Hello everyone!
I have been playing a ton on Magic Workstation this past week, which does great for deck building solo, but often lacks in collaborating with others. Usually a lot of the people you meet online are hotheaded, n00bs, or just manage to annoy you (I had one guy who would try to pass phases for me, including passing turn despite me clicking "Thinking" a million times over). However, occasionally you run across someone who is legitimately cool (whether I fall into this category is up to your discretion). A few times I have run across people playing powerful rogue decks that were simply enjoyable to see happen. I too have been playing an interesting rogue deck:
4x Memnite
4x Signal Pest
4x Kuldotha Rebirth
4x Intangible Virtue
4x Galvanic Blast
4x Midnight Haunting
3x Master's Call
2x Chimeric Mass
3x Rally the Peasants
2x Vault Skirge
4x Flayer Husk
2x Mox Opal
7x Plains
7x Mountain
4x Clifftop Retreat
2x Contested Warzone
Sideboard:
4x Shrine of Loyal Legions
4x Mirran Crusader
3x Brimstone Volley
4x Arc Trail
This deck has been testing fairly well, and can be incredibly explosive. HOWEVER, it can also sit there and do a whole lot of nothing. Theres a large split in this deck between token makers and token enablers. Usually drawing infinite token makers isn't the problem, but instead drawing all the enablers. In the sideboard, we have Shrine of Loyal Legions against control decks, and W/x human decks. Mirran Crusader is awesome against UB Control and Solar Flare. Brimstone Valley is good against Red Deck as removal and a racing tool, and finally Arc Trail helps you against this weenie infested Meta.
However today I am not talking about my innovations, but instead cool decks i have on the other side of the battlefield. Since I was just talking about standard, lets talk about a sweet combination of two very powerful decks: Wolf Run Ramp and Chapin Grixis Control. I have been thinking about trying out Olivia in a Jund list since worlds, but I was beat to it. Wolf Run Jund was a small deck during states as a way to beat the mirror (Memoricide, just like in Valakut), but this deck goes a step further and plays Olivia Voldaren to much profit as well! Olivia Voldaren has this thing for a man with tons of mana.... (MTG drama! Lotus Cobra, "you're leaving me??" never mind, I'm not going to let myself get carried away....)
1x Birds of Paradise
3x Olivia Voldaren
4x Primeval Titan
4x Solemn Simulcrum
1x Viridian Emissary
3x BSZ
1x Army of Damned
3x Curse of Death's Hold
3x Doom Blade
3x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Rampant Growth
4x Sphere of the Suns
6x Swamp
4x Inkmoth Nexus
2x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Mountain
1x Dragonskull Summit
3x Copperline Gorge
5x Forest
4x Woodland Cemetery
There was no sideboard for this deck. After the match we discussed the deck a little, and it was quickly agreed upon that the Army of the Damned should be cut for an Inferno Titan. Also, I suggested running Slagstorm instead of Black Sun's Zenith. This does lead to an interesting discussion though: Black Sun's Zenith vs Slagstorm. I think Slagstorm is better right now because it's faster and more efficient. However, it is important to note the merits of Black Sun's Zenith: it can kill bigger threats like Hero of Bladehold, Phyrexian Obliterator, and Thrun, the Last Troll. However, we have Doom Blade, can outrace Obliterator, and we frankly don't care about Thrun (also he is probably in our SB as well!). One last reason that we may not want to run Slagstorm is the mana. This deck is primarily GB, only splashing red for Kessig Wolf Run and Olivia Voldaren. However between Rampant Growth, Sphere of the Suns, Solemn Similacrum, and Primeval Titan (never mind Birds of Paradise and Viridian Emissary) the mana in this deck is VERY consistent.
Some notable omissions from traditional Wolf Run Ramp is Garruk (big and small), Devil's Play, and Beast Within. Obviously in terms of creatures Doom Blade is far superior to Beast Within, and frankly there's not a lot of artifacts and Planeswalkers going on right now, however I feel adding in 1 Acidic Slime as a Zenith target isn't a bad idea. Devil's Play is the get out of jail free card, but I don't think that's the type of effect we're looking for here. And finally, Garruk. He is very powerful, and it might even be a replacement for the Curse of Death Holds (-3 Curse, +2 Garruk Primal Hunter, +1 Garruk Relentless). Curse is only good against the aggro decks, but doesn't do anything against control and the mirror. However, the way things are right now, it's kinda like when Flashfreeze was main deckable because of the dominance of Jund, so either choice is defensible (though Curse has to at least go in the board).
But that's just Standard! I want to touch upon Modern quickly with 2 decks I played against recently: Enchantress and Enduring Ideal.
4x Mesa Enchantress
4x Verduran Enchantress
1x Cage of Hands
2x Faith Fetters
3x Fertile Ground
3x Ghostly Prison
3x Journey to Nowhere
2x Leyline of Sanctity
4x Oblivion Ring
3x Sigil of the Empty Throne
3x Trace of Abundance
4x Utopia Sprawl
4x Harmonize
8x Forest
4x Horizon Canopy
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
1x Stomping Ground
2x Temple Garden
SB
2x Torpor Orb
2x Wheel Sun and Moon
2x Circle of Protection: Red
2x Choke
3x Blood Moon
1x Emrakul
1x Ghostly Prison
2x Leyline of Sanctity
I have been playing a bunch of Legacy Enchantress recently, and this list made me very excited! I hadn't put any time or thought into a Modern Enchantress list, but this one is fairly solid. We took plenty of time to throw wrenches at each other's deck lists (I was playing Dredge and got destroyed by Ghostly Prison). This list seems tuned for the meta as I currently understand it right now (which is everything based on creatures or Storm/Ad Nauseum). The only real change I could suggest was a 1-of Idyllic Tutor, but that's a pretty bad card. This deck definitely is in a race from the first turn, as there is no Solitary Confinement 100% lock, which is why we need 3 Sigil of the Empty Throne to build up a board presence faster. Double Sigil, Journey you're dude, GG?
The last deck I want to spotlight on I wasn't able to get a list for, but it's a combo that I finally learned after hearing about it in passing once or twice: Enduring Ideal. Enduring Ideal was part of a 5-piece cycle from Saviors of Kamigawa, which really sucked as a set. The other cards in the cycle were all mediocre, but Enduring Ideal wound up being the only one that made an impact. Here's the combo:
Enduring Ideal --> Dovescape
Enduring Ideal --> Meishin, the Mind Cage
Enduring Ideal --> Form of the Dragon
If your opponent has a huge board position, you can switch Meishin and Dovescape. Because you are creating a copy of Enduring Ideal and not casting it, it curcumvents Dovescape from preventing it from being cast. This way, you have protection from spells and creatures (well.... not Emrakul) while having your opponent on a 4-turn clock. The rest of the deck plays control like Remand and ramp like Lotus Bloom and Seething Song. It's not a deck I am particularly interested in playing, but it does seem cool and different. It's just a big old 1-card combo kill!
That's all I have for today! It's really great to see others innovating in all the formats, beyond what is being featured in SCG opens and the GP/PT circuit. Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
rLack on MWS
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
5 Color Epic!
Hello Everybody!
I exclusively talk about Standard, Modern, Legacy, and Limited in this blog, but today is going to be different. One of the Legacy guys, Matt, has a pair of decks in a format that I had never heard of before: Prismatic. The premise of the format is that you have 500 card decks that require a minimum of 25 cards of each color.
Matt has 2 decks: a control deck and a Storm deck. Naturally I took the storm deck. Because of the unique deck building restrictions, there are some busted cards that are legal as 4-ofs like Channel and Mind's Desire! Also, cool 1-ofs like Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall make a cameo, so you may just be lucky enough to break the 1/300 odds and draw that bomby card! A really cool card that Matt tossed in both decks is Future Sight. This card is INSANE when trying to combo off and you cast cards that shuffle library! Every shuffle becomes another card just drawn!
