The Grand Return

Hello Everybody!

After 11 weeks of inactivity, I am finally back! According to my little stats chart that tracks the amount of page views I get, I had 3,508 in May, 2,071 in June, 785 in July, and 0 in all of August so it's now time to fight back for my little piece of the world wide web to be noticed again. So here we go!

As has been true in 2009 and 2010 as well, I worked at Hidden Valley Scout Camp this summer. This past year I was the Emergency Skills director, so anything involving disasters or emergencies, whether logistical or first aid based, was all in my domain. But that's not what your here to read about (though if you want me to tell camp stories, I could probably write dozens of pages on stories!). You probably came to the magic blog to talk about tapping, untapping, and things of that variety.

As I have mentioned in previous posts regarding camp magic, it's very casual. Suprisingly though, I didn't see any white weenie decks getting played all summer. The popular deck this year was artifacts (which makes complete sense considering we just passed the artifact block), and there were 2 guys who I helped build UW control decks for. I didn't play a ton this summer, but I only lost 2 games all summer. The first game I was playing my UR Pyromancer Ascension deck and kept this opening hand for no good reason:

Island
Island
Island
Pyromancer Ascension
Foudre (Italian Lightning Bolt)
Burst Lightning
Volt Charge

I proceeded to draw more red spells and more islands for 5 turns until I finally drew preordain which got me a mountain, and I still was almost able to win. The other game I lost was a Vampires mirror match and I simply got aggro-ed out.

The decks I played with this summer were ANT, Painted Stone, Dredge, Birthing Pod Vampires, Pyromancer Ascension, Relentless Rats, Mono-Red, and Jund. I also had a Type 4 Stack with 160 or so cards in it that was very very popular. In hindsight, I probably should have built a deck that wasn't simply over the top powerful so I could get more games in because often people would only want to watch me play someone else so they could see the combo and never actually face it themselves. As such, I kinda took the role of coach/deckbuilder/judge this summer which was cool for a change. One of the things I have is a free box which is full of junk bulk commons/uncommons (read: Mindless Null) and I give any card in there out for free to anyone who wants it. That box was everyone's favorite destination in Staff Site! Having hundreds of Japanese New Phyrexia cards and Russian M12 cards didn't help most people, but the english cards were very popular.

Quote of the Moment:
"Magic is printed in other languages!?!?"
"Are foreign cards legal in Magic tournaments?"
-Very Casual Staff Members

To which I refer them to this awesome announcement: Magic in Korean

Many people started with nothing and completely made decks out the cards in that box, which I glad to help them with. After all, that's just my proxy box, so I wasn't going to do anything with it anyways. Overall I had a ton of fun this summer changing lives and teaching merit badges and offering the camp programs, but also the magic scene was fun in a very different mannor.

If you follow card prices, you probably noticed the shit hit the fan approx 2 weeks ago when Modern was officially declared as the PT Philly format. Here are some noticable price jumps:

Grove of the Burnwillows:  3 -- 21   x7
Vendillion Clique:             12 -- 41   x3.4
Vesuva:                            10 -- 31  x3.1
Gifts Ungiven:                     3 -- 8    x2.6
Life From the Loam:           6 -- 16   x2.6
Tooth and Nail:                  9 -- 18    x2
Pact of Negation:              11 -- 21   x1.9
Sower of Temptation:         6 -- 10    x1.6
Spell Snare:                        3 -- 5    x1.6
Horizon Canopy:                6 -- 9    x1.5
Tarmogoyf:                      71 -- 110  x1.5
Mutavault:                        23 -- 31    x1.3

And the Shocklands all almost doubled in price:
Hallowed Fountain: 21 -- 40
Watery Grave: 16 -- 30
Blood Crypt: 13 -- 24
Stomping Grounds: 14 -- 24
Temple Garden:  13 -- 23
Godless Shrine: 14 -- 28
Steam Vents: 14 -- 31
Overgrown Tomb: 11 -- 23
Sacred Foundry: 10 -- 21
Breeding Pool: 17 -- 36

I sadly traded off 4 shock lands this summer as part of a huge trade, but I did get 2 Tarmogoyfs back in addition to other stuff, so its not that bad off. Here was the big trade of the summer and the current values:

My:
2x Bayou (74, 148)
Volcanic Island (76)
Stomping Grounds (24)
Godless Shrine (28)
Sacred Foundry (21)
Overgrown Tomb (23)
Umezawa's Jitte (22)
Sword of Light and Shadow (33)
Illusions of Grandor (3)
Total: 378

His:
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas (27)
2x Wasteland (56, 112)
2x Glimpse of Nature (17, 34)
2x Tarmogoyf (110, 220)
Abeyance (4)
Secluded Glen (2)
Hex (0.50)
Goblin grenade (1)
Krark's Thumb (0.50)
Total: 401

So overall, I went +23 on this trade, which didn't turn out so bad considering I shipped all those shocklands at 11 a piece and lost a lot of potential money on them. Regardless, I still have a Sacred Foundry in my binder I got for 6 at a store in Manchester's shelf.

Anyways, this post was a little all over the place, but ultimately I am back and ready for an epic year on Innistrad. Until next time, Stay Classy!