose was based on the reviews on Google Play, and it is the InoReader.  You can go to http://www.inoreader.com to get started with it.  It's really easy to use, and  has a layout and functionality that feels similar to an e-mail client.  Tagging particular feeds allows you to sort everything MTG from everything else if you use the RSS reader for other things.

Izzet Control continued

As I was saying the other day, Young Pyromancer represents a reasonable clock if you have a few instants and sorceries to back him up.  With 3 instants and sorceries, he represents enough damage to kill an opponent in 7 turns, assuming each of those spells are cast once per turn the turn after Young Pyromancer resolves (also assumes all spells were cast on your own turn; an unlikely scenario in hindsight... safe to assume the clock would be at least a turn faster since the Elemental tokens will be able to attack the turn they come out).

Pretty darn slow, but it's nothing to complain about coming from a 2-drop.  Frostburn Weird is a faster clock, but he will require a large mana investment, allowing the opponent to run out whatever he wants under your countermagic.

Firedrinker Satyrs might not be the best plan to increase the clock.  Without pumping him, he speeds up the clock by about 2 turns assuming he comes out a turn before Young Pyromancer does.  Not terrible by any stretch, but I'm not sure it's worth the sideboard slot and I'm not sure what decks the beatdown plan will be good against.

Anyways, I'm off.  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Izzet control

Izzet is a strange pairing of colors... reckless aggression and rage meets calm and patience.  It seems like a color pairing that will always produce some form of aggro-control similar to Delver... Resolve a threat and protect it with countermagic.  Well, I wanted something a tad more controlling, with the ability to board into a more aggressive build after game 1, and early experiments have been promising.  Aetherling is the best finisher a control deck could ever ask for.  Even Elspeth, Sun's Champion can't do it justice (and Elspeth is an awesome card.. don't get me wrong).

(here's my list for reference)

Don't laugh, but the best card in the deck is probably Lightning Strike.  It deals with a majority of the big loyalty producers in mono-black and mono-blue devotion, and it trades 1-for-1 with Reckoner (granted, you take damage, but still... a sweet trade).

The slots that were originally Trading Posts are Young Pyromancers.  The Trading Posts didn't perform as well as I had hoped in protecting my life total.  Maybe it should be a 1-of in the sideboard.  Sometimes, discarding a card to gain 4 life was good or paying 1 life and 1 mana for a chump blocker, but not very often.

Izzet Charm is really underwhelming in a deck that doesn't run a whole lot of card draw... its third ability is almost completely irrelevant.  It seems I'm usually pretty elated to trade this away for a mana dork or other durdly creature.  The other modes have never been relevant.  Ever.  Granted my testing consisted of three rounds of far less than competitive REL Magic.

Cyclonic Rift overloaded is an out to anything hexproof, gets rid of planeswalkers about to ultimate, and sometimes is just a non-overloaded tempo play to keep up the pressure when you go on the beatdown.  Sometimes, you live in magical Christmas Land and stabilize on the back of double overloaded Cyclonic Rifts.  Sometimes, but not often.  It is the deck's "wrath" effect, but it costs just a tad more.  Mizzium Mortars and Anger of the Gods may have a place in the deck as well, but I haven't fully explored all my options yet.

The most annoying threat to this deck comes out of the sideboard: Mistcutter Hydra.  If it gets more than 3 +1/+1 counters put on it, it is nigh-impossible for the deck to deal with inside of Izzet colors.  Ratchet Bomb does a reasonable job, and can do a lot of work against other cards as well.  That might be the answer, particularly considering how well Ral Zarek interacts with Ratchet bomb.

Steam Augury has been pretty sweet... None of the cards you pull off of it are bad.  Even if it's all land, it's still pretty sweet because you didn't have to sit there and draw all five of those lands.

The aggressive vane in it seems pretty obvious to me, but maybe I should cover it anyway... but it'll have to wait.  It's 2:40 in the morning here.. time for bed.

Happy Thanksgiving by the way!

