Power 9 Pro – Magic The Gathering Accessories – Tournament Discussion – Deck Analysis

When I applied to write for Power9pro.com I highlighted the fact that I attended drafts pretty often and would be glad to write about them. One of the local stores has draft FNMs as well as a draft every Tuesday night as well. But with LOST moving to Tuesdays and trying to factor in dating with PTQs every saturday, my draft nights have been few and far between.

One of the great things about Magic Online (MODO from here on out) is it’s super easy to get in a draft. UNLESS those drafts happen to be the 64 man release event drafts. Those you have to sign up for days in advance. I haven’t had a chance to do one of these since I top 4′d an M10 64-man. What a top 4 in these events does is qualify you for the set release championship. It’s a sealed tournament where first place is a foil playset of the new set. Not bad. So my ultimate goal was to qualify for this. And being on a hot run of limited lately, I thought my chances were pretty good.

I had monday off so I spent it running errands and cleaning my apartment and playing MODO. I kind of got sick of that so I started playing xbox. I did this thinking I had all afternoon free b/c I signed up for the 8pm 64-man draft. Only I didn’t, I signed up for the 4pm. So when I got up to check my email for a second and saw the MODO tab blinking I was pretty pissed. Luckily I only missed one pick. I didn’t have my draft recorder set at the time (reformatted my CPU recently) but I can only imagine what I passed someone for the very sweet autopick of Soaring *Bleeping* Seacliffs.

Already disenchanted, I did my best with what I could scrounge up and ended up Red/Black with 2 plated geopede, 2 corrupted zendikon and light black removal. I had to pass 2 searing blaze because I was extremely low on creatures. I did end up with chain reaction, which I figure would get me back into games I was behind, but I only drew it once and I never cast it.

I never had to. I went 2-0, 2-0, 2-0 winning my pod and top 8ing.

Here’s the deck I ended up with. It’s missing a card but 3 of my game replays from the first pod were missing and whatever the card is, I never ever drew it in those three games.

Notable sideboard cards were Mind Sludge, Mire Toll and Bog Tatters. I don’t pick mire toll early, but it can deal with a guy who is otherwise undealwithable.

Now a few words about my personal feelings on Zendikar Block Limited.

-I really, REALLY like blue. All it’s good creatures are excellent. They have a lot of tricks with bouncing and tapping down and paralyzing. Vapor Snare might be the best non-rare in limited right now.Everything they do is really strong but you have to stay aggressive with them. I think that UB or UR are exactly what I want to be seeing and while I’m not willing to force it, I feel like if I can get blue even if it’s UW I’m going to be happy with having the chance to play into the top 4.

-I think white is really strong, but I don’t ever know what to couple it with. I’ve never been able to pull off mono white but I think if one could pull that off it’d be pretty awesome. White has some great stuff and I’d e happy to open any white.

-Unless I’m mono green I don’t really want anything to do with it.

-Above all else, I want to open Ob Nixlis he is the card I pray for every time I queue a draft or sign up for a sealed.

The draft converter software online does not come out well on our webblog here so I’m pasting the good old MODO converter text below so you can check out my picks with commentary!

Pack 1 pick 1:
–> Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
Piranha Marsh
Sky Ruin Drake
Journey to Nowhere
Makindi Shieldmate
Caller of Gales
Mark of Mutiny
Bladetusk Boar
Needlebite Trap
Grazing Gladehart
Desecrated Earth
Cobra Trap
Forest
Cliff Threader
Turntimber Grove

1 – I barely looked at the rest of the pack and saw I was sending Journey and mostly junk. I don’t like BG so I didn’t care about the gladehart, but I do like Black with any other color and wanted to be cognizent of what was shipping. Ob Nixlis is my favorite first pick. He’s the guy I pray for every time I start a draft. I even joked to my friend Andy about likely passing him in the first draft when I missed my pick.

Pack 1 pick 2:
Ruinous Minotaur
Slaughter Cry
Blade of the Bloodchief
Joraga Bard
Stonework Puma
Feast of Blood
Scythe Tiger
Akoum Refuge
Mire Blight
Sunspring Expedition
Paralyzing Grasp
–> Mark of Mutiny
Pillarfield Ox
Mountain

2 – This pack blows. My options are paralyzing grasp, mark of mutiny, stonework puma, slaughter cry or blade of the bloodchief. Forcing vampires is hard, so blade and feast of blood are off the table. I narrow it to mark and grasp, I’d really like to be UB but I don’t want to force it and I take the mark.

Pack 1 pick 3:
Ior Ruin Expedition
Swamp
–> Disfigure
Pillarfield Ox
Explorer’s Scope
Punishing Fire
Trapmaker’s Snare
Vampire Lacerator
Kor Hookmaster
Bala Ged Thief
Brave the Elements
Sky Ruin Drake
Timbermaw Larva

3 – I don’t like lacerator much and it’s not nearly as much a signal as disfigure, as disfigure rules combat so well. For disfigure to get 2 packs to the left means I should have no problem getting enough black to justify my bomb.

Pack 1 pick 4:
Seascape Aerialist
Noble Vestige
Merfolk Wayfinder
Tempest Owl
Shatterskull Giant
Spell Pierce
Zektar Shrine Expedition
Hedron Scrabbler
Plains (FOIL)
–> Giant Scorpion
Bloodghast
Swamp

4 – I go back and forth on this pick quite a bit and I actually originalyl almost slam-clicked bloodghast. Bloodghast is fine but like lacerator gets outclassed quickly so I take the scorpion who is usually a great piece of removal.

Pack 1 pick 5:
Kabira Crossroads
Mold Shambler
–> Windrider Eel
Goblin Ruinblaster
Hagra Crocodile
Graypelt Refuge
Cliff Threader
Soaring Seacliff
Island
Oran-Rief Recluse
Teetering Peaks

5 – It could be wrong but I took the presence of EEL to be a signal. Eel is great if they don’t have removal and can end games on his own. I really would like to be blue over any other color so I slam this down figuring the croc will wheel if I really want it.

Pack 1 pick 6:
Swamp
Unstable Footing
Beast Hunt
Cancel
Quest for Ancient Secrets
–> Bog Tatters
Shieldmate’s Blessing
Crypt of Agadeem
Slaughter Cry
Kor Outfitter

6 – Even if I’m not playing black this guy blocks big guys well and is a force to be reckoned with when turned sideways.

Pack 1 pick 7:
Vampire Lacerator
Highland Berserker
Landbind Ritual
Vastwood Gorger
Harrow
Trailblazer’s Boots
Kor Cartographer
Island
–> Whiplash Trap

7 – Another tough one, again I don’t like lacerator and though my deck isn’t aggressive right now, I don’t expect it to stay that way and I windmill slam one of my favorite cards in the format.

Pack 1 pick 8:
–> Goblin Shortcutter
Plains
Desecrated Earth
Caller of Gales
Spidersilk Net
Caravan Hurda
Trailblazer’s Boots
Narrow Escape

Pack 1 pick 9:
Piranha Marsh
–> Sky Ruin Drake
Caller of Gales
Needlebite Trap
Cobra Trap
Forest
Turntimber Grove

9 – one of my favorite blue cards, should be called Stabilizer Drake.

Pack 1 pick 10:
Scythe Tiger
–> Akoum Refuge
Mire Blight
Sunspring Expedition
Pillarfield Ox
Mountain

Pack 1 pick 11:
Ior Ruin Expedition
Swamp
Explorer’s Scope
Trapmaker’s Snare
–> Bala Ged Thief

11 – She could make it if I end up with some Umara Raptors or other allies.

Pack 1 pick 12:
Noble Vestige
–> Tempest Owl
Plains (FOIL)
Swamp

I don’t hate tempest owl as a board card when I’m playing a deck that will just stall the board out.