We have been playing for 2 weeks now, and in our first week I simply couldn't lose! But maybe that's because I was consistently hitting Mind's Desire off other Mind's Desires (We lost the storm count at 50, and we stopped caring enough to actually shuffle and take the top card for each Mind's Desire trigger. Instead I just grabbed a chunk of library and flipped it over and played everything there). However, week 2 was a whole lot of me not drawing lands and getting everything relevant countered while getting beat down by 1/x and 2/x creatures.
As I was talking to Matt, he told me there was actually a small following for Prismatic, and there was even a few "known meta decks". The most annoying of these of course is known as Cheaty Red. Cheaty Red abuses Hybrid mana featured in Ravnica block and Shadowmoore block. Some awesome standout cycles are the Guildmage cycle, Liege cycle, and the Spirit Avatar cycle (Deus of Calamity, Demigod of Revenge). Abusing those cards lets the deck meet the "25 cards in each color" requirement while still just playing 115 mountains (which is just the equivalent of 23 lands in a 60 card deck).
While I don't think I will actually get into this format, nor will I think it will gain a major following, it is a cool format to borrow a friend's deck for and casually think about. The problem with the format is that is requires a TON of cards, and the deck building requirements can be enough to scare people away. Also, I fear people will try to make more consistent decks mana-wise and start dropping colors in the same way that Cheaty Red does, which then takes the essence of the format and pulls it out beneath its own feet.
If you're looking for a really nutty format that is even MORE random than commander, look no further than Prismatic! From mana-skrew every game (but for a different color each time all round the wheel), to piling on all the epic spells every turn (sidenote: imagine if the Epic Spells from Saviors of Kamigawa were actually epic?), Prismatic is a format with incredibly high replay value!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
I exclusively talk about Standard, Modern, Legacy, and Limited in this blog, but today is going to be different. One of the Legacy guys, Matt, has a pair of decks in a format that I had never heard of before: Prismatic. The premise of the format is that you have 500 card decks that require a minimum of 25 cards of each color.
Matt has 2 decks: a control deck and a Storm deck. Naturally I took the storm deck. Because of the unique deck building restrictions, there are some busted cards that are legal as 4-ofs like Channel and Mind's Desire! Also, cool 1-ofs like Black Lotus and Ancestral Recall make a cameo, so you may just be lucky enough to break the 1/300 odds and draw that bomby card! A really cool card that Matt tossed in both decks is Future Sight. This card is INSANE when trying to combo off and you cast cards that shuffle library! Every shuffle becomes another card just drawn!
We have been playing for 2 weeks now, and in our first week I simply couldn't lose! But maybe that's because I was consistently hitting Mind's Desire off other Mind's Desires (We lost the storm count at 50, and we stopped caring enough to actually shuffle and take the top card for each Mind's Desire trigger. Instead I just grabbed a chunk of library and flipped it over and played everything there). However, week 2 was a whole lot of me not drawing lands and getting everything relevant countered while getting beat down by 1/x and 2/x creatures.
As I was talking to Matt, he told me there was actually a small following for Prismatic, and there was even a few "known meta decks". The most annoying of these of course is known as Cheaty Red. Cheaty Red abuses Hybrid mana featured in Ravnica block and Shadowmoore block. Some awesome standout cycles are the Guildmage cycle, Liege cycle, and the Spirit Avatar cycle (Deus of Calamity, Demigod of Revenge). Abusing those cards lets the deck meet the "25 cards in each color" requirement while still just playing 115 mountains (which is just the equivalent of 23 lands in a 60 card deck).
While I don't think I will actually get into this format, nor will I think it will gain a major following, it is a cool format to borrow a friend's deck for and casually think about. The problem with the format is that is requires a TON of cards, and the deck building requirements can be enough to scare people away. Also, I fear people will try to make more consistent decks mana-wise and start dropping colors in the same way that Cheaty Red does, which then takes the essence of the format and pulls it out beneath its own feet.
If you're looking for a really nutty format that is even MORE random than commander, look no further than Prismatic! From mana-skrew every game (but for a different color each time all round the wheel), to piling on all the epic spells every turn (sidenote: imagine if the Epic Spells from Saviors of Kamigawa were actually epic?), Prismatic is a format with incredibly high replay value!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Musing Modern
Hello everybody! Recently I downloaded Magic Workstation (MWS), which in case you don't know is like Magic Online except free, and so I have been testing a couple decks online that I wouldn't conveniently have the means to do IRL. Mainly I have been testing Legacy and Modern. In Legacy I have been rocking Enchantress and Aluren, but Modern is where I have been spending all of my time recently, slowly touching up and improving my Dredge deck. Right now I feel the deck is doing well overall, but there is definitely room for improvements. Here's how it looks right now:
4x Fauna Shaman
4x Vengevine
4x Hedron Crab
3x Birds of Paradise
4x Enclave Cryptologist
4x Extractor Demon
2x Sedraxis Specter
2x Skaab Ruinator
4x Oona's Prowler
4x Stinkweed Imp
3x Visions of Beyond
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Forest
2x Island
3x Creepig Tar Pit
2x Watery Grave
3x Breeding Pool
Sideboard:
2x Nature's Claim
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Doom Blade
1x Go for the Throat
4x Maelstrom Puse
4x Spell Pierce
For a while I was trying a snapcaster package sideboard, but it was way too clunky to actually do anything. The sideboard is always where I am shakiest... However, I think this one has a few good ones with Obstinate Baloth and Doom Blade/GftT against Zoo and Red Deck, Spell Pierce against Control, and Maelstrom Pulse against anything I may need it against. I would consider cutting 2 nature's claims and a Pulse if I found something better that I wanted.
Oona's Prowler is something very new that I am trying out, but I really like it so far, replacing it 1-for-1 with Tarmogoyf. In this deck by itself goyf is usually a 2/3 and sometimes a 3/4, so I have to have opponents cast sorceries and planeswalkers and artifacts for him to get any better. Whereas Prowler offers the same amount of power, but has evasion as well and provides a 0 mana discard outlet for your 6 unearth cards and Vengevine. Yes, your opponent can discard cards to knock its power down, but I am perfectly fine with that. Because of Prowler, we don't need to run cards like City of Brass to make Sedraxis Specter better.
One thing this deck lacks right now is a powerful redundant mill engine. Right now the only self mill cards are Stinkweed Imp and Hedron Crab. However, that's what is awesome about this deck, is that it is not solely reliant upon the graveyard. With Oona's Prowler and Fauna Shaman we can still punch them in the face without worry. That's 16 cards we want in our opener, which is very good odds.
But that's not all there is in modern. There's the traditional offenders like Zoo and Red Deck and Twin, but there are some other awesome decks that I have been seeing online. Some of these include Enchantress, Burning Vengeance, Merfolk, and Soul Sisters! Modern seems to be an awesome format right now, and I plan on looking into the data from the upcoming PTQ season!
Thats all I have for today! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
4x Fauna Shaman
4x Vengevine
4x Hedron Crab
3x Birds of Paradise
4x Enclave Cryptologist
4x Extractor Demon
2x Sedraxis Specter
2x Skaab Ruinator
4x Oona's Prowler
4x Stinkweed Imp
3x Visions of Beyond
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Forest
2x Island
3x Creepig Tar Pit
2x Watery Grave
3x Breeding Pool
Sideboard:
2x Nature's Claim
2x Obstinate Baloth
2x Doom Blade
1x Go for the Throat
4x Maelstrom Puse
4x Spell Pierce
For a while I was trying a snapcaster package sideboard, but it was way too clunky to actually do anything. The sideboard is always where I am shakiest... However, I think this one has a few good ones with Obstinate Baloth and Doom Blade/GftT against Zoo and Red Deck, Spell Pierce against Control, and Maelstrom Pulse against anything I may need it against. I would consider cutting 2 nature's claims and a Pulse if I found something better that I wanted.
Oona's Prowler is something very new that I am trying out, but I really like it so far, replacing it 1-for-1 with Tarmogoyf. In this deck by itself goyf is usually a 2/3 and sometimes a 3/4, so I have to have opponents cast sorceries and planeswalkers and artifacts for him to get any better. Whereas Prowler offers the same amount of power, but has evasion as well and provides a 0 mana discard outlet for your 6 unearth cards and Vengevine. Yes, your opponent can discard cards to knock its power down, but I am perfectly fine with that. Because of Prowler, we don't need to run cards like City of Brass to make Sedraxis Specter better.