GP Louisville brews

This, or some variant thereof, is what I REALLY want to play.... Grindy, durdling, slow, control...  Something with Ral Zarek... I liked him from the moment they spoiled him... His ultimate is unpredictable.  Awesome at some points, and completely worthless at others.  His other two abilities are really solid... -2: deal 3 damage to target creature or player.. You can do that twice without ever using his +1... Pretty good value even at that, particularly against aggressive strategies.  I really like his +1 too...  If you want him to, he sort of costs 3 mana instead of 4.  The ability to untap a land every turn provides so much more flexibility and control over your manabase.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him in some 3-color decks in the coming months.  The "tap" component of his +1 ability lends itself very well to aggressive strategies, so a deck that's a little less top-heavy might end up being the way to use him.  In the control mirrors, however, the tap ability can be used to force the opponent to be more careful about how he spends his mana, so that he leaves mana up for counterspells.
Red Deck Wins is super-efficient, beastly, and performing really well.  It's also the largest part of the metagame.  I don't like netdecking.  I die a little inside while looking at decks online.  They are good lists... Just something  about playing other people's decks unsettles me.  Maybe I'll get over it eventually.

Might just say fooy on it and play what I want to since I'm going mostly for fun, and for the opportunity to connect with non-Christians.

BR aggro is another consideration.  There are a billion ways to build it, and I haven't been able to thumb my nose at any of them.

White Weenie hasn't been performing well (at least not that I've seen... and I haven't seen much), but there's a really, really good 75 in there somewhere.

The deck I definitely don't want to be on this GP is GW aggro.  EVERYONE running control is running Ratchet Bombs it seems...  Fleecemane Lion was one of my favorite cards in Theros, but with good sweepers in the format, I feel like the 2-for-1 potential of that card drops significantly.  Sure, it's possible, but the rest of your board is still gone.  Think I'd prefer playing a different deck regardless.

Theros Card Review: Satyr Hedonist

This, along with Burning-Tree Emissary can offer G/R decks a lightning-quick start.  Expect this to see play.  The mana cost is right on, his power/cost ratio is solid, and his ability to accelerate to up to 5 mana at turn 3 is INSANE (even if it is single-use).  This is exactly the kind of two-drop you want to be playing in aggressive decks.  I'm really looking  forward to seeing what this card will do when it comes out.

The International 3 is over

Congrats to the TI3 champs, Alliance!  After soaring through the winner's bracket with ease, they faced 2011 International champions and 2012 runner up, Natus Verince.  After stomping Na'Vi in game 1 when Na'Vi's super-aggressive lineup couldn't find any kills, they dropped two games in a row.  However, they battled back and won two in a row.  The final game of the series appeared to be strongly in Na'Vi's hands, but overextensions cost Na'Vi dearly.  However, the game was decided on the back of Alliance's superior split push lineup, and excellent play from Alliance's Puck (who was completely starved for farm in the early part of the game), who caught Na'Vi trying to teleport back to base, and cancelled several of them.  Great game, fun tournament!

GP Louisville.. wut?

This is old news, but there will be a Grand Prix in Louisville this year.  I have a surgery scheduled in September, but my recovery time should be a good opportunity (no pun intended) to prepare.  Haven't played much Magic over the past several months, so it will take some time to get what little game I had back.  I love the Standard format right now...  it's very healthy.  Though Junk Reanimator is "the" deck right now, "other" decks are a larger portion of the meta than any other single deck.  Standard is really unpredictable at the moment.

Unfortunately, Theros will be out when GP Louisville comes around.  I could be waaay off, but I smell aggro deck central.  A young format with a pretty limited card pool.  I'm really tempted by Jund, R/B, or B/G Aggro.  Brutally efficient, powerful creatures, cheap removal, and good disruption.  One major caveat: it's freakin' expensive (aside for R/B aggro... and I'd feel more comfortable creating a more controlling list in those colors).  In addition, Ol' Thraggy (Thragtusk) will rotate out when Theros comes in.  Not to mention Snapcaster Mage and another really good 2-mana utility creature.  Sadly, some of the most important components of my favorite decks (Unexpected Results, Epic Experiment, and Immortal Servitude are the big three... and I doubt I'd take any of them to a GP, even with all the M13/RTR cards still in the meta) will rotate out.  Theros will likely leave a big impact on the meta, so this is mostly verbal flatulence.

I really like Quicken.  Rakados's Return at instant speed? yar.  Other unfair things? yar.  Draw a card? yar.  Overhyping a crap rare? yar.  I'll shut up now.

But first.  GP Louisville should be fun.  A GP in my area!  Looking forward to it!