Pack 1 pick 13:
Kabira Crossroads
–> Soaring Seacliff
Island

Pack 1 pick 14:
Swamp
–> Quest for Ancient Secrets

Pack 1 pick 15:
–> Island

—— ZEN ——

Pack 2 pick 1:
Bog Tatters
Archmage Ascension
Shoal Serpent
Khalni Gem
Grim Discovery
Kor Outfitter
River Boa
Spell Pierce
Runeflare Trap
Torch Slinger
–> Crypt Ripper
Forest
Demolish
Territorial Baloth
Soaring Seacliff

16 – Pretty bad pack, but I’m heavy black and would like to stay that way and Ripper is just fine for that. He also commands the board if I run 10+ swamps.

Pack 2 pick 2:
Heartstabber Mosquito
Beast Hunt
Gomazoa
Summoning Trap
–> Welkin Tern
Forest
Needlebite Trap
Spidersilk Net
Soul Stair Expedition
Shieldmate’s Blessing
Shoal Serpent
Plated Geopede
Molten Ravager
Sejiri Refuge

17 – Tough call here, but as I said before I’d like to be aggressive and welkin tern is the most aggressive 2 drop that blue has.

Pack 2 pick 3:
Turntimber Basilisk
Highland Berserker
Reckless Scholar
Magma Rift
Savage Silhouette
Zendikar Farguide
Shieldmate’s Blessing
–> Mind Sludge
Bog Tatters
Mountain
Slaughter Cry
Kabira Crossroads
Cancel

18 – Awful pack. I don’t much like reckless scholar, and in the off chance I am nearly mono black I take the sludge.

Pack 2 pick 4:
–> Guul Draz Vampire
Tuktuk Grunts
Narrow Escape
Expedition Map
Blood Seeker
Kazandu Refuge
Spreading Seas
Harrow
Island
Seismic Shudder
Hagra Diabolist
Goblin Shortcutter

19 – I’m not a huge fan of guul draz but I don’t love blood seeker either. Guul draz has a lot more upside so I snag it.

Pack 2 pick 5:
Ior Ruin Expedition
Scythe Tiger
Nimbus Wings
Harrow
Relic Crush
–> Summoner’s Bane
Frontier Guide
Trapfinder’s Trick
Vampire’s Bite
Mountain
Spire Barrage

20 – I don’t love this pick but it is a great sideboard card and a tempo swing. Vampire’s bite is possible but I didn’t see myself running it as most of my guys have some form of evasion so far.

Pack 2 pick 6:
Magma Rift
Baloth Cage Trap
Mountain
Mire Blight
Zendikar Farguide
Soul Stair Expedition
Khalni Heart Expedition
–> Jwar Isle Refuge
Quest for Pure Flame
Molten Ravager

21 – this pack sucks but I’ll take the fixing.

Pack 2 pick 7:
Plains
Goblin Shortcutter
Lethargy Trap
Tanglesap
Hellfire Mongrel
Goblin Bushwhacker
–> Crypt Ripper
Blood Seeker
Spidersilk Net

22 – Was really excited to see this guy, at pick 7 in this pack I’m likely the only heavy black drafter.

Pack 2 pick 8:
Savage Silhouette
Ravenous Trap (FOIL)
Hagra Crocodile
Island
–> Windrider Eel
Stonework Puma
Quest for Pure Flame
Kor Cartographer

23 – Though I now have a lot of high drops, they’re all top notch.

Pack 2 pick 9:
Archmage Ascension
Shoal Serpent
–> Spell Pierce
Runeflare Trap
Forest
Demolish
Soaring Seacliff

Pack 2 pick 10:
Beast Hunt
Forest
–> Needlebite Trap
Spidersilk Net
Shoal Serpent
Sejiri Refuge

Pack 2 pick 11:
Savage Silhouette
Shieldmate’s Blessing
Bog Tatters
Mountain
–> Cancel

Pack 2 pick 12:
Expedition Map
–> Blood Seeker
Island
Seismic Shudder

Pack 2 pick 13:
Scythe Tiger
–> Trapfinder’s Trick
Mountain

Pack 2 pick 14:
Mountain
–> Mire Blight

Pack 2 pick 15:
–> Plains

—— WWK ——

Pack 3 pick 1:
Surrakar Banisher
Jagwasp Swarm
Nature’s Claim
Kitesail Apprentice
Eye of Ugin
Corrupted Zendikon
Swamp
Kitesail
Smoldering Spires
Crusher Zendikon
–> Bloodhusk Ritualist
Join the Ranks
Refraction Trap
Cosi’s Ravager
Ricochet Trap

31 – This pack is brutal. I love corrupted Zendikon and I really want it, and it would go along with my “be aggressive” aim here, but Bloodhusk ritualist is a blowout, look for it to win me a game down the road.

Pack 3 pick 2:
–> Horizon Drake
Claws of Valakut
Mordant Dragon
Groundswell
Veteran’s Reflexes
Quest for Renewal
Surrakar Banisher
Fledgling Griffin
Grotag Thrasher
Snapping Creeper
Plains
Halimar Excavator
Shoreline Salvager
Khalni Garden

32 – Shoreline salvager is awesome and obviously with UB he’s so premium, but is a 3/3 four drop really going to compare with 2 rippers and 2 eels? probably not. Though horizon drake is tougher on my mana, he makes the three best Zendikons look so stupid, and he gets in for 3 in the air.

Pack 3 pick 3:
Mire’s Toll
Battle Hurda
Island
Halimar Depths
Quag Vampires (FOIL)
Twitch
–> Dead Reckoning
Leatherback Baloth
Permafrost Trap
Refraction Trap
Akoum Battlesinger
Explore
Agadeem Occultist

33 – I hate to see a second refraction trap get passed as it’s probably the biggest blow out instant in the format, but I love dead reckoning, especially with Ob Nixlis considering I couldn’t snag any grim discoveries.

Pack 3 pick 4:
Swamp
Kitesail
Enclave Elite
Nemesis Trap
Dread Statuary
Bojuka Bog
Ruthless Cullblade
Grappler Spider
Hedron Rover
Bull Rush
–> Caustic Crawler
Iona’s Judgment

34 – Another high drop, but he has so much value in this format. there are hundres if not thousands of creatures in Zendikar and Worldwake with just 1 toughness. But it was tough to pass a two drop.

Pack 3 pick 5:
Walking Atlas
Ruthless Cullblade
Hedron Rover
Roiling Terrain
Sejiri Steppe
Battle Hurda
–> Urge to Feed
Dispel
Forest
Calcite Snapper
Sejiri Merfolk

35 – Here I pass another ruthless cullblade for urge to feed because I’m really removal light. Calcite snapper was another option but I would rather not double blue.

Pack 3 pick 6:
Grotag Thrasher
Surrakar Banisher
Forest
Veteran’s Reflexes
Vastwood Animist
Selective Memory (FOIL)
Snapping Creeper
Perimeter Captain
Khalni Garden
–> Halimar Excavator

36 – Halimar Excavator is fine, he blocks a ton of guys. I don’t end up maindeckiing him but I board him in every match.

Pack 3 pick 7:
Bull Rush
Iona’s Judgment
Island
Grappler Spider
Scrib Nibblers
Bojuka Bog
–> Ruthless Cullblade
Enclave Elite
Spell Contortion

37 – Finally I take a ruthless Cullblade.

Pack 3 pick 8:
Perimeter Captain
Forest
Cosi’s Ravager
Kitesail Apprentice
Grappler Spider
Mysteries of the Deep
–> Æther Tradewinds
Halimar Depths

38 – I’m not going to run mysteries and I really like tradewinds, bounce in general is good when you’re trying to be aggressive.

Pack 3 pick 9:
Surrakar Banisher
Nature’s Claim
–> Corrupted Zendikon
Swamp
Smoldering Spires
Cosi’s Ravager
Ricochet Trap

39 – Never have I been so happy to see a card wheel.

Pack 3 pick 10:
Veteran’s Reflexes
Quest for Renewal
–> Surrakar Banisher
Snapping Creeper
Plains
Khalni Garden

40 – He won’t make the cut.

Pack 3 pick 11:
Mire’s Toll
Island
Halimar Depths
–> Quag Vampires (FOIL)
Twitch

41 – This guy is an all-star and I got him 11th pick, makes my curve so much better with his presence.

Pack 3 pick 12:
Swamp
–> Enclave Elite
Bojuka Bog
Bull Rush

42 – Same potential as the vampires but not as good and could come in out of the board.