One thing this deck lacks right now is a powerful redundant mill engine. Right now the only self mill cards are Stinkweed Imp and Hedron Crab. However, that's what is awesome about this deck, is that it is not solely reliant upon the graveyard. With Oona's Prowler and Fauna Shaman we can still punch them in the face without worry. That's 16 cards we want in our opener, which is very good odds.
But that's not all there is in modern. There's the traditional offenders like Zoo and Red Deck and Twin, but there are some other awesome decks that I have been seeing online. Some of these include Enchantress, Burning Vengeance, Merfolk, and Soul Sisters! Modern seems to be an awesome format right now, and I plan on looking into the data from the upcoming PTQ season!
Thats all I have for today! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Looting Faith
Hello Everybody! Dark Ascension is still 2 months away, but today we got our first preview card from WotC! Its a common, but it is going to be a staple in every format! I present Faithless Looting:
Does card seem familiar to you? It's an almost strictly better version of Careful Study, with the only downside being the color shift. However, that's not really a downside because the only format Careful Study is legal in is Legacy, where you can play any colors you want, and players like Caleb Durward play Wild Nacatl and Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the same deck!
In fact, the deck that best abuses Careful Study is Dredge, which already plays 5 colors with its City of Brass, Undiscovered Paradise, and Gemstone Mine (If you are playing Tarnished Citadel in your dredge deck, come over here so I can smack you). An opening hand with Careful Study and a Dredger was good enough by itself because of the sheer power of the Dredge engine, but adding Flashback to it is nuts!!!! I can think of tons of games playing Dredge where I get flooded and have 3 or 4 lands in play. In those situations, flashing back a Faithless Looting can be completely game breaking! By the way.... you can dredge into more of them! What if you don't have 3 lands in play, and never will? Then you have a red Careful Study in your graveyard..... Same exact value that Careful Study was previously providing. Normally with a new card I would post a sample decklist, but all you have to do to update Dredge is: -4 Careful Study, +4 Faithless Looting. Another deck to note that plays Careful Study is Reanimator, which I can see having them add in 1 Volcanic Island and 1 Mountain and cutting the Careful Studys for Faithless Looting.
So that's legacy in a wrap: this card is strictly better so replace them 1-for-1, but where can this go in Standard? It is incredibly important to note the difference between this card and Desperate Raving:
Desperate Ravings:
7 cards in hand
cast Desperate Ravings
6 cards in hand
Draw 2 cards
8 cards in hand
Discard 1
7 cards in hand
Net: 0
Faithless Looting:
7 cards in hand
cast Faithless Looting
6 cards in hand
Draw 2 cards
8 cards in hand
Discard 2 cards
6 cards in hand
Net: -1
By casting Faithless Looting, we go down a card in hand, but we get to chose what we discard, which makes for some interesting decisions. What is also important to note, however is that Desperate Raving nets +1 card when flashed back, and Faithless Looting produces net 0. Naturally, the first deck that came to my mind for this card was Burning Vengeance. Imagine:
T1: Faithless Looting
T2: Mana Leak
T3: Burning Vengeance
With Faithless Looting, we're probably discarding things like Think Twice and keeping cards like Snapcaster Mage and Doom Blade in hand. I feel that any control deck playing red will want this card, but no deck will splash red for it. However, another thought is that RDW may pick up this card card and want it really bad as a 2-of. The worst thing that happens to a Red Deck player is flooding or simply topdecking cards that suck late-game like Shrine of Burning Rage. Playing a Faithless Looting could draw them into the lethal Incinerate and pitch crap like.... basic Mountain. In fact, as I mentioned on Facebook, you can play all basic mountains alongside Bump In the Night and never have any problems! Obviously we would play Blackcleave Cliffs and Dragonskull Summit, but it's good to think about. Maybe we have a deck like this:
4x Goblin Fireslinger
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Stormblood Berserker
3x Chandra's Phoenix
2x Faithless Looting
4x Shrine of Burning Rage
4x Galvanic Blast
4x Bump in the Night
4x Incinerate
3x Brimstone Volley
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
12x Mountain
This is a very burn-heavy style of Red Deck, but Grim Lavamancer seems WAY too good with Faithless Looting, as even dumping 2 lands is equivilent to another shock. Furnace Scamp is a card I was considering for the deck, along with Arc Trail. Depending on how things go when Dark Ascension rolls around, maybe a "mono-Bolt" style deck will be viable, where the goal of each card is simply to deal 3 or more damage. The inherent problem with those decks is that they don't interact with the board, but then again, they do suck to fight against as they get tons of free wins.
That's all I have for today! This innocuous common is secretly a bomb to be had from Dark Ascension, and I'm already excited! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Does card seem familiar to you? It's an almost strictly better version of Careful Study, with the only downside being the color shift. However, that's not really a downside because the only format Careful Study is legal in is Legacy, where you can play any colors you want, and players like Caleb Durward play Wild Nacatl and Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the same deck!
In fact, the deck that best abuses Careful Study is Dredge, which already plays 5 colors with its City of Brass, Undiscovered Paradise, and Gemstone Mine (If you are playing Tarnished Citadel in your dredge deck, come over here so I can smack you). An opening hand with Careful Study and a Dredger was good enough by itself because of the sheer power of the Dredge engine, but adding Flashback to it is nuts!!!! I can think of tons of games playing Dredge where I get flooded and have 3 or 4 lands in play. In those situations, flashing back a Faithless Looting can be completely game breaking! By the way.... you can dredge into more of them! What if you don't have 3 lands in play, and never will? Then you have a red Careful Study in your graveyard..... Same exact value that Careful Study was previously providing. Normally with a new card I would post a sample decklist, but all you have to do to update Dredge is: -4 Careful Study, +4 Faithless Looting. Another deck to note that plays Careful Study is Reanimator, which I can see having them add in 1 Volcanic Island and 1 Mountain and cutting the Careful Studys for Faithless Looting.
So that's legacy in a wrap: this card is strictly better so replace them 1-for-1, but where can this go in Standard? It is incredibly important to note the difference between this card and Desperate Raving:
Desperate Ravings:
7 cards in hand
cast Desperate Ravings
6 cards in hand
Draw 2 cards
8 cards in hand
Discard 1
7 cards in hand
Net: 0
Faithless Looting:
7 cards in hand
cast Faithless Looting
6 cards in hand
Draw 2 cards
8 cards in hand
Discard 2 cards
6 cards in hand
Net: -1
By casting Faithless Looting, we go down a card in hand, but we get to chose what we discard, which makes for some interesting decisions. What is also important to note, however is that Desperate Raving nets +1 card when flashed back, and Faithless Looting produces net 0. Naturally, the first deck that came to my mind for this card was Burning Vengeance. Imagine:
T1: Faithless Looting
T2: Mana Leak
T3: Burning Vengeance
With Faithless Looting, we're probably discarding things like Think Twice and keeping cards like Snapcaster Mage and Doom Blade in hand. I feel that any control deck playing red will want this card, but no deck will splash red for it. However, another thought is that RDW may pick up this card card and want it really bad as a 2-of. The worst thing that happens to a Red Deck player is flooding or simply topdecking cards that suck late-game like Shrine of Burning Rage. Playing a Faithless Looting could draw them into the lethal Incinerate and pitch crap like.... basic Mountain. In fact, as I mentioned on Facebook, you can play all basic mountains alongside Bump In the Night and never have any problems! Obviously we would play Blackcleave Cliffs and Dragonskull Summit, but it's good to think about. Maybe we have a deck like this:
4x Goblin Fireslinger
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Grim Lavamancer
4x Stormblood Berserker
3x Chandra's Phoenix
2x Faithless Looting
4x Shrine of Burning Rage
4x Galvanic Blast
4x Bump in the Night
4x Incinerate
3x Brimstone Volley
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
12x Mountain
This is a very burn-heavy style of Red Deck, but Grim Lavamancer seems WAY too good with Faithless Looting, as even dumping 2 lands is equivilent to another shock. Furnace Scamp is a card I was considering for the deck, along with Arc Trail. Depending on how things go when Dark Ascension rolls around, maybe a "mono-Bolt" style deck will be viable, where the goal of each card is simply to deal 3 or more damage. The inherent problem with those decks is that they don't interact with the board, but then again, they do suck to fight against as they get tons of free wins.