Bob the Hand Builder

With Dark Confidant being one of the best 2-drop non-'goyf plays in any format, it is small wonder that he is priced around the $60 mark.  Certainly not on par with Necropotence in terms of power level, but still very good.  Suicide black loves this creature...  Some of the old legacy lists containing this creature are pretty much Necro Lite, running Hymn to Tourach, Hypnotic Specter, Nantuko Shade, Tombstalker, Umezawa's Jitte, Thoughtseize, Tarmogoyf, Sinkhole, Dark Ritual, and Wasteland.  An old Legacy's Allure article has a composite list to take a look at.

Recently in Modern and other formats, Dark Confidant has found a home in a nasty little brew called loam aggro (or aggro loam.. whatever it is...).  The deck uses card advantage extremely efficiently.  Here's a Legacy list for comparison.  Aside from the sweet lands you get to play in Legacy, things stay pretty much the same when it's ported over to Modern.  Between Life from the Loam, Dark Confidant, and Countryside Crusher, you have an endless supply of cards to pitch to Seismic Assault and Liliana's discard ability.   The deck is fairly resilient to graveyard hate and other methods of dealing with the deck's routes to victory.  Probably one of my favorite additions to the modern deck are the sweet Retrace spells the deck runs.  Raven's Crime and Flame Jab provide a great outlet for excess lands without the need to have a Seismic Assault online.  In this deck, Life from the Loam is pretty much a 2-mana sorcery speed Ancestral Recall because of the many options the deck has for using the lands you pull from it.

Bronson Magnan took the deck to a first place finish at Grand Prix Lincoln earlier this year.  It is a potent deck that shuts down aggro strategies, has lots of disruption for control and combo decks, and has a very fast clock.  I strongly suggest taking it for a spin if you get the chance.

If this present state of affairs is any indication, Dark Confidant is, and will continue to be a format-defining staple.

Modern Masters and thoughts on the Modern format

Modern was the realm of broken combos, and there are still plenty of them to go around.  However, 'fair' decks have found their stride, and can compete with Splinter Twin, Scapeshift, and others.  Bronson's Loam Aggro deck is just one of those.  As far as power level is concerned, the deck is extremely potent.  Drawing cards, making land drops, repeatable discard, repeatable burn, and creatures that grow bigger and bigger.  A recipe for a pro tour winning deck if there ever was one.

For Modern Masters, modern card prices will go down.  However, the prices for big money cards in the top decks will not go down appreciably.  I have read this in other blogs and web pages, and I think I agree with it.  The demand is so high and the print run is so low that prices will remain high.

In other news, I am going to toy with Delver in modern, assuming I can get my Windows 8 computer to run MTGO, and after I get done growling at it using my best Phil Boseman impression.

Disrupting Shoal is a shoe-in since the deck will be running a ton of  2 cmc blue spells.  The 3 cmc slot has been the hardest for me to fill.  Jace Beleren seems really good.  Drawing 3 cards for 3 mana is something I can get behind, but outside of that, I'm a bit stuck.  I only have 2 Jace to add.  I might acquire a few more since he probably will go down a bit due to the changes occurring in the Legendary rule.  Using him as a counter to an opposing Jace the Mind Sculptor kept the price a bit inflated.  Sea Gate Oracle also, perhaps?  I want something that can survive a Lightning Bolt, but that may be the role of a 2 drop.  Wish me luck; I suck at this.

For those of you interested, many card stores are having Modern Masters release parties.  I am planning on attending one Saturday.  I thought about buying a box, but at $200 at the event, it is still above my price range.  I will do a draft or two, though.

Land Tax: A King's Ransom at a Minimal Expense

Land Tax seems reasonably innocent.  All you get are 3 basic lands per turn, and only if you have less lands in play than your opponent.  However, while it was in Type 2, it was one of the only cards that offered true, repeatable, and cheap card advantage.  Also, it's a whole lot less innocent in a format with Armageddon.  The card found a home in a deck referred to as "ErnhamGeddon."  It's a pretty simple strategy: play a big creature and blow up all the lands.  Land Tax provides a nice head start in restoring the land base, one an opponent would have a hard time matching.  Zuran Orb was a good way to make use of lands that were already getting binned, but it was still a difficult road.  It was also a great way to control the number of lands you had in play to ensure getting that Land Tax trigger if you were the one playing Land Tax.

Land Tax also had implications for Extended.  There's no point in me re-typing what others have already painstakingly written up: the GP Atlanta Coverage offers a quick look into Land Tax's history, as it was also the first sanctioned Legacy tournament to feature the card since legacy was born way back in 2004.