Pack 3 pick 13:
Roiling Terrain
–> Dispel
Forest

43 – Awesome. In case of refraction trap!!!

Pack 3 pick 14:
Forest
–> Veteran’s Reflexes

Pack 3 pick 15:
–> Island

Here’s the 40 I end up with:

I ran the maindeck cancel over mind sludge b/c if I drop Ob Nixlis with Cancel backup they only have one turn to kill him before he’s going to end the game. Also it’s just good for dealing with bombs that my deck is not built to handle very well. Also cancel is just a huge tempo swing when you have crypt rippers beating in next turn.

I ended up boarding out Guul Draz Vampire almost every match for Halimar Excavator. the 1/3 is just too good of a statline to ignore and I never drew GDV.

Top 8 Round 1 vs. LAB103

Game 1 I kept 2 swamp, 2 island, Jwar Isle Refuge, Urge to Feed, Windrider Eel on the draw.

He starts with Bojuka Brigand on turns 2 and 3 but he never sees a third land. I drop a topdecked Welkin Tern on 2, urge to feed his 3/3 on 3, drop my eel on four, then on 5 drop a land with corrupted Zendkon and crush.

Game 2 I brought in Bog Tatters for Guul Draz Vampire and kept this on the draw: 2 Island, Jwar Isle Refuge, Windrider Eel, Bloodhusk Ritualist, Cancel, Bog Tatters.

He gets stuck on land again after leading with a Bojuka Brigand and Corrupted Zendkon. I trade Death Scorption with his 3/3, then Curve into Eel then Bog Tatters. He has hideous end for the Eel, so I drop a cullblade leaving cancel mana up. He taps out for Nimana Sell-Sword and I cancel it, then drop ripper and strike him down to 4. He has gatekeeper to pare down my board but he has nothing for Bog Tatters who swing in ftw.

So I’m qualified for the Worldwake championship, which was my goal. I missed the 64 man drafts for Zendikar, but I got to the top 4 in an m10 64-man. That time I bounced out due to bad keeps in the top 4 when I had an extremely strong deck. I didn’t want that to happen this time.

Round 2 vs. Ace of Drafts

Game 1 is missing from my recaps but I know I got there with Ob Nixlis despite his Felidar Sovereign. I know I was really low so I had to triple block the Sovereign to kill it even though I feared refraction trap, luckily he didn’t have it and Ob Nix went the distance.

Game 2 I decided not to bring in dispel b/c I didn’t see refraction trap but I did bring in the excavator. I kept: 2 Swamp, 1 Island, Eel, Drake, Crawler, Whiplash trap.

Definitely a slow hand, but he had a slow w/r deck game 1. This game he comes out swinging with Kazaandu Blademaster followed by cliff treader. He swings on 3 and tries to Join the Ranks to pump his blademaster but I cancel it.I drop my eel and trade with his treader, which may have been a mistake b/c when he dropped Grotag Thrasher next turn I really was behind in combat for the rest of the game. I stabilized a bit until he dropped Bladetusk Boar who went the distance.

Game 3 I keep 3 swamp, ripper, crawler, bloodhusk ritualist, halimar excavator on the play.

Not the best hand but it’s fine and I almost never mulligan in limited. He has a turn 2 steppe lynx, I play a turn 3 Corrupted Zendikon and a turn 4 blood seeker without a fourth land and swing with the Zendikon. He swings with his lynx and on my turn I rip blue and drop the excavator after swinging with Zendikon, seeker. He join the ranks and trades a token with my seeker. He swings in with his lynx and a hellfire mongrel he played the previous turn. I block the lynx with the excavator and disfigure the mongrel. He has no play so I drop ripper and swing him down to four, still fearing a refraction trap that never comes. Then he drops Felidar Sovereign. Great. So he has 2 card in hand, I have 5 lands out but one is the Zendikon. I can Bloodhusk Ritualist him out of a hand, but he’ll definitely be able to swing in with his Sovereign, I decide on this and he discards Land, Brave the Elements which would’ve had me calling my mama if he had the chance to play it.
On his turn he swings and goes up to 8 and I’m at 8. I go in with just the ripper with 4 swamps up, he chumps with the ally token. I pass b/c I just ripped urge to feed. He comes in with sovereign after Passing Ionas Judgement on my Zendikon. I block with Ritualist and Excavator, Urge to Feed pumping my Ritualist and he scoops to his dead Sovereign despite being at 9 life.

Finals vs. DutchMojo – This guy was cool, one of the cool few people I’ve come across on modo. He wasn’t spiteful about my bombs and even pointed out when I handed im game 2. He said he doesnt modo a lot but I threw him on my buddylist b/c I like to see when ppl are in certain rooms playing events. I’m a total stalker.

Game 1 on the draw I keep – 1 island, soaring seacliffs, jwar isle refuge, disfigure, ob nixlis, ritualist, ripper.

His first two turns he spits out Adventuring gear and Trusty machete, with no guys, and only mountains.

He plays a goblin shortcutter on 3 and equips the gear, figuring he’s short on guys I disfigure it. I rip cullblade and drop that. He pays three for a goblin torchslinger. I attack and he doesnt block, so I drop ritualist kicking once, he discards grazing gladeheart. He double equips the slinger and beats me down to 15. I swing him down to 14 and drop ripper in main 2 with a swamp up so I can trade if he doesn’t hit a land. He hits a forest and swings me down to 9 and drops summit apes. I’ve got ob nixlis and 2 islands in hand. I drop my ob nix and make him a 6/6. he double equips the apes, plays a land making him a 9/5 and swings. I trade my cullblade, my ripper and my ritualist for the apes. My turn comes I rip whiplash trap, make Ob nix a 9/9 and drop a welkin tern that I drew the turn before. He drops oren-rief recluse and passes. In his endstep I whiplash his 2 blockers and alpha ftw.

Game 2 on the draw I keep 2 swamp, Island, Jwar Isle Refuge, 2 rippers and Aether Tradewinds.

He leads with a shortcutter and I rip bloodseeker and drop it. He plays claws hitting me for 5. I swing for 1. He drops goblin guide and swings in. He gives me a swamp and I tradewinds the bloodseeker and his shortcutter getting rid of his claws. He redrops shortcutter in main 2. I rip horizon drake and drop it hoping to block and trade b/c I don’t want to trade either of my rippers who will totally outclass his 2 power guys on turn 5 becuase I can pump and control the board. I trade with his goblin guide after it reveals Quag Vampires. I decide instead of ripper to drop the Quag as a 2/2 and drop bloodseeker, hoping to trade across the board and then let my crypt rippers reign supreme. In his main 2 he drops a slinger for 3 and passes. I do my aforementioned play but he has a second shortcutter to mess up my blocks. I play a ripper next turn and swing pumping once and drop my second ripper with just 2 islands in my hand. He drops adventuring gear, equips and passes. I swing with a ripper for 3 and drop a windrider eel keeping my 2 lands in play. He plays a land and swings with his equipped shortcutter which I chump with bloodseeker. Then he drops summit apes.

Here’s where my opponent says I screwed the pooch and after rewatching I totally did. He’s at 11 with a summit apes and a goblin shortcutter. I have eel, and 2 crypt ripper with 7 black mana sources. I dropped an island making my Eel 4/4 and decided not to swing with just the eel. But If I had done the math I would’ve realize that he had to block both my guys or he dies. As a result he ended up dropping two more guys and being able to get me to 4 and spire barrage me out. so I lose game 2.

Game 3 on the play I keep 2 swamp, 1 Island, death scorpion, crypt ripper, urge to feed, whiplash trap.

He has a turn 1 goblin guide (for the record has anyone ever won with a turn 1 goblin guide in limited? I know I haven’t) revealing halimar excavator which I play on turn 2. His turn 2 is Basilisk Collar. SERIOUSLY?!. I swing w/ my 1/3 and drop another 1/3 in Death Scorpion. Instead of equipping he plays claws of valakut putting me to 14 since I can’t block it. His GG gives me a swamp and I rip another swamp on my turn. I attack him to 17 with my army of 1/3s and urge to feed his goblin guide. He has no play on turn 4 so I drop the ripper with one swamp up but I choose not to pump for fear of punishing fire or burst lightning or something. (while I haven’t seen these cards, I almost never tap out with ripper on the board if I can help it, he’s too important to let die).