That's all I have for today! This innocuous common is secretly a bomb to be had from Dark Ascension, and I'm already excited! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Monday, November 21, 2011
Its a ChannelFireball World, We Just Live Here
Conley Woods - 1st
Paulo Vitor Dama Da Rosa - 2nd
Luis Scott Vargas - 3rd
Josh Utter-Leyton - 5th
Ben Stark - 14th
Shuuhei Nakamura - 16th
Owen Turtenwald - 33rd
David Ochoa - 37th
Brian Kibler - 54th
Martin Juza - 90th
Player of the Year: Owen Turtenwald
If that isn't a dominating team, I don't know what is! This past weekend, the last World Championships occurred in San Francisco. To absolutely no one's surprise, team Fireball dominated once again. In case you haven't noticed..... they win everything! Or at least if they don't win, they put a couple people in the top 8 in every single Pro Tour and most GPs. As you can see above HALF of the world's top 8 was Channel Fireball players! Conley Woods went 6-0 in Standard, 6-0 in Draft, and 4-2 in Modern, though his 2 losses were intentional scoops to PV and LSV to help them both get into the top 8 themselves. Unfortunately, team Fireball was playing arguably the worst deck possible for a best of 5 series, and so they all made quick departures from the top 8. Regardless, their domination can't go unnoticed!
So one of the important things to us commoners from worlds is how the results can affect the financial market. What's the big story of the weekend? Olivia Voldaren!
November 16th: 5.71
November 17th: 10.58
November 18th: 18.50
November 19th: 17.14
November 20th: 16.74
The card rose 324% in just 2 days! However, that being said: it has already dropped $2 in as many days, so the initial buzz is over, and we need to figure out where this card will reside. My guess is 13. I think Olivia is absolutely legitimate, as I played her at States to much satisfaction. This card has nothing but potential as people have already been musing about maybe putting her in a Jund control deck using other bombs like Daybreak Ranger to gain advantage on the board without investing more cards, and ultimately overwhelm the board and drop bombs. These are both decks that prey upon the current all-aggro metagame (called it last year!), and while I can't see that changing in the next two months, if amazing control cards come out of Dark Ascension (releases Feb 3) then we can see this deck disappear overnight, and in turn Olivia goes too.
So if Olivia is going up, something has to go down to balance the price of the pack, right? Well here are the other staple Innistrad prices:
Liliana: 38
Snapcaster: 27
Geist of Saint Traft: 16.5
Garruk Relentless: 26.5
Skaab Ruinator: 6.5
Isolated Chapel: 7
Clifftop Retreat: 3.5
Sulfur Falls: 5
Hinterland Harbor: 5
Woodland Cemetery: 5
Stromkirk Noble: 7
The few premium cards up top haven't shifted much, but notice how almost all of the dual lands have sunk about $2 (BW not moving and RW making up the difference). Skaab Ruinator has dropped off the face of financial relevancy though, as it is only a 1-of in any deck that wants to play it.
The next place we can attack financial scenes is through modern. However, there hasn't been too much coverage of modern. In fact, there are hardly any obvious dominating decks! Here is the majority of the data I have found, and clearly there is just a mess of random numbers and hardly helpful deck names. For Example: UR Faeries went 4-1. That sounds like a fantastic idea for a deck, but I have NO CLUE how I would start to implement that in practice.
This next PTQ season is Modern, so there will be tons of data rolling in soon, at which point random cards start exploding in price. But at the very least Shock Lands aren't a bad thing to be trading for right now....
Worlds was amazing! Congrats to Conley for his 17-3 run, congrats to Iyanaga for winning individual Worlds, and congrats to team Japan for winning the team event! That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Paulo Vitor Dama Da Rosa - 2nd
Luis Scott Vargas - 3rd
Josh Utter-Leyton - 5th
Ben Stark - 14th
Shuuhei Nakamura - 16th
Owen Turtenwald - 33rd
David Ochoa - 37th
Brian Kibler - 54th
Martin Juza - 90th
Player of the Year: Owen Turtenwald
If that isn't a dominating team, I don't know what is! This past weekend, the last World Championships occurred in San Francisco. To absolutely no one's surprise, team Fireball dominated once again. In case you haven't noticed..... they win everything! Or at least if they don't win, they put a couple people in the top 8 in every single Pro Tour and most GPs. As you can see above HALF of the world's top 8 was Channel Fireball players! Conley Woods went 6-0 in Standard, 6-0 in Draft, and 4-2 in Modern, though his 2 losses were intentional scoops to PV and LSV to help them both get into the top 8 themselves. Unfortunately, team Fireball was playing arguably the worst deck possible for a best of 5 series, and so they all made quick departures from the top 8. Regardless, their domination can't go unnoticed!
So one of the important things to us commoners from worlds is how the results can affect the financial market. What's the big story of the weekend? Olivia Voldaren!
November 16th: 5.71
November 17th: 10.58
November 18th: 18.50
November 19th: 17.14
November 20th: 16.74
The card rose 324% in just 2 days! However, that being said: it has already dropped $2 in as many days, so the initial buzz is over, and we need to figure out where this card will reside. My guess is 13. I think Olivia is absolutely legitimate, as I played her at States to much satisfaction. This card has nothing but potential as people have already been musing about maybe putting her in a Jund control deck using other bombs like Daybreak Ranger to gain advantage on the board without investing more cards, and ultimately overwhelm the board and drop bombs. These are both decks that prey upon the current all-aggro metagame (called it last year!), and while I can't see that changing in the next two months, if amazing control cards come out of Dark Ascension (releases Feb 3) then we can see this deck disappear overnight, and in turn Olivia goes too.
So if Olivia is going up, something has to go down to balance the price of the pack, right? Well here are the other staple Innistrad prices:
Liliana: 38
Snapcaster: 27
Geist of Saint Traft: 16.5
Garruk Relentless: 26.5
Skaab Ruinator: 6.5
Isolated Chapel: 7
Clifftop Retreat: 3.5
Sulfur Falls: 5
Hinterland Harbor: 5
Woodland Cemetery: 5
Stromkirk Noble: 7
The few premium cards up top haven't shifted much, but notice how almost all of the dual lands have sunk about $2 (BW not moving and RW making up the difference). Skaab Ruinator has dropped off the face of financial relevancy though, as it is only a 1-of in any deck that wants to play it.
The next place we can attack financial scenes is through modern. However, there hasn't been too much coverage of modern. In fact, there are hardly any obvious dominating decks! Here is the majority of the data I have found, and clearly there is just a mess of random numbers and hardly helpful deck names. For Example: UR Faeries went 4-1. That sounds like a fantastic idea for a deck, but I have NO CLUE how I would start to implement that in practice.
This next PTQ season is Modern, so there will be tons of data rolling in soon, at which point random cards start exploding in price. But at the very least Shock Lands aren't a bad thing to be trading for right now....
Worlds was amazing! Congrats to Conley for his 17-3 run, congrats to Iyanaga for winning individual Worlds, and congrats to team Japan for winning the team event! That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
TNT Legacy *1-2*
Hello everybody!
This past sunday, we once again had our usual Legacy Tournament, and I was really hoping to be able to play Enchantress this week. I had about 25 proxies and just a 5 card sideboard, but I was able to pull it off with 13 proxies across the main and board! Fetchlands went from being Onslaught fetches to ZEN fetches (6 total) and I was able to borrow a Savannah and a couple other cards in niche time.
So how does Enchantress play out?
Well, hopefully you keep a hand with at least 1 piece of acceleration (Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl), a card draw engine, and basically any other enchantment. We only ever lose to a fast non-interactive combo deck with this kind of hand. From there you ramp up and start drawing extra cards. The power from this comes by the fact that all your disruption is proactive, and then you get to draw a ton of extra cards in the process. Unlike Standard Burning Vengeance where an early Burning Vengeance is often what helps you win games through a slow bleed of damage, Enchantress wins almost completely in one turn whether its through stacking a ton of draw triggers and burning face with Words of War or making an instant army with Sigil of the Empty Throne, so not losing is priority #1.