The Land Tax + Scroll Rack combo has been around since Tempest first came out.  Alongside a U/W Miracles shell, it can be devastating, turning Temporal Mastery into Time Walk time and time again.  It has also been an addition worthy of consideration in CounterTop decks.  The next few tournaments should determine whether or not the card remains unbanned.  We shall see. 

Black Summer: Darkness Rising

An old article on StarCityGames.com titled (surprise, surprise), "A History of Necropotence," and written by Jim Grimmet, serves as an excellent primer and source of decklists surrounding the infamous Necropotence. Why was Necropotence SO GOOD, and why does it still make nerds everywhere squeal with delight?

Simply put, it stands among the best card advantage engines ever printed.  Sure, you pass up on your draw step, but what you gain surpasses it by far: "Pay 1 life: draw a card (EDIT: essentially)."  I cannot conceive of a more flavorful, beautiful, and at the same time extremely powerful black effect.  Players originally scoffed at the card, but people started catching on quickly and Necro was born.  For months, the entire metagame revolved around it.  Decks of that period HAD to have game against Necro to stand a chance.  Among Necro competitors of the time was a nasty little combo concoction called Pros Bloom:


4 Undiscovered Paradise
3 Bad River
7 Forest
6 Swamp
5 Island

4 Infernal Contract
4 Impulse
4 Vampiric Tutor
1 Three Wishes
2 Memory Lapse
1 Power Sink
1 Elven Cache
1 Emerald Charm
4 Cadaverous Bloom
4 Natural Balance
4 Squandered Resources
4 Prosperity
1 Drain Life

Sideboard:

3 City of Solitude
4 Elephant Grass
1 Elven Cache
3 Emerald Charm
1 Memory Lapse
1 Power Sink
2 Wall of Roots

The basic goal was to ultimately fuel a lethal Drain Life.  You would do this by casting Prosperity and filtering those cards through Cadaverous Bloom into a larger Prosperity into cadaverous bloom into a MASSIVE  Prosperity into a lethal Drain Life.  The problem with combo decks is their need to assemble the components (har, har... get it?).  Very hard to do against Necro... Necro will trade one-for-one all day, and will ALWAYS come out ahead.  Disruption is a complete disaster for a deck like this.  Getting hit with Duress, Hyppies, and Stupor will ruthlessly cripple hands, and the deck just reloads when it's done.

Another attempt at stemming the tide of Black Summer was a Winter Orb lock deck.  Winter Orb was a soft-lock alongside Icy Manipulators to keep the lock in place.  If that wasn't bad enough, since the deck featured a ton of artifacts as mana sources, it functioned without access to mana from its lands, leaving its opponent floundering in tapped lands and creatures, with a gripful of permission to quash any artifact removal or attempts at casting spells.  Still, this was not enough.  Necropotence, despite its weakness in the later stages of the game, managed to pull wins  from it with hand disruption, pump knights, and other nonsense (depending on the variant).

Other decks that had some time in the limelight: Turbo Stasis, U/W control, counterpost, and Sligh.

One of the best breakdowns of the metagame of that era (well... technically, it's just after black summer) I could find was in Mike Flores' e-book titled Michael J. Flores: 10 Years of Decks, Thoughts, and Theory.  An excellent read.  Strongly recommended.

Despite the strength of the Necropotence deck, some decks were able to outlast it.  The pump knight version of Necro was weak to Serrated Arrows and Armageddon.  In addition, Black Vise, though restricted, eliminated Necro's much-relied upon resource: its life total.  Disenchant also gave decks a chance.  Notice: two of the aforementioned cards are white.  If you could stem the tide of the early aggression, get lucky with a turn 1 Black Vise, eliminate lands or a Necropotence, or get a Serrated Arrows out, you had a decent shot of beating one of the most dominant decks ever conceived.

That's about it!  Hope you enjoyed it.  Next week (hopefully) I will have the next installment of this deck series.  Again, I would strongly recommend Michael J. Flores: 10 Years of Decks, Thoughts, and Theory.  Especially if you liked this brief, incomplete, and cursory glance at part of Magic's past.

Minor changes, a potential migration, and a new article series

I have been contemplating a move to WordPress for some time now because it has a lot of the more powerful features available to it.  Performing this move would be a bit of work for me, but it would probably be worth it in the long run.