On his turn he drops highland bezerker and equips the basilisk collar. I rip jwar isle refuge, drop it and then aether tradewinds it and his bezerker so I can beat in for 5 and catch him down to 8. He plays Spire Barrage on my ripper then passes and I swing him to 6. I topdeck dead reckoning which I use to get back my ripper and shoot his bezerker for 2 but he has groundswell to keep it alive! Haymakers are going left and right right now and I’m out of answers to his basilisk collar for the moment.

He goes, equip gear, plays a land and drops shortcutter and goes up to 10. My hand is whiplash trap and swamp with Crypt Ripper on top of my deck. I drop my ripper but he moved his collar to the shortcutter to hold me off. This turn he swings in and trades with my scoprion but goes up to 14. Then he equips his bezerker and passes. My draw is ritualist, so if I wait on attacks and whiplash trapping, I can let him gain more life but will be able to bounce in his end step, then make him discard his whole hand, basically taking him out of the game. So I wait again and he swings again and I don’t block so it’s 18-8 in favor of him and I’m pretty sure he thinks he has the game. He drops Crusher Zendikon in main 2 and passes. In his end step I bounce his enchanted land and his bezerker, then in my main2 I discard his hand with ritualist after swinging for 10. On his turn he rips a shortcutter and equips but I drew disfigure so I kill it and swing in for the win before he can try and re-stabilize with life gain.

So I win my first ever premiere event, pocketing 20 packs and 6 QPs. I’ve come up short on QPs the last two seasons with 7 each, but this season I’m already at 9 and it hasn’t even been a week, so at this point I’ll be just trying not to choke. But with a trip to New Orleans slated for next week I’m going to be hard pressed to fit in MODO. I’m also going to be missing one of almost a dozen PTQs online and in New England over the next two weeks, which is kind of a bummer, but I already let magic affect my every day life well… every day, I really don’t want to let it affect the special plans I make to take trips and do things with friends and/or babes.

Thanks for reading,

Mike Gemme
mike@power9pro.com
Bobbysapphire on MTGO

I work a lot.  Such is life in the restaurant industry.  Managing a bar means working late at night (Friday and Saturday) and that means less time for me to enjoy my favorite hobby.  Luckily for me, my wife is always willing to flop cards with me.  Now my wife is not Pro-Tour caliber, she doesn’t get excited over the latest expansion and everyday things don’t make her think of Magic cards.  However, my wife has an EDH deck (Sliver Overlord), she has her favorite card (Avatar of Woe),  and will pilot any deck I give her so I can practice.  In short, my wife is a casual player, really casual, ranking magic with Monopoly or Clue.  She sees it as a game; something to pass the time with on a rainy afternoon.  This is easy for me to understand but hard for me to relate with (how can she read Wild Mongrel and not get excited?).

One thing I have found to be difficult for the casual player is the release of new expansions every quarter.  Magic is a game that constantly evolves.  Each new card brings with it a text block of new rules which can be overwhelming for the casual player.  The casual player doesn’t tend to read spoilers or set reviews.  Living with a casual player has led me to find a great format for teaching/learning the newest set without needing to learn new cards in advance.  I am referring to Pack War (also called Booster War or MiniMaster).

Pack War is really simple:  Each player takes one booster pack and three of each basic land.  This will give a thirty card deck.  The rest is just plain old Magic; normal life totals, phases, and rules.  My wife and I keep the cards from the booster face down so we won’t know what is in our “deck” before hand, which adds an extra level of excitement.  There are many variations of the Pack War rules.  Some people do not allow Mulligans, others have a smaller starting hand size, I have even read about allowing all players access to as much mana of any color they want so there is no need to add land (Fireball = autowin).  When my wife and I were opening Shards of Alara we decided to only use two of each basic land since the color fixing was so good.  Pack War offers plenty of options for people wanting to play a quick game.

Pack War is a great way to make opening boosters a lot more fun.  It is even possible to squeeze in Pack War between rounds at a tournament.  It also gives really bad cards a chance to see some play (Feral Contest, Goblin Game).  Sure there is a bit more randomness to it, but I think that it adds to the charm.  Bojuka Brigand equipped with Kitesail ftw.

My favorite aspect of Pack War is that it is an easy way to teach the game of Magic.  I am always willing to teach people how to play and I find Pack War is simple without being overwhelming.  It allows us to focus on what the cards do and the basic mechanics of the game.  Pack War as a teaching tool is much more effective than using U/W Chapin vs. Jund.

Magic is my hobby and I devote a large amount of time towards it.  I research decks, use draft simulators, follow players on facebook, read articles and so on.  The casual player is not going to do these things.  When Wizards of the Coast decided to print less cards per year, they were addressing concerns from new/casual players.  Those players felt that the amount of cards was overwhelming.  Those players felt that they were too far behind and out of the loop.  Pack War addresses these concerns with its simplicity.  Pack War is a way to keep casual players somewhat up to date and it lets us teach the game without having to reference thousands of cards.  The next time you get some boosters, set some aside and try out Pack War.

While I was proofreading this article, I really got the itch to battle it out with some booster packs.  I went to the closest comic store and picked up their last two packs of Worldwake.  My wife and I used three of each basic land and got down to business.

My pack:

Bojuka Bog is not great in Pack War, but I liked the Angel and the Drake.

My wife’s pack:

O.O
Well, obviously my wife opened a great pack. Removal, check. Evasion, check. Chase Rare, check. Looks good. Which card had the biggest impact? It wasn’t old Blue Eyes. It was Brink of Disaster targeting my Graypelt Hunter to stop my early aggro. Caustic Crawler came down a turn later to prevent me from getting a decent block. The Crawler and the Shaman got me into the red zone pretty quick after that. Good stuff.  Go try Pack War for yourself, you won’t be disappointed.

When I found out that I was going to be able to write about cards for a real website on commission after ten years of playing cards, I swore I wasn’t going to allow myself to be one of those writers who drums up his personal life with exuberant stories of booze, broads and ballyhoo. However, my first PTQ top 8 happened to be occur when I was completely wasted, built my deck wrong, and stayed up 32 hours straight: From .08 to top 8.

My Magic weekend started at FNM, which was a draft event. We had three full pods and I split in the finals of mine with the guy I had beaten to get into the top 8 of New Hampshire States last month snagging $35 in credit. I didn’t do anything that night because I had to get up at 630 to make it to Boston for the first flight of the Pre Release so that I could do two and win as many Worldwake packs for team drafting in San Diego as I could. (I have a bad, bad habit of opening packs too often. So far I’ve only opened two Worldwake packs and I have 12 left so, if you see me in SD scrounging for packs, you know that I’m back off the wagon).

I get home around 10:30 (you can read about my escapades here) and immediately crack Lienenkugel Fireside Nut Brown (my favorite seasonal beer) and make some calls to see what’s what. My friend Steviegets is heading out to some bars with his babe, my brother is partying at college and my friend Justin is going to bed early so he can play in the 4am PTQ [/foreshadowing].

I decide to meet up with Steve at the bar and get there first grabbing a Guinness and wandering around for a few until he gets there. Though I’m Italian, I’m currently addicted to Guinness and my liquor or choice is Jameson’s Irish Whiskey; my grandmother would not approve.

Once Steve showed up with his gal and her friends things got a little saucier, apparently some girls were there for a bachelorette party at a random townie bar in central Massachusetts with a limo… so making fun of them was an immediate ice-breaker. Though it was my birthday in a couple days steve refused to do any shots with me, but one of his babe’s friends was into it and we ended up racing jagerbombs. I wish I could remember a lot after that, but the next thing I knew it was 2am in the morning, Steve was gone, the Jagerbomb girl was gone, I was in no shape to drive and I somehow remembered to close my tab that just happened to have all the jagerbombs on it (even when girls say they’re gonna split, they often don’t and I got burned).