Round 1: vs Benzo (MB epic)
I don't remember how any of our games went specifically, but I know his deck can often be a little tricky. With heavy hand disruption, Phyrexian Arena, and Bob, he usually has more cards in hand, and with guys like Nantuko Shade and Korlash Heir to Blackblade he can close the game out fast. However, I felt I had a very good matchup thanks to the fact that black doesn't get Enchantment removal and I had Elephant Grass. Game 1 was a breeze, but game 2 got awkward when he played Nevinyrral's Disk. I had another Enchantress's Presence in hand, so I stockpiled a hand and after he blew the disk, I dumped my hand again. However, I still lost that game when he attacked me down to 5 and played Obliterator, which made him have exactly 1 more guy than I could deal with, and my Mirri's Guile didn't get me the Grass. Game 3 was textbook though, and I was feeling great about the deck!
2-1
1-0
Round 2: vs Matt, Transmuter Combo
This matchup was very hard for me, as Matt loves his Chalice of the Voids on 1, which he naturally got on turn 1. I was able to land a Mirri's Guile before that though, and then an Argothian on turn 2. So on turn 3 I looked with my Mirri's Guile and saw another Guile, and 2 Wild Growths. I just used them as G: cycling to start drawing through the deck until I found action. And by action I mean Replenish, which game me an instantly huge board position. However, on the other side of the table, Matt played a Master Transmuter and dropped a Sundering Titan into play triple stone raining me, as my only Taiga was in play. He then would bounce Sundering Titan back to his hand (it blows up land when it leaves play too!) and dropped in Steel Hellkite, which did a nice job mocking my Moat that I had in play. Steel Hellkite is awesome when it works, and we were off to the boards. Naturally I brought in Stoney Silences (2), and they did well game 2, but then game 3 Triskelion beats got there.
1-2
1-1
Round 3: vs .....I just realized I don't know his name....., Reanimator
Games 1 and 2 ended fast when I learned the hard way I can't beat an Iona on White....
0-2
1-2
Overall, I liked the Enchantress deck a ton, and I think there is some potential. This was one of the decks that I said I am on a trading quest for, so I am not allowed to buy any cards that cost more than $1 a piece. Here is my current list, followed by what I need to trade for still:
4x Argothian Enchantress
4x Wild Growth
1x Blood Moon
1x Sigil of the Empty Throne
4x Utopia Sprawl
3x Sterling Grove
3x Solitary Confinement
2x Moat
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Words of War
4x Enchantress's Presence
1x Runed Halo
3x Mirri's Guile
4x Elephant Grass
2x Enlightened Tutor
2x Replenish
3x Wooded Foothills
4x Windswept Heath
1x Taiga
2x Savannah
2x Serra's Sanctum
1x Plains
6x Forest
1x Karakas
Sideboard
1x Tormod's Crypt
2x Stony Silence2x Nevermore
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Enlightened Tutor
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Choke
1x Aura of Silence
2x Leyline of Sanctity
1x City of Solitude
1x Journey to Nowhere
Cards I need:
1x Savannah (68)
2x Moat (294, 588)
2x Mirri's Guile (9.5, 19)
1x Sterling Grove (5)
1x Karakas (57)
4x Windswept Heath (29, 116)
2x Wooded Foothills (24, 48)
3x Argothian Enchantress (17, 51)
1x Tormod's Crypt (2.5)
Total: 954.5
Total w/out Moat: 366.5
So I still have a long way to go for this deck, however with just a couple trades I can play this deck without having to borrow any cards from anybody (and I am going to buy a couple <1 cards like Wild Growth). I know people who have at least 1 Windswept, Wooded Foothills (which is just as good as Misty or Verdant, so it's on the very bottom of the priority list), and moats! Also, TNT has an Argothian in stock at 14 (LP), so I might trade cards into the store for 14 credit and pick that up, as I feel that is still technically trading for the card, but it's not as good as trading from another binder because I will be effectively losing 10 or so on the trade.
That's all I have for today! This deck is a ton of fun, but it is expensive. If you can get all these tricky cards, then I highly recommend trying out Enchantress! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
This past sunday, we once again had our usual Legacy Tournament, and I was really hoping to be able to play Enchantress this week. I had about 25 proxies and just a 5 card sideboard, but I was able to pull it off with 13 proxies across the main and board! Fetchlands went from being Onslaught fetches to ZEN fetches (6 total) and I was able to borrow a Savannah and a couple other cards in niche time.
So how does Enchantress play out?
Well, hopefully you keep a hand with at least 1 piece of acceleration (Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl), a card draw engine, and basically any other enchantment. We only ever lose to a fast non-interactive combo deck with this kind of hand. From there you ramp up and start drawing extra cards. The power from this comes by the fact that all your disruption is proactive, and then you get to draw a ton of extra cards in the process. Unlike Standard Burning Vengeance where an early Burning Vengeance is often what helps you win games through a slow bleed of damage, Enchantress wins almost completely in one turn whether its through stacking a ton of draw triggers and burning face with Words of War or making an instant army with Sigil of the Empty Throne, so not losing is priority #1.
Round 1: vs Benzo (MB epic)
I don't remember how any of our games went specifically, but I know his deck can often be a little tricky. With heavy hand disruption, Phyrexian Arena, and Bob, he usually has more cards in hand, and with guys like Nantuko Shade and Korlash Heir to Blackblade he can close the game out fast. However, I felt I had a very good matchup thanks to the fact that black doesn't get Enchantment removal and I had Elephant Grass. Game 1 was a breeze, but game 2 got awkward when he played Nevinyrral's Disk. I had another Enchantress's Presence in hand, so I stockpiled a hand and after he blew the disk, I dumped my hand again. However, I still lost that game when he attacked me down to 5 and played Obliterator, which made him have exactly 1 more guy than I could deal with, and my Mirri's Guile didn't get me the Grass. Game 3 was textbook though, and I was feeling great about the deck!
2-1
1-0
Round 2: vs Matt, Transmuter Combo
This matchup was very hard for me, as Matt loves his Chalice of the Voids on 1, which he naturally got on turn 1. I was able to land a Mirri's Guile before that though, and then an Argothian on turn 2. So on turn 3 I looked with my Mirri's Guile and saw another Guile, and 2 Wild Growths. I just used them as G: cycling to start drawing through the deck until I found action. And by action I mean Replenish, which game me an instantly huge board position. However, on the other side of the table, Matt played a Master Transmuter and dropped a Sundering Titan into play triple stone raining me, as my only Taiga was in play. He then would bounce Sundering Titan back to his hand (it blows up land when it leaves play too!) and dropped in Steel Hellkite, which did a nice job mocking my Moat that I had in play. Steel Hellkite is awesome when it works, and we were off to the boards. Naturally I brought in Stoney Silences (2), and they did well game 2, but then game 3 Triskelion beats got there.
1-2
1-1
Round 3: vs .....I just realized I don't know his name....., Reanimator
Games 1 and 2 ended fast when I learned the hard way I can't beat an Iona on White....
