Migration!

Happy New Year, everyone!  Hope it's been a good one so far.  If it hasn't, you still have 364 days left after today to make it a good one.

Though not in my immediate future, I plan on migrating my blog to a WordPress-based site (details forthcoming).  I have also thought about plying my writing skills on PucaTrade, as my primary goal in Magic: the Gathering is for it to be a financially self-sustaining hobby.

My new site will also provide a place to show off my skills as a front-end web developer and provide a point of contact between me and potential employers.  Something's gotta give... getting sick of going from temp job to temp job.  Maybe I'll start streaming full-time?

Yeah right...  I have a growing distaste for MTGO, and I doubt I'll grow out of it soon... Maybe they'll fix it before Vintage Masters comes out, and I can pick up some Power 9 and other sweet goodies while face-planting some drafts.

What's Vintage Masters you ask?  It's an online-only set on MTGO coming out in June that will cost $6.99 per pack, and will be similar to Modern Masters, except with Vintage staples, including the Power 9 (printed at Mythic obviously).

Anyway, I'm off... Nursing a throbbing headache this afternoon (just kidding!).

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!

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!

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.

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.

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

4 Runechanter's Pike

2 Buried Ruin
19 Island

Sideboard:

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


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

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?

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
3 Runechanter's Pike

Lands

2 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.

Paper vs. Pixels

The guys covering Pro Tour Philadelphia made an interesting point.  The metagame shaped up very similar to what was being seen online before the event.  This is unusual, as MTGO standard and paper standard are usually quite different.  As one reason for this, combo decks have a real weakness in MTGO.  Having to actually go infinite can be the death of certain types of combo decks online.  In paper magic, you can just perform the combo five times and then say some impossibly large number.  I sincerely wish they had posited a reason for this.  Could it be that more competitive Magic players are getting into MTGO and qualifying for Pro Tour events that way, or was it just a fluke?

Another factor is the availability of cards and their prices.  MTGO is always in flux and card prices stabilize very quickly.  Card prices take a lot longer to stabilize in paper Magic because transactions take a whole lot longer, and cards cannot be moved between 5 different merchants in one minute.  Keeping an eye on where MTGO prices are going on certain cards can be an excellent strategy for determining where card prices are headed in the near future, particularly if they are cards that fit into competitive decks.  Availability is a large component to the appeal of MTGO.  One can check the card prices of hundreds of merchants in a matter of minutes rather than hours.  Also, access to any card you could ever want that is in print on MTGO are at your fingertips.