I end up getting a ride home from a girl who does not like me and makes no qualms about bitching me out the entire ride home for what happened the last time we saw each other (censored) but let’s just say I took her out for Lobster dinner and never called her again.

So it’s about 3am and Justin is already up for the ptq and he’s amped up to play dark depths/foundry (DDT from here on out). I’m drunk talking to him online and also talking to my buddy and Pro Tour dream crusher Jason Ford who is at college in Minnesota and also wasted. He’s telling me about how he just spent about 70 tix putting Faeries together to play in the ptq. Well I’m jealous and I’m awake (and have been since 6:30) so now I’m playing in the ptq. I steal a bunch of zoo stuff from my friend andy’s account and sent him a pretty simple email: “I stole the zoo deck to play in this _____ ptq.”

So I’m building the deck and I realize that I need a hallowed fountain, so I go back on and take the hallowed fountain because I want [card]meddling mage [/card in my sideboard. here's the list I ended up with:

Notice the omission of the hallowed fountain. Meaning that I had only one blue source for my 4x meddling mage in the sideboard. Notice that there are only 20 land in a 4x steppe lynx deck.

Here’s the Sideboard

Everyone and Everyone have been playing DDT online lately and I had been talking about extended at the PreRe and how I thought fast zoo would be a great answer to that as I felt it could really get in there if it could survive the first few rounds. This sideboard is pretty standard and every card did work for me during the tournament at some point.

Well it’s 4am and I’m already dead tired, dreaming about things that I can do in between rounds to stay awake but really hoping that I don’t do mediocre and stay up all day for no reason.

Round 1 vs. Failtego – Scapeshift w/ blue

Game 1 I keep Goyf, Path, Lynx and 4 land.

I lead with lynx and he casts condescend my goyf on 2. Next turn I drop Kird ape and Goblin Guide and hit in, pathing his tribe elder to get more damage in, seeing as it’s going to fetch him a land anyway. He refeals firespout and repeals my guide. On his turn he casts firespout, I beat in with goblin guide on mine. He gets to 7 land and casts scapeshift and I win.

I board in meddling mages for paths and some ghost quarters in the off chance I can catch him without a basic mountain when he goes off.

Game 2 I keep a 1 lander with lynx, 2 lightning bolt, goyf, goblin guide and tribal flames

I lead with the guide. I draw a land on 2 and lay the goyf. I get him down to 8 and he firespouts and I rip my second tribal flames, playing both in consecutive turns to finish him out.

Game 3 I mull to 5 and keep Nactl, Teeg, Helix, Meddling Mage, which is a pretty bad 5 but if I draw 1 land I can get everything going. Unless that land is Ghost Quarter which was my first draw. My second draw is a verdant catacombs and I run gaddock teeg into remand two turns in a row. I finally land teeg after playing a goblin guide and beating in with it revealing scapeshift on the top. So in my end step I ghost quarters him to take him off mana or take shift off the top. Luckily he searches up the land buying me time and I’m able to get in for the win with gaddock teeg/meddling mage beats.

1-0

Round 2 vs. Backstreet playing hive mind.

I keept 3 land, flames, goblin guide and gaddock teeg x2.

I rip goyf with my first draw and decide to play it on turn 2 thinking that hive mind cannot possibly combo off on turn 2. Obviously the guy has rite of flame, seething song x2, hive mind, pact of the titan and I lose with 2 teegs in my hand.

Game 2 I keep 3 land, guide, goyf, helix, lynx.

That’s a pretty gassy hand and I beat up on him pretty fast. He can’t go off on turn 3 and I kill him on turn 4 as a result. No interactions.

Game 3 I keep 3 land, 2 goblin guide, steppe lynx, medding mage

He leads with telling time on turns 1 and 2. I go goblin guide and reveal a firespout so I drop meddling mage naming firespout. On my turn 3 I rip a kird ape and drop lynx, ape, guide and he’s got one turn to combo off and doesnt and I win on turn 4.

2-0

Round 3 vs. Nullname playing smallpox.

I keep 2 land, teeg, path, lynx, might of alara in game 1.

He wins the roll and thoughtseizes gaddock teeg away. I drop my links and he casts cry of contrition on it and then putrify to strip my hand. I draw another teeg and play it, next turn I beat in with might of alara to do some damage. He drops Kitchen Finks to recoup a bit then duresses me. I double bolt him in response to get him to 1 but he putrifies teeg and drops a goyf and I cannot catch up to two swings in a row with Goyf/Finks/Treetop Village.

I board in ancient grudges for the rack but that’s about it.

Game 2 I keep a one lander, which wasn’t smart but since he hadn’t cast smallpox in game 1 I kind of forgot about it. I kept: 1 Land, kird ape, tarmogoyf, goblin guide, lightning bolt, path, ancient grudge which is a pretty sweet one.

So i lead with kird ape and turn 2 I put the goblin guide out there. He smallpoxes and I lose the guide and my only land. So my board is just one GIANT kird ape. I don’t know if you’ve ever had just one creature on table, but they expand it to your whole board on MTGO and it’s pretty funny. He’s got no hand at this point so it’s draw, beat for 1, go. Eventually, I draw a bloodcrypt before I have to discard and he topdecks a goyf and starts beating in. I draw a second land, fetch up white and path it. I drop my own goyf which gets answered with a kitchen finks, which I path. He casts cry of contrition leaving me with just helix in my hand. I beat in with goyf before he can come up with a removal and end it next turn.

3-0

Round 4 vs. Gmomemo playing All in Red

This guy ended up with the Whammy (9th).

I didn’t rewatch these games, they were too painful.

Game 1 he hit an early deus, I pathed it and beat in before he could do anything other than cast a late blood moon.

it’s about this time I realized I just ran Juza’s list which runs a basic mountain and not a basic forest, which pretty much bones this deck. It was my friend Justin’s idea to start running basic forest in this over the mountain and I wish I thought of it when I was drunk 4 hours ago.

Game 2 he casts a turn 1 blood moon on the play and I can’t do anything but lose.

Game 3 I have meddling mage in my opener, I lay a land but have no play. He gets another turn 1 blood moon and I never play a spell. Lame.

3-1.

Here’s where my fast zoo vs. DDT theory will burn or bust (spoiler warning: it burns) out as I face 3 copies of the deck in a row.

Round 5 vs. BadDrafter playing DDT

The first game of this match is missing but I remember not playing around EE very well and still winning off of a topdecked path to exile to kill his token when I was otherwise (obviously) dead.

for all three of these games my boarding plan was as follows:

-2 might of alara
-4 steppe lynx
-1 mountain
-1 scalding tarn
-3 Gaddock Teeg

+3 Ghost Quarters
+4 Meddling mage
+3 Ancient Grudge
+1 Yixlid Jailer

Game 2 was a shitshow. I kept Nacatl, Flames, Meddling Mage, Goyf, Helix and 2 lands. He opens with double bob. I have no drop but I name meddling mage on thopter on turn 2. He EEs killing both his bobs and my meddling mage and goyf, leaving me with just Nacatl. He drops hexmage and depths but doesnt crack the token… which a lot of ppl don’t do (I used to not do it, but I learned that there’s usually not a reason to hold it in a lot of cases). Short story: I topdeck ghost quarter, play it, and beat him down with the nacatl and burn before he can find another way to beat me.

4-1

It’s about this time that I realize that my car is in the middle of downtown Worcester, MA and I need a ride. I call steve to come get me to bring me to my car and we get back to my place with seconds to spare. he goes home to shower and get coffee and will come back later on.

Round 6 vs. SipitHolla w/ DDT

Again game 1 is missing, but I know I won the game, I’m just not sure how.

Game 2 I have to mull to 4 and never get anything going. he gets the thopter combo when he’s still at 14 and I really just lose. (this is the only game in the swiss portion of the tournament that I lose to DDT)

Game 3 I keept Land, Land, Goyf, Ape, Flames, Ancient Grudge.

I lead with ape and follow it up with goyf. These guys beat in uncontested for a bit and then I cast tribal flames to put the nail in the coffin.