0-2
1-2
Overall, I liked the Enchantress deck a ton, and I think there is some potential. This was one of the decks that I said I am on a trading quest for, so I am not allowed to buy any cards that cost more than $1 a piece. Here is my current list, followed by what I need to trade for still:
4x Argothian Enchantress
4x Wild Growth
1x Blood Moon
1x Sigil of the Empty Throne
4x Utopia Sprawl
3x Sterling Grove
3x Solitary Confinement
2x Moat
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Words of War
4x Enchantress's Presence
1x Runed Halo
3x Mirri's Guile
4x Elephant Grass
2x Enlightened Tutor
2x Replenish
3x Wooded Foothills
4x Windswept Heath
1x Taiga
2x Savannah
2x Serra's Sanctum
1x Plains
6x Forest
1x Karakas
Sideboard
1x Tormod's Crypt
2x Stony Silence2x Nevermore
1x Oblivion Ring
2x Enlightened Tutor
1x Wheel of Sun and Moon
1x Choke
1x Aura of Silence
2x Leyline of Sanctity
1x City of Solitude
1x Journey to Nowhere
Cards I need:
1x Savannah (68)
2x Moat (294, 588)
2x Mirri's Guile (9.5, 19)
1x Sterling Grove (5)
1x Karakas (57)
4x Windswept Heath (29, 116)
2x Wooded Foothills (24, 48)
3x Argothian Enchantress (17, 51)
1x Tormod's Crypt (2.5)
Total: 954.5
Total w/out Moat: 366.5
So I still have a long way to go for this deck, however with just a couple trades I can play this deck without having to borrow any cards from anybody (and I am going to buy a couple <1 cards like Wild Growth). I know people who have at least 1 Windswept, Wooded Foothills (which is just as good as Misty or Verdant, so it's on the very bottom of the priority list), and moats! Also, TNT has an Argothian in stock at 14 (LP), so I might trade cards into the store for 14 credit and pick that up, as I feel that is still technically trading for the card, but it's not as good as trading from another binder because I will be effectively losing 10 or so on the trade.
That's all I have for today! This deck is a ton of fun, but it is expensive. If you can get all these tricky cards, then I highly recommend trying out Enchantress! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Modern Dredge!
Hello Everybody!
So Modern has basically replaced Extended in every form except that Extended is still "technically" a format. However, Modern is being played at Worlds and Modern is replacing Extended as the PTQ format, so basically its the new big thing. Modern s basically intended to be like Legacy except without Dual Lands and Force of Will. However, a huge amount of Strategies are also nuked from Legacy, for example:
Show and Tell
Sneak Attack
Natural Order
Hymn to Tourach
Painted Stone
Aluren
Enchantress
Tendrils Storm
Also, in their banned list they try to attack a variety of archetypes, including one of my favorite Legacy decks: Dredge. However, with a strategy as degenerate as everything coming from the Graveyard for almost free, taking out 2 cards can't kill the deck by itself! David Ochoa got 4th place in the 2010 US Nationals with Dredge-uh-Vine, which is where i pulled inspiration for this deck.
So the first place to begin with a Modern Dredge deck is to compare it to its legacy counterpart. Some notable cards we lose are: Breakthrough, Ichorid, Careful Study, Putrid Imp, Tireless Tribe, Dread Return, Cabal Therapy, and Cephalid Coliseum. After doing a search of flashback spells in Modern, the only ones I could see myself playing are Ancient Grudge, Unburial Rites, Gnaw to the Bone, Purify the Grave, and Dream Twist. None of these cards are really exciting reasons to be dredging ourselves too quickly. The only cards that we can put in our maindeck is Unburial Rites and Dream Twist.
So then we need a different reason to be dredging ourselves, and this is where we go back to Ochoa. He played Vengevine and Extractor Demon to recur from the Graveyard and bring fast beats. So instead of the Combo deck that we see in Legacy, it was a very efficiant beatdown deck. Because were dealing with modern, and not old standard, we have a wide variety of other options available to us, including Skaab Ruinator and Bloodghast (Ochoa had Bloodghast available to him, but didn't use it). I feel that is the direction that this deck will want to go in. In fact, even though Bridge from Below is legal, I don't think we will even want it! Here's a huge list of cards that I am thinking about using:
Enablers:
Glimpse of the Unthinkable
Hedron Crab
Fauna Shaman
Splinterfright
Darkblast
Stinkweed Imp
Golgari Thug
Dudes:
Vengevine
Skaab Ruinator
Extractor Demon
Bloodghast
Avatar of Woe
Tombstalker
Narcomeba
Tarmogoyf
Kessig Cagebreakers
Eternal Witness
Reya Dawnbreaker
Doomed Necromancer
Renegade Doppelganger
Value-town:
Visions of Beyond
The way it looks, everything I am interested in is in the BUG wedge, so that's where I will focus. The first thing I noticed when making this is that this is starting to look like a Zoo deck, and so everything should cost little. Kessig Cage Breakers, while it would probably attack for 50 in this deck, costs 5 mana when everything else costs 1 or 2. I think we have enough undercosted cards that we don't need Reya Dawnbreaker to Reanimate or Doomed Necromancer/Unburial Rites to do it. I do really like Avatar of Woe and Tombstalker though, and they both cost little enough to have them help recur Vengevine.
I think Bloodghast, while nice, is too small compared to the titans surrounding him to really make an impact in this deck. We have already determined we don't have much useful ways to sacrifice dudes, and so Bridge From Below is unnecessary, so Bloodghast just becomes the Goblin Piker that won't stop annoying you. This also makes the think about Narcomeba, a card that normally fits perfects naturally into Dredge decks as a cheap dude that can be utilized to.... well just be sacrificed.... and as I already stated, were not going that route.
And one last cut: Renegade Doppelganger. We want every card in our deck to be incredible on its own, and I don't really see much to be gained from him. Compare him to another 2 drop: Tarmogoyf, and you will see what I'm getting at.
So what does that leave us with?
Glimpse of the Unthinkable
Hedron Crab
Fauna Shaman
Splinterfright
Darkblast
Stinkweed Imp
Golgari Thug
Vengevine
Skaab Ruinator
Extractor Demon
Avatar of Woe
Tombstalker
Tarmogoyf
Eternal Witness
Visions of Beyond
Our deck curves out at 3, so I think just 22 lands should do us fine:
4x Vengevine
1x Skaab Ruinator
4x Extractor Demon
4x Hedron Crab
4x Golgari Thug
4x Fauna Shaman
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Tombstalker
4x Glimpse of the Unthinkable
3x Darkblast
3x Visions of Beyond
22x Land
Obviously I'm VERY tight for space here, but this is a rough draft of where this deck could go. I'm not going to get into the mana base right now, as I currently have over a dozen and a half lands pulled out that I may use including:
Zen Fetch Lands
Ravnica Shock Lands
Shadowmoore Filter Lands
M10/Inn Duals
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Darkslick Shores
Creeping Tar Pit
Nephalia Drownyard
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
So that very well could be a whole post by itself! Anyways, I have talked too much today, so I will hopefully return with a more refined decklist soon along with a full manabase! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
So Modern has basically replaced Extended in every form except that Extended is still "technically" a format. However, Modern is being played at Worlds and Modern is replacing Extended as the PTQ format, so basically its the new big thing. Modern s basically intended to be like Legacy except without Dual Lands and Force of Will. However, a huge amount of Strategies are also nuked from Legacy, for example:
Show and Tell
Sneak Attack
Natural Order
Hymn to Tourach
Painted Stone
Aluren
Enchantress
Tendrils Storm
Also, in their banned list they try to attack a variety of archetypes, including one of my favorite Legacy decks: Dredge. However, with a strategy as degenerate as everything coming from the Graveyard for almost free, taking out 2 cards can't kill the deck by itself! David Ochoa got 4th place in the 2010 US Nationals with Dredge-uh-Vine, which is where i pulled inspiration for this deck.
So the first place to begin with a Modern Dredge deck is to compare it to its legacy counterpart. Some notable cards we lose are: Breakthrough, Ichorid, Careful Study, Putrid Imp, Tireless Tribe, Dread Return, Cabal Therapy, and Cephalid Coliseum. After doing a search of flashback spells in Modern, the only ones I could see myself playing are Ancient Grudge, Unburial Rites, Gnaw to the Bone, Purify the Grave, and Dream Twist. None of these cards are really exciting reasons to be dredging ourselves too quickly. The only cards that we can put in our maindeck is Unburial Rites and Dream Twist.