I have also decided to switch to Gatherer as the site I will link to in articles when I mention specific cards (e.g. Lotus Petal).

When trying to put together a Pauper cube, I had a terrible time rounding out the red in it.  I couldn't decide if I had enough burn spells or if I had too many, and had trouble with the higher end of the curve.  This got me searching for information and thinking a whole lot about set and card design, as well as card evaluation.  My search yielded a wonderful bounty, which will serve as a base for this article series about some of Magic's most infamous cards and decks:

1. Black Summer: Darkness Reigns
2. Land Tax: A King's Ransom at a Minimal Expense
3. If Others Have Illusions of Grandeur, Perhaps it IS Better to Give than to Receive

and more! (Might submit some of them to EssentialMagic.com or perhaps other sites)

Here, you can find one of my main sources if you wish to get a head start.

Gatecrash Guild Mechanics Overview

Simic

Evolve is a deceptively potent mechanic.  If a creature enters the battlefield with a higher power or toughness than the creature with evolve, you put a +1/+1 counter on the creature with evolve, sort of the opposite of the Graft mechanic from Ravnica block.  These +1/+1 counters can result in huge card advantage, stealing creatures, or even ramping quickly into massive creatures or expensive spells.

Gruul

Bloodrush is a very powerful tool for aggressive decks.  By paying a mana cost and discarding the creature card from your hand, you can channel the power and abilities of a creature with this mechanic into a creature you already have on the battlefield that is attacking.  There is little subterfuge here... Just brutal and efficient force.  Great for aggro decks that need that extra little bit of reach.  It can put people into situations where they lose no matter how they block, but also runs the risk of creating opportunities for 2-for-1's.

Boros

Battalion triggers when you are attacking with three or more creatures, and this will happen a lot if you are playing Boros.  While some of the cards with this are a little underwhelming (i.e. limited fodder), some look to be powerhouses in upcoming weenie decks by making creatures indestructible, pumping creatures, or providing combat abilities.

Orzhov

Extort is a triggered ability that triggers off of you casting a spell.  When you trigger it, you are given the option of paying a black or white mana.  If you do, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain that much life.  It seems pretty crummy at first glance I'll admit... but couple it with a bunch of cheap spells and more than one permanent with this ability in play and it doesn't seem quite so innocent.  Or better yet, combine it with Cipher cards for a much larger boost.

Dimir

Cipher is the only mechanic that doesn't occur on permanents.  However, don't let that fool you; it still involves creatures.  Once a spell with cipher has resolved, you may exile it encoded onto a creature.  If you do, the creature 'gains' a triggered ability that allows you to cast a copy of the exiled spell whenever the creature deals combat damage without paying its mana cost.  That means you will be able to get two casts out of the spell the turn you cast it if you get through for damage, and the creature doesn't have summoning sickness.

Gatecrash spoiler is complete

As of yesterday, the gatecrash spoiler only had 122/249.  As of this morning it was complete.  Enjoy!

Gatecrash Spoiler (MTGSalvation website)

Glaring Spotlight: A Gatecrash Card Review

Hoser artifacts have had a long history in Magic.  Even hearing the names of cards like Meekstone, Trinisphere, and Pithing Needle can inspire groans of frustration from those who have had the displeasure of playing against them.

Glaring Spotlight is an interesting take on this type of Spike-loved card.  It doesn't actually do anything to interfere with what the opponent can do.  Instead, it turns on all of its controller's removal spells against the opponent's hexproof creatures.

For those who are not Spikes, the card also protects your own creatures through its activated ability.  This ability also grants unblockable, so it can finish opponents as well.  I suspect the activated ability is going to be the most relevant part of this card for the Standard format.

Off Topic: OWN Interview with Lance Armstrong

Many love to hate him, despite his recent public confession.  Even by his own admission, this apology came late.

Lance Armstrong has cheated, bullied, lied, and sued his way through life.  His career and life have all been a huge ruse.  Livestrong has raised $500 million for cancer research, but no dollar amount could undo the damage he has wrought in his grand design.  Is there any hope for his redemption as a public figure?  I believe there is; after being humbled, there is always the possibility of redemption.  Armstrong's attitude, mannerisms, and tone during the interview all seemed indicative to me of a humbled man.  