5-1

Round 7 vs. Fabian playing DDT

Game 1 I keep land x2, Kird ape x2, Bolt x2, Lightning Helix

I drop my apes and start beating in, eventually I get him to 11 with 3 lands in play and he drops hexmage and depths and pops the token. Luckily I’m still holding my two bolts and my helix, and I topdeck tribal flames for the overkill.

Unfortunately game 2 was missing from my replays =(. I do remember that I almost ran out of time and got disconnected, and reconnected with less than a minute left. I had Meddling mage on Engineered Explosives with a nacatl and then a second meddling mage, steve and I couldn’t really decide what to name. I thought thopter but he said it didnt matter (thought I can’t remember why), turns out he did have a thopter and it slowed me down a bit, but I was able to drop Yixlid Jailer beats to finish the game with less than 30 seconds left.

So now I’m in round 8 and kind of freaking out. I’ve been close to a top 8 before, but then I’d been well rested, I’d eaten and hydrated during the day. At this point it’s about 11:30 am and I’ve been up for 29 hours. In between rounds I’ve done stupid shit like dishes, trying to sleep (which didn’t happen once) and talking on the phone to justin and jason. I even played some standard games in the casual room but that just made me more tired.

Round 8 vs. Sergio_Dominaria playing Mystical Teachings

I keep 7 with Kird ape, Land x2, Teeg, Goblin Guide, Steppe Lynx and Might of alara.

I lead with ape which he paths. Then I drop lynx and beat in with it plus might. he drops engineered explosives so I attack and he pops it, then I play tribal flames to get him to 2 and drop a kird ape that I was holding back from when he dropped Engineered Explosives. I swing in with the ape but he plays teaching for Path to Exile tapping out. I drop Gaddock Teeg and he has nothing and Teeg does the last two.

I keep in the Teegs for this game but bring in Meddling mages, Tormod’s crypt and ancient grudges.

In game 2 I keept Kird ape x2, goyf, lightning bolt, flames and 2 land.

my first draw is tormod’s crypt, so I lay it and kird ape, then I pop a fetch hoping to play my goyf but he plays shadow of doubt to stop me so I just lay the second ape. Next turn I swing and he paths one (kind of counter intuitive to his shadow of doubt play) and I fetch up a plains and bolt him and pass. I draw a second goyf so I run the other one out there to get mana leaked in my second main phase. I keep pounding away at him with my kird ape which he decides to repeal. I then drop Teeg and Kird ape holding Flames, Helix and Goyf.

Teeg and Kird ape beat him down to 7 and he drops finks to go to 9. So I helix it in my end step and pop tormod’s crypt with the trigger on the stop so it can’t persist. I rip Goblin guide and swing to drop him to 3 then Drop my goyf hoping to draw out a counter but the goyf sticks and I have 10 attack on table with a tribal flames that can do 4 damage, but he still has 2 mana up so I pass. He taps 5 for baneslayer angel which now puts him out of range of my attacks. I rip meddling mage and drop it, he thinks for a bit and lets it stick. I have a decision to make: he has two mana up. I have seen one counter all game and that’s mana leak, so the odds would say to name spell snare. The odds always end up screwing me, but I name spell snare anyway and go for it with the flames and I win and I’m in the top 8.

I decide to take a shower but keep all the same clothes on, but I feel I might’ve washed most of my luck off of me. I won round 8 very quickly and it was a long wait to top 8. We went over the decks and in the top 8 were five DDT decks, my zoo, the mystical teachings I beat in round 8 and the UB control deck that went 8-0.

I finish in third after swiss and get paired against Tezzerator, the guy that beat my friend in round 4. He’s playing DDT.

I keep Lynx, Lynx Goyf and lands on the draw and rip a goyf so my luck is obviously still around. I lead with lynx and decide to go for the blitz after I rip might of alara and swing for 8, but he has the repeal, so I just redrop Lynx and pass. I swing and drop Lynx and a goyf on 3 with him at 18. He taps out his four lands to play thopter and sword. I play a fetch, cast tribal flames and swing for 12 to put him on 2 and finish him off with a bolt, dealing 18 damage in one turn. Suck on that Loam Lion.

So obviously my luck is still with me and I’m feeling really good after that total asskicking…….

Game 2 I Keep goblin guide, keeping 3 land, bolt, meddling mage, goyf

my first draw is helix. and I lead with the guide. He reveals depths. Turn 2 I swing in and he reveals hexmage, so I cast meddling mage naming Hexmage, which he deathmarks. I goyf then lay a freshly ripped ghost quarters. He deathmarks the goyf and I swing in with goblin guide which he repeals. He drops the thopter combo while at about 14 life and I can’t touch him from there.

I’m pretty bummed that my hot hand got stomped so quickly, but I have high hopes as that’s the only game I’ve lost where I haven’t had to mull to 4 vs. this deck…………………………………

Game 3 I mull to 5 and probably should’ve kept but boy my brother and steve convinced me that I couldn’t win with it, so I kept going to 4 and didnt hit a land. I never got to play a spell that game despite the game going for like 10 turns and my ptq run was over.

After losing, my focus and adrenaline went away and I felt really sick, like hungover. I was up for 32 hours straight, I got wasted and sobered up in an 8 hour span of wakedness (something I think your body usually recovers from when you sleep) and I crashed hard.

Some thoughts about zoo. I’ve ran with it a little bit since then and while it has been good vs. DDT, other things are still out there that give it problems.

One strategy I’ve seen work is to put damping matrix (some people have them in the main, this might be a stretch) and Bloodbraids to try and give yourself more chances to get it out. Damping matrix does blow out DDT a bit, but it’s not that hard to play around because DDT runs Echoing Truth and Into the Roil which bounce it and can be searched out by muddle.

If I were to continue running this list, I’d stick with Steppe Lynx over Loam Lion because of it’s explosiveness. I know I also errantly ran 20 lands, but I’ve run 21 lands since then and have been wholly disappointed as to how much flooding I’ve faced. I know I ran really hot in this ptq and had some really lucky topdecks and got past opponents who I played poorly against, but I felt the deck gave me a lot of chances to do that. I also wouldn’t run might of alara anymore, because of repeal and echoing truth being really popular right now.

That’s it for me.

Mike Gemme
Bobbysapphire on MODO
mike@power9pro.com

I just finished the book recently, and I must that it almost – almost reads like something you’d encounter in an English class. Seriously, it’s that deep IMO.  Magic fiction is better than it’s ever been, with 3 great novels in a row.  I look forward to the next Planeswalker novel, to feature Liliana Vess.

The Purifying Fire is the second installment in the planeswalker series of novels, following Ari Marmell’s Agents of Artifice. Written by Laura Resnick, an acclaimed fantasy and romance writer, this book is the tale of Chandra Nalaar, a pyromancer who seeks to hone her skills both at fire magic and the art of planeswalking.

The story begins in Regatha, a plane where the legendary Jaya Ballard once came to showcase her powers as one of the best pyromancers in history. Here, she founded the Kirilian monastery, where many practitioners of “the art of boom” seek to become the best they can be. Devoted to her craft, Chandra Nalaar has now planeswalked to Regatha in the hopes of learning to control the immense power that she has been given as a planeswalker.

However, all is not well in Regatha. A society called the Order of Heliud, comprised primarily of white mages, has decided that it is their duty to “bring peace and harmony to the land”. Sure enough, they attempt to outlaw the practicing of fire magic, because of the supposed inherently violent nature of anyone who wields it.

A free spirit with a fiery temper, Chandra will not stand for this, and engages on a reckless crusade to drive the dictators out of the plane she has learned to call home. However, there are those who would do anything in their power to stop her, from hordes of angry ouphes to fellow planeswalkers with allegiances and backgrounds more cryptic than those of Chandra herself.

Among them is a planeswalker named Gideon, a white mage who seems to be fighting both alongside and against the fiery heroine’s attempts at survival. Through her acquaintance with Gideon, Chandra becomes stronger on her quest to self-realization, while learning more about the Multiverse around her and the many different sides of white magic.