So then we need a different reason to be dredging ourselves, and this is where we go back to Ochoa. He played Vengevine and Extractor Demon to recur from the Graveyard and bring fast beats. So instead of the Combo deck that we see in Legacy, it was a very efficiant beatdown deck. Because were dealing with modern, and not old standard, we have a wide variety of other options available to us, including Skaab Ruinator and Bloodghast (Ochoa had Bloodghast available to him, but didn't use it). I feel that is the direction that this deck will want to go in. In fact, even though Bridge from Below is legal, I don't think we will even want it! Here's a huge list of cards that I am thinking about using:
Enablers:
Glimpse of the Unthinkable
Hedron Crab
Fauna Shaman
Splinterfright
Darkblast
Stinkweed Imp
Golgari Thug
Dudes:
Vengevine
Skaab Ruinator
Extractor Demon
Bloodghast
Avatar of Woe
Tombstalker
Narcomeba
Tarmogoyf
Kessig Cagebreakers
Eternal Witness
Reya Dawnbreaker
Doomed Necromancer
Renegade Doppelganger
Value-town:
Visions of Beyond
The way it looks, everything I am interested in is in the BUG wedge, so that's where I will focus. The first thing I noticed when making this is that this is starting to look like a Zoo deck, and so everything should cost little. Kessig Cage Breakers, while it would probably attack for 50 in this deck, costs 5 mana when everything else costs 1 or 2. I think we have enough undercosted cards that we don't need Reya Dawnbreaker to Reanimate or Doomed Necromancer/Unburial Rites to do it. I do really like Avatar of Woe and Tombstalker though, and they both cost little enough to have them help recur Vengevine.
I think Bloodghast, while nice, is too small compared to the titans surrounding him to really make an impact in this deck. We have already determined we don't have much useful ways to sacrifice dudes, and so Bridge From Below is unnecessary, so Bloodghast just becomes the Goblin Piker that won't stop annoying you. This also makes the think about Narcomeba, a card that normally fits perfects naturally into Dredge decks as a cheap dude that can be utilized to.... well just be sacrificed.... and as I already stated, were not going that route.
And one last cut: Renegade Doppelganger. We want every card in our deck to be incredible on its own, and I don't really see much to be gained from him. Compare him to another 2 drop: Tarmogoyf, and you will see what I'm getting at.
So what does that leave us with?
Glimpse of the Unthinkable
Hedron Crab
Fauna Shaman
Splinterfright
Darkblast
Stinkweed Imp
Golgari Thug
Vengevine
Skaab Ruinator
Extractor Demon
Avatar of Woe
Tombstalker
Tarmogoyf
Eternal Witness
Visions of Beyond
Our deck curves out at 3, so I think just 22 lands should do us fine:
4x Vengevine
1x Skaab Ruinator
4x Extractor Demon
4x Hedron Crab
4x Golgari Thug
4x Fauna Shaman
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Tombstalker
4x Glimpse of the Unthinkable
3x Darkblast
3x Visions of Beyond
22x Land
Obviously I'm VERY tight for space here, but this is a rough draft of where this deck could go. I'm not going to get into the mana base right now, as I currently have over a dozen and a half lands pulled out that I may use including:
Zen Fetch Lands
Ravnica Shock Lands
Shadowmoore Filter Lands
M10/Inn Duals
City of Brass
Gemstone Mine
Darkslick Shores
Creeping Tar Pit
Nephalia Drownyard
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
So that very well could be a whole post by itself! Anyways, I have talked too much today, so I will hopefully return with a more refined decklist soon along with a full manabase! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Getting Fishy in Standard
Hello everybody!
So in standard I am currently rocking 2 decks that both start off with:
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Moorland Haunt
4x Mana Leak
And these 2 decks play similarly, but at the same time are VERY different. Don't be fooled by the manabase, both decks are basically mono-colored: Humans and Illusions.
I played Humans to a 3-0 drop at last week's FNM (yes you read that right, I couldn't stay for the last 2 rounds as I had to drive my girlfriend home), and I was very pleased with the deck. I played against UB Control, MB Infect, I think another UB Control, and then I had to leave. It seems my local meta is split between B/x decks and Red Deck, and I happened to be paired against the one that Mirran Crusader auto-wins against.
But that deck was SO last week! The hot new rage for this week's FNM is MU Illusions:
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Mana Leak
4x Ponder
4x Vapor Snag
3x Dismemer
10x Island
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard:
2x Frost Breath
3x Steel Sabatage
4x Aether Adept
2x Flashfreeze
1x Negate
2x Gut Shot
Before I comment on the deck, look at it again, but look specifically at the curve. Yeah, curving out at 2 feels awesome. I have 6 cards in the sideboard that cost 3 mana, but aside from that I have been keeping 1 landers on the play and felt unstoppable all game. When Innistrad came out last month, I was talking up Delver of Secrets as hard as I could, and look now: it's winning in Legacy in the RUG tempo deck, and now in Standard here.
What is Tempo?
This is the question I have been asking myself for the past couple weeks, as I feel it's one of the areas I don't actually know much about. After doing a beat of research I have found that Tempo is simply getting ahead of your opponent. A poster child for Tempo would be Aether Adept (or Man-O'-War for you older folk). Basically, when you are playing the tempo game you are trying to advance your own board while preventing your opponent from doing so. The problem with playing the tempo game is that you usually fall behind on card advantage fast. Imagine this series of turns:
T1: Island, Delver of Secrets
T2: Transform, Island, Phantasmal Image the Insectile Aberration
T3: Island, Vapor Snag their Creature, Mana Leak
From here, we have a pair of 3/2s with the opponent at 10 life (1 damage from Vapor Snag), but we had to 2-for-1 ourself to deal with the opponent's board and leave them behind. We only have 2 or 3 cards in hand, depending if we were on the play or draw, and your opponent could have 4-6 in hand, clearly from the card advantage point of view were the underdog.
One of the cool things about having such a low curve though is that we only run 21 lands and thus have a ton of business. In testing occasionally I would have bashed my opponent down to 5 and then we came to a board stalland I was drawing a spell every turn while he was occasionally hitting lands, and I was able to out resource him, and eventually hit a critical mass of board altering action and alpha for exactly lethal.
I have found that this deck is not too easy to play by any stretch. Because you have nothing to go big and steal free wins with, you have to make every card do double duty. If I can get the cards for the deck (Snapcaster and Image being the toughest) then I will probably play this at this week's FNM.
Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
So in standard I am currently rocking 2 decks that both start off with:
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
3x Moorland Haunt
4x Mana Leak
And these 2 decks play similarly, but at the same time are VERY different. Don't be fooled by the manabase, both decks are basically mono-colored: Humans and Illusions.
I played Humans to a 3-0 drop at last week's FNM (yes you read that right, I couldn't stay for the last 2 rounds as I had to drive my girlfriend home), and I was very pleased with the deck. I played against UB Control, MB Infect, I think another UB Control, and then I had to leave. It seems my local meta is split between B/x decks and Red Deck, and I happened to be paired against the one that Mirran Crusader auto-wins against.
But that deck was SO last week! The hot new rage for this week's FNM is MU Illusions:
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Mana Leak
4x Ponder
4x Vapor Snag
3x Dismemer
10x Island
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Seachrome Coast
3x Moorland Haunt
Sideboard:
2x Frost Breath
3x Steel Sabatage
4x Aether Adept
2x Flashfreeze
1x Negate
2x Gut Shot
Before I comment on the deck, look at it again, but look specifically at the curve. Yeah, curving out at 2 feels awesome. I have 6 cards in the sideboard that cost 3 mana, but aside from that I have been keeping 1 landers on the play and felt unstoppable all game. When Innistrad came out last month, I was talking up Delver of Secrets as hard as I could, and look now: it's winning in Legacy in the RUG tempo deck, and now in Standard here.
What is Tempo?
This is the question I have been asking myself for the past couple weeks, as I feel it's one of the areas I don't actually know much about. After doing a beat of research I have found that Tempo is simply getting ahead of your opponent. A poster child for Tempo would be Aether Adept (or Man-O'-War for you older folk). Basically, when you are playing the tempo game you are trying to advance your own board while preventing your opponent from doing so. The problem with playing the tempo game is that you usually fall behind on card advantage fast. Imagine this series of turns:
T1: Island, Delver of Secrets
T2: Transform, Island, Phantasmal Image the Insectile Aberration
T3: Island, Vapor Snag their Creature, Mana Leak
From here, we have a pair of 3/2s with the opponent at 10 life (1 damage from Vapor Snag), but we had to 2-for-1 ourself to deal with the opponent's board and leave them behind. We only have 2 or 3 cards in hand, depending if we were on the play or draw, and your opponent could have 4-6 in hand, clearly from the card advantage point of view were the underdog.