The only reason I bring this up is because I know what it is like to do horrible things that violate my own set of morals and later wonder who that person was.  It is the human condition.  If human history is any indication, Armstrong has a good chance at recovering from this, in spite of living a lie throughout his career.

Soul Ransom: A Gatecrash Card Review

There has been some controversy on the MTGSalvation forums over Soul Ransom.  Soul Ransom is, on first impression, an acceptable Limited card.  They tap out to play their finisher.  You steal the biggest guy in their deck and they have to deal with it somehow.  Perhaps not in the way you would prefer, but somehow...

Would this card be any better for Constructed if it read simply, "Target player discards two cards.  You draw two cards?"  Would it be any better if it were a direct copy of Control Magic, save for the mana cost?  Perhaps...

Soul Ransom's activated ability is better than a spell that makes your opponent discard two cards in a way: Soul Ransom's activated ability will ALWAYS snag two cards since discarding two cards is the cost of activating the ability.  When you cast a spell that forces your opponent to discard two cards, they may cast one or more spells from their hand and may even end up discarding zero cards. The downside to Soul Ransom's activated ability is that they get to choose when to discard two cards.

With Soul Ransom, they are given an option, even if it isn't a particularly good one.  Taking back their own creature at the cost of two cards in their hand on top of allowing their opponent to draw two cards, or dealing with Soul Ransom as though it were Control Magic.  Giving the opponent an option is almost never a good idea, but in this case, I think it is less of a problem than people realize.

If you are either playing a deck that forces your opponent to discard cards or playing against a deck that plays out its spells as quickly as possible, giving the opponent this option is almost a non-issue.  Rarely will they be out of topdeck mode any later than turn 5 in either case, even if they know what is coming and sandbag their lands accordingly.  If they can threaten lethal with the creature you stole, are threatened lethal by the creature you stole, or have two dead cards to pitch to it, then and only then will they consider Soul Ransom's activated ability as an option for dealing with it. 

If you are playing a deck packing plenty of sacrifice outlets, you can even keep them from getting their creature back once they activate Soul Ransom's ability.

Please let me know if I am wrong.  I am (believe it or not) a fallible human being.  Thanks!

Realmwright: A Gatecrash Card Review

This (along with two other cards) is Realmwright.  It doesn't appear very menacing.  It's a 1/1 for 1 mana... but it allows mono-blue decks to reliably play finishers from another color.  Yes, it's fragile... but is there anything your opponent can really do after you put a solid finisher on the board, aside from an uncounterable board sweeper?  Sure it's gimmicky, but I just can't resist it.  I love playing mono-colored decks (particularly blue) and this is just icing on that oh-so-sweet color pie.

In limited, this guy is more powerful.  It makes casting cards in your guild colors much, much easier if one of those colors happens to be blue.  And since removal spells are... well... limited in limited, this forces the opponent to make a difficult choice unless he/she has repeatable removal or pingers... take out the Realmwright or take out the creature(s) you cast off of it.

To view a Gatecrash spoiler, you can visit mtgsalvation.com.  Enjoy!

New deck bursts onto the scene in GP: Atlantic City

The deck features soulbond creatures, Geist of Saint Traft, Invisible Stalker, Rancor, and Increasing Savagery.  The hexproof nature of many of the creatures in the deck make them ideal targets for auras.  What makes it doubly interesting is a card that was spoiled for Gatecrash recently.  Take a look: Glaring Spotlight.

Return to Paper Magic

To say that Magic is a difficult game to master would risk understating that fact.  It is a game with enough strategic depth to challenge chess players, even those at the Master and Grandmaster level.

To play a game in a format entirely different than what you are accustomed to requires still more skill.  Such is the case with Magic: the Gathering Online.  While it has been my method of choice for playing the game for a good while, the interface has caused me to make foolish play mistakes time and time again. 

That is my reasoning for wanting to return to the paper form.  Cost-wise, I will be spending more, but it will also give me the opportunity to spend time and network with like-minded people.  I'd like to put SOME effort into MTGO, but I believe my time is better spent playing paper Magic. 

That changes very little as far as this blog is concerned.  Hopefully, that will actually mean more content.  My lack of activity over the past several months has been due primarily to spending a lot of time playing Diablo III.  Now that I have a computer that can run it fairly well, even without overclocking, I find it quite enjoyable.

With that out of the way, I wish everyone a belated merry Christmas and happy New Year!