The Purifying Fire is unique in that it truly explores the mind of a planeswalker. Every single thought and feeling of Chandra is eloquently presented, and that’s what makes Resnick’s novel so intriguing. Although there are some obvious differences between planeswalkers and humans, the humanization of Chandra is quite remarkable. She suffers through many of the same trials and tribulations that humans must endure, and for this I must commend Mrs. Resnick.

Through the lands of Regatha, Kephalai, and Diraden, Chandra and the enigmatic Gideon showcase very different behaviors from their traditional colour stereotypes. Although she has the reckless passion known to red mages, she has a strong sense of loyalty to her fellow mages. Gideon on the other hand, promises peace and order in a way that Thomas Hobbes would have admired, the concepts of which are very white-aligned, but the means used to achieve that end most definitely are not. This intrigues my inner vorthos, as we see Chandra take on many traits not native to red, such as white’s sense of right and wrong, and blue’s love of knowledge. Gideon, on the other hand, is not as “pure” as he would have people believe; he shows many traces of black characteristics, such as the willingness to sacrifice human life to further their own agenda.

The Purifying Fire is a must-read for those of you who enjoy the rich storyline of Magic and the Multiverse. Whether you’re interested in the innermost workings of a planeswalkers mind, or are simply a fan of giant fireballs and explosions, you’ll love The Purifying Fire, on bookshelves now.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for future articles, email me at zak-AT-power9pro.com, or via my twitter feed at www.twitter.com/zturchan.

Cheers,

Zak

In the past, I’ve done “snap judgment” first impressions of spoiled cards as they appear on the interweb.  I got a late start on the Conflux spoiler, but here’s my first impressions of the initial 27 cards spoiled by mtgsalvation.  After each card, I give my impression along with (usually) some indication of how likely I feel the card is to appear in constructed and limited formats.

Enjoy!

Lapse of Certainty – 2W
Instant (Common)
Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner’s library instead of into that player’s graveyard.

A white counterspell is pretty damn awesome.  The top of the library thing is nice too, stalling them for a turn… however, there’s certainly times you would rather have the card truly countered.  Anyway, this seems like a winner to me.  Spells that have “when you play ___” abilities can use this card to get double mileage… I can’t see any readily apparent tricky uses for this, but I’m guessing it will see some play here and there.

Path to Exile – W
Instant (Uncommon)
Remove target creature from the game. Its controller may search his or her library for a basic land card, put it into play tapped, then shuffle his or her library.

Holy Moly!  Super duper bomb uncommon!  I almost think this is better than swords to plowshares.  Bomb.  Simply put: bomb.  I mean, this is as five-star as it gets.  Will see tons of play in all formats save perhaps vintage, but even there, it’s unlikely that the opponent has basics, so it’s probably more playable there than swords even.  F*cking awesome card.

Scepter of Dominance – 1WW
Artifact (Uncommon)
{W}, {T}: Tap target permanent.

Again, another awesome one.  Seems like an even better version of ring of gix, which was in some ways better than icy manipulator, in some ways worse, but certainly a turn faster.  This is a turn faster as well without the pesky echo issues.  Again, I have to think this is bomb-level good, especially in limited, but MAYBE good enough for some constructed archetype or other… Permanent is slightly better than “artifact, land, creature”… though it will seldom matter.

Wall of Reverence – 3W
Creature – Wall (Rare)
Defender, flying
At the end of your turn, you gain life equal to the power of a creature you control.
1/6

Also seems very good.  Limited bomb for sure.  I’m not entirely sure it’s contructed worthy, but then again, a deck that wants to hole up and stall loves this guy… if you’re Mr. Late game, this will help you get there for sure, even if you only start out gaining one life at a time… it’s not bad for a 1/6 flying wall to begin with… not terribly bad anyway… but the life gain makes it incredible.  This is a wall your opponent has to deal with.

Esperzoa – 2U
Artifact Creature – Jellyfish (Uncommon)
Flying
At the beginning of your upkeep, return an artifact you control to its owner’s hand.
4/3

Avi- and Chrono- get another sibling, eh?  The Zoa clan grows.  So far, this list is mostly pure gold… this is another card which I think will have HUGE impacts.  Such a powerful effect, and stapled to a huge flying beater… it appears to be a drawback, but dont be fooled.  This is a house.  Bounce your solemn simulacrum each turn… or bounce your ___________ (insert artifact with CIP ability here)… doesn’t matter… it’s going to be fucking good.  Stock up on these early before people figure out the broken deck it lives in and the price shoots up.  That’s my impression.

Scepter of Insight – 1UU
Artifact (Uncommon)
{3}{U}, {T}: Draw a card.

Worst card yet, but still somewhat worthy.  I’d play it in limited, cause sometimes you have nothing better to do on the opponent’s EOT… may as well dray in those cases…. if you draw twice with this, I think you’re getting good payback.  Outside of limited, I think this is pretty much a bookmark though.

Unsummon – U
Instant (Common)
Return target creature to its owner’s hand.

I love reprints that bump the value of my old Beta commons up by an order of magnitude or more.  I can’t wait to trade a beta unsummon for a real tournament rare.  This card is also sick.  Cheap and effective.  Love the reprint here.  This card has a pedigree of tournament play, if I’m not mistaken.

Worldly Counsel – 1U
Instant (Common)
Domain – Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control. Put one of those cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library.

Hey, dig that keyword!  Another reprint here.  F*cking a.  A good one!  This is awesome.  Also has tournament play under its belt.

Extractor Demon – 4BB
Creature – Demon (Rare)
Flying
Whenever another creature is put into a graveyard from play, you may have target player put the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Unearth {2}{B}
5/5

Hmmm… mill demon?  I’m not seeing it.  Unearth is okay on this guy… but I’m not seeing the mill thing working out unless you have some kind of myr retreiver like loop going on… outside of that kind of instant-mill combo, this is a silly dude, and I mean “silly” in the comical sense, not the ridiculously broken sense.

Scepter of Fugue – BB
Artifact (Uncommon)
{1}{B}, {T}: Target player discards a card. Play this ability only during your turn.

It’s no raven’s crime.  This was my initial thought on this one.  I think it’s too slow… if it cost 0 to cast, it’d be great.  B to cast, it’d be playable… At BB, I think it’s seriously outclassed by other discard options.

Sedraxis Alchemist – 2B
Creature – Zombie Wizard (Uncommon)
When Sedraxis Alchemist comes into play, if you control a blue permanent, you may return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand.
2/2

Conditional Man-O-War?  Sign me up!  Thumbs up here.  Also, it’s a f*cking wizard, so you can slide him right into this season’s extended nassif blue (”faeries”) deck, and start going to town with riptide lab.  I think he has a bright future.

Fiery Fall – 5R
Instant (Common)
Fiery Fall deals 5 damage to target creature.
Basic landcycling {1}{R} ({1}{R}, Discard this card: Search your library for a basic land card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.)

Hell yeah!  Well… hell yeah! to the basic landcycling anyway.  I think it’s good for red to have this fixer… lets them splash easy, and is a perfectly fine limited removal spell… not seeing it in constructed though.

Maniacal Rage – 1R
Enchantment – Aura (Common)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and can’t block.

Exodus, Invasion, and now conflux.  I think this one’s not so hot.  But certain red decks just want to get damage through, so MAYBE… I’m guessing it’s a bit player at best.

Might of Alara – G
Instant (Common)
Domain – Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each basic land type among lands you control.

WHAAAAAA!?  No.  They didn’t.  WAAAA?!  They made a functional reprint of Gaea’s Might.  So now you can run 8_Might.dec.  I think it should be hella good too.  Extended will probably feature something with fast and/or evasive dudes (TS shadow men maybe?) and lots of fetch lands into rav duals into swings for lethal very early.  I’m not sure you’ll really need all 8, but… I predict this will be a huge constructed card in some deck or other which does quite well.  Why not a direct reprint?  They wanted the domain keyword I guess, but then why not do what they did to worldly counsel?

Noble Hierarch – G
Creature – Human Druid? (Rare)
Exalted
{T}: Add {G}, {W} or {U} to your mana pool.
0/1

WTF?  These cards are incredibly good!  This guy’s a house!  Bant loves this fool.  I’m guessing that standard sees him play.  Stoic angel loves him.  Turn 3 angel should be the norm here.

Exploding Borders – 2RG
Sorcery (Common)
Search your library for a basic land card and put that card into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
Domain – Exploding Borders deals X damage to target player, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control.

Nice.  Not bad.  On the first shot, it should be lightning bolt plus rampant growth… so you’re paying a premium for that first shot.  Afterward though, you should get 4 and then 5 damage, so it’s more like a shrapnel blast plus rampant growth with no artifact sac… seems very good.  Probably a staple in the domain deck they’re pushing here… however, at 4cc, it’s very counterable.

Fusion Elemental – WUBRG
Creature – Elemental (Uncommon)
Fusion Elemental is like riding a pony, which probably doesn’t sound dangerous, except that in this case the pony is 300 feet tall and covered in chainsaws, and to get on the pony you have to take an elevator with sixteen live cougars.
8/8

Stupid mtgsalvation guys think they’re SOOOOO f*cking clever.  Just give us the cards, homies.

Anyway, this is a very boring domain cc 8/8.  A yawn and a half.  I hate this stupid card.  BUT.  Maybe it has some stupid synergy because it’s every color… I don’t know.  Seems shitty to me though.  It IS an elemental though, so it’s probably awesome.  Smokebraider makes him an easy 5-drop.  Then you can soul’s fire with him and sh*t like that.  I dunno.  I remain skeptical.

Giltspire Avenger – GWU
Creature – Human Soldier (Rare)
Exalted (Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
{T}: Destroy target creature that dealt damage to you this turn.
2/2

Wow.  I love it.  I mean… he’s obviously a limited bomb… I’m liking exalted more and more.  I think he’s pretty sweet.  Blech… I’m running out of steam for decent commentary I think… what do you say about this guy?  Obviously only fits into fairly dedicated bant decks.  But he fits right into the exalted theme.  You don’t mind sitting back with this guy.  I suspect you’ll hear the phrase “no blocks” more than once with this guy in play.

Goblin Outlander – RG
Creature – Goblin Scout? (Common)
Protection from blue
2/2

Hmmm… reminiscent of invasion block here.  Yavimaya Barbarian.  Somehow I think 8_barbarian.deck isn’t quite as awesome as 8_Might.dec.  Still… something LIKE this was part of “The Solution” right?  Keep this guy in the back of your Jund / Naya minds.

Malfegor – 2RRBB
Legendary Creature – Demon Dragon (Mythic Rare)
Flying
When Malfegor comes into play, discard your hand. Target opponent sacrifices a creature for each card discarded this way.
6/6

First Demon Dragon ever.  I like the one-word name legendary thing.  The effect is brutal.  Bombs all around I think.  He’s huge for 6 and flies.  He nukes opposing potential blockers and they’re sacrifices, not targetted removal.  You can pitch useless or extra lands and stuff.  Super-duper bomb.  Grixis and Jund love him.  They should be well poised to ramp into an early version of this guy too.  Being black helps him dodge some removal.  All around awesome.

Nacatl Outlander – GW
Creature – Cat Scout? (Common)
Protection from black
2/2

8_Llanowar_Knight.dec!  Yes!  (See above barbarian commentary)

Valeron Outlander – WU
Creature – Human Scout? (Common)
Protection from red
2/2

8_Galina’s_Knight.dec!  Yes!  (See above barbarian commentary)  This was the original “The solution” all-star I think.

Vedalken Outlander – UB
Artifact Creature – Vedalken Scout? (Common)
Protection from green
2/2

8_Vodalian_Zombie.dec!  Yes!  (See above barbarian commentary)

Zombie Outlander – BR
Creature – Zombie Scout? (Common)
Protection from white
2/2

… you get the picture… they reprinted functionally the whole stupid 2-drop protection from enemy color cycle from invasion.  Yawn….

Mana Cylix – 1
Artifact (Common)
{1}, {T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

Nice reprint.  Obvious one for this set.  Probably why they had it in f*cking planeshift.  Allow me an aside here…. I’m kind of getting sick of Invasion, Invasion lite, Diet Invasion, Invasion II, Invasion III, etc.  Every couple sets, they remake Invasion.  WTF?  To you guys who say Ravnica wasn’t Invasion II: it was.  And now we have Invasion III.  Pure and simple.  This one’s WAY the f*ck harder to deny than Ravnica was, because they have so many goddamn reprints.  Wizards sees no reason why they shouldn’t milk Invasion for everything it’s worth, which means every 3rd or 4th set will be the next invasion.  Get used to it.  Lightning just struck thrice.  End aside.

Obelisk of Alara – 6
Artifact (Rare)
{1}{W}, {T}: You gain 5 life.
{1}{U}, {T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.
{1}{B}, {T}: Target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
{1}{R}, {T}: Obelisk of Alara deals 3 damage to target player.
{1}{G}, {T}: Target creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.

Pretty cool I guess.  Kind of expensive to just start doing one mediocre effect per turn.  Debate topic: which effect is the best?

Exotic Orchard
Land (Rare)
{T}: Add to your mana pool one mana of any color that a land an opponent controls could produce.

Fellwar Pool!  Reflecting Stone!  Fellwar’s Orchard Pool Thing!  Awesome.  Staple.  Get a playset ASAP.  It’ll start cheap and climb.

The end!  Hope you dug it.  Lay it on me.  When am I right, when am I wrong?!

So at some point I had mis-read the location of one of hte PTQs I plan to attend.  The tournament organizer (MatchPlay) wasn’t in San Jose this past weekend (Dec. 6th).  I was REALLY lucky too.  I almost went to San Jose for nuthin’.  Lucky because I had emailed re: getting to the tournament and had check said email to see a note from the head judge stating, “we’re going to be in Sac, not San Jose.”  Doh!

I wasn’t able to attend the States competitions this weekend.  I did do a bit of playtesting with a friend.  He had two deck variations, both very control.  One was a Cruel-Control, the other was a Plainswalker deck.  Piloting a Doran deck, I was winning most of the matches.  I decided to pass on the trip to San Jose though, as my deck still had a number of weak points.  It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized my deck really just needs a Reveillark (well, 3 to 4 of them) to really pump up the power on it.  I mean, so what if they kill my doran?  I can just bring it AND a stillmoon cavalier back from the graveyard…this was sort of a duh moment.  Has anyone played a Reveillark-Doran.dec?

PTQ Update

In my last post I mentioned that I’d only be competing in two PTQs in December.  With a little LOT of finagling of the plans, I was able to arrange my trip to LA such that I can also attend the PTQ at Superstars on Dec. 20th.  Woohoo!

I should have the Dragon’s Egg with me at all three of the tournaments so I look forward to meeting you and showing off the Dragon’s Egg. 

Shards of Alara is barely a month old yet we have a full list of the next expansion to Shards, Conflux.

I’m not sure why we’re so impatient but we magic players can’t seem to be happy with what have have.  Good thing too, because that’s what keeps the awesomeness of Magic fresh: new cards with new mechanics.

You can see the full list at MTG Realm; thanks for posting it.

There will be a few reprints in the set:

• Mana Cylix
  obviously a good pick for mana fixing
• Maniacal Rage Will def’ be a good fit for fast Bant-Jund-Grix decks focusing on red
• Unsummon Boring and just marginally better than Excommunicate (which is only marginally useful…very marginally).
• Worldly Counsel This will be a good fit for Shards and at a pretty decent cost but I’m not sure it’s THAT high utility.  Good for a “one of” in a draft…maybe.
• The list also includes:  Nicol Bolas.  Wowzas.  7/7 fliers are really tough to deal w/ in drafts.  At one more (cc) than Cruel Ultimatum, it’s not THAT impressive to me but I know it will be tough to deal with because it’s such a game-swinger. Any guesses if Nioli will be run in Cruel-Control?
  

MTG Realm lists Nicol Bolas as a Plainswalker.  Not sure if it will be a reprint of the Legends card or a new release of Nicol as a Plainswalker.  [I'm goign to go look after I post this and will update the blog later if I find anything relavent].