One of the cool things about having such a low curve though is that we only run 21 lands and thus have a ton of business. In testing occasionally I would have bashed my opponent down to 5 and then we came to a board stalland I was drawing a spell every turn while he was occasionally hitting lands, and I was able to out resource him, and eventually hit a critical mass of board altering action and alpha for exactly lethal.
I have found that this deck is not too easy to play by any stretch. Because you have nothing to go big and steal free wins with, you have to make every card do double duty. If I can get the cards for the deck (Snapcaster and Image being the toughest) then I will probably play this at this week's FNM.
Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Goodbye World
Goodbye World, it's been nice knowing you! No, this is not my official termination of this blog (my first post ever was called "Hello World") but it could be. Twitter has been on fire recently, and facebook has been blowing up too. The sky is falling, and the Mayans are mocking us from the grave. Wait, this is 2011, not 2012, never mind....
But in all seriousness in the slew of WotC announcements over the course of this past year, this most recent one is the most terrifying, and for the first time in many many years, magic could legitimately be over as we know it. For reference, the announcement is here.
I have never been the chicken little type, and I don't even want to come across that way in this article, but there are serious concerns to think about. There have been MANY articles written up about why these changes suck, so I'm not going to discuss that (nor am I professional enough to explain it in any detail), so instead I will explain why you should care, and how it will affect you.
A great resource that I used for writing this is this video from Channel Fireball (skip to 27:00) where they explain fairly thoroughly the cascading effects of the Pro Tour to Magic as a whole. Everything that they say there now can potentially be no longer true, which is completely mind boggling!
One in particular that everyone should care about is how singles prices can be affected. If you watch earlier in that same video (4:30) they talk about chronicles and how it almost destroyed magic. Why? It put the secondary market in shambles. In a similar way, without the Pro Tour the secondary market would be in shambles. If you read any of my financial articles (or frankly any financial article) the prices are all based on decks that are doing well. There are very few cards that have a value because of their rarity, and those are really just Antiquities and Legends (Antiquities Hurkyl's Recall is 10 compared to every other version being 1). Every other card holds value BECAUSE of it's play value. How do we know if a card has any play value? Well.... what deck just won the last Pro Tour? Without the Pro Tour, we would lose significant financial stability and accuracy in the secondary market.
Without the Pro Tour, we wouldn't have sites and writers like Channel Fireball, Star City Games, and Blackborder. Sure, we may still have sites that talk about how much fun they have playing magic, like my blog, but we would quickly lose input from the experts as they now have no reason to constantly invest so much time and energy. Without the Pro Tour to make money from, then they would be spending countless hours experimenting and testing for.... a kitchen table game. Why would they invest so much energy and time to produce an article if that is where it all stops? Sure, they may get paid for the article, but why would anyone read it? Without the Pro Tour, we lose all of competitive magic. It's like if we took MLB out of baseball; how competitive can you really be if you are consciously aware that there is NOWHERE bigger or better to go with it? People would stop reading articles because the PT dream would be gone, which leaves us with.... Star City Games Open series.... $3,500 first place prize vs $40,000? Not quite the same....
Now let's say you don't even care about those first two points; you don't read articles and couldn't care less if the most valuable card you opened in 10 packs of Innistrad was Grimoire of the Dead (it's a mythic, and thats all that matters!) then consider this: without the Pro Tour, Magic could completely curl up and cease to exist. Man.... that's bold..... Here's my reasoning: Wizards of the Coast is a business. They only care about their bottom line and whether or not they're making money, just like any other business. How do they make money? Selling boxes of product to retailers and GPs - as far as I know that's it. I am pretty sure PT entry is free (which is why it can be considered the PROmotional Tour). GPs are cool and all, but when you have 1 tournament every week somewhere on the entire planet, you are immediately preventing 90% of the world from going to it, and it's not too special either because there's one every week. Compare this to the Pro Tour which is VERY special, which immediately makes anyone who is graced with the opportunity to go willing to make any adjustments possible to enable themselves to go. Actually, GPs can be simply promotional events too when they're in less populated areas and have low attendance. I can imagine the cost of renting the building and the payouts makes their profit margin slim to none:
GP Santiago (located in South America)
Entry fee: $50
Participants: 737
Gross: $36,850
Prize Payout: $30,000 total
So basically, WotC earned $6,850 before accounting for renting the site, which I don't have data on. AKA not that much. 798 players were at GP Hiroshima, so WotC would have made an extra $3,000 on the weekend, which is a little more defendable. But what's the difference? Santiago is in South America where there isn't a large player base and Hiroshima is in Japan which has been huge for magic for a long time. If it is not profitable to have events in those smaller countries, then there's little reason to host events there unless if WotC feels the loss is worth the advertising. This could mean that Magic loses it's world stage and retreats back to just USA-Japan-Europe (GP Pittsburg had 1435 players). Don't even get me into how the lack of Pro Points and Pro Players club will completely sever people from going to international GPS.... This can only have negative effects for the game.
So that was a long winded explanation as to why GPs aren't the cash cow, which leaves us with selling boxes of product. The reason that people buy new cards is to get the cards they need to build their decks, and to draft. I only draft for fun, but I know a lot of people will draft to practice for higher level events like SCG Draft opens and GP drafts. Without competitive magic, there will be less drive from players to invest so much money into packs (if they only buy singles, they are still supporting buying packs because the packs provide the singles stock). This will insanely reduce the amount of money that WotC makes off magic to the point of ----- i don't want to go there -----. "
Now I realize that this may have come over as a little intense, and I want to say up front that I am NOT a chicken little type person crying that the sky is falling whenever anything happens (I for one loves DFCs the moment they came out), however if things get worse, they can go REALLY worse. Here's the facts we have right now:
No Magic Player's Rewards (old news, but still relevent)
No Worlds
No Pro Player's Club
No Pro Points
More GPs are being scheduled every year
GPs and PTs are happening the same weekend in the same place (PT Paris)
PWPs reward more play as opposed to high level play
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say WotC is trying to remove the Pro Tour and have it replaced by GPs and a myriad of smaller events. I for one am VERY opposed to this change. If you agree, there is a petition you can sign to get your voice heard. I truly hope this change is reversed, because the system seems so good right now, I really have no clue why things need to be changed....
That's all I have for today, until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
But in all seriousness in the slew of WotC announcements over the course of this past year, this most recent one is the most terrifying, and for the first time in many many years, magic could legitimately be over as we know it. For reference, the announcement is here.
I have never been the chicken little type, and I don't even want to come across that way in this article, but there are serious concerns to think about. There have been MANY articles written up about why these changes suck, so I'm not going to discuss that (nor am I professional enough to explain it in any detail), so instead I will explain why you should care, and how it will affect you.
A great resource that I used for writing this is this video from Channel Fireball (skip to 27:00) where they explain fairly thoroughly the cascading effects of the Pro Tour to Magic as a whole. Everything that they say there now can potentially be no longer true, which is completely mind boggling!
One in particular that everyone should care about is how singles prices can be affected. If you watch earlier in that same video (4:30) they talk about chronicles and how it almost destroyed magic. Why? It put the secondary market in shambles. In a similar way, without the Pro Tour the secondary market would be in shambles. If you read any of my financial articles (or frankly any financial article) the prices are all based on decks that are doing well. There are very few cards that have a value because of their rarity, and those are really just Antiquities and Legends (Antiquities Hurkyl's Recall is 10 compared to every other version being 1). Every other card holds value BECAUSE of it's play value. How do we know if a card has any play value? Well.... what deck just won the last Pro Tour? Without the Pro Tour, we would lose significant financial stability and accuracy in the secondary market.
Without the Pro Tour, we wouldn't have sites and writers like Channel Fireball, Star City Games, and Blackborder. Sure, we may still have sites that talk about how much fun they have playing magic, like my blog, but we would quickly lose input from the experts as they now have no reason to constantly invest so much time and energy. Without the Pro Tour to make money from, then they would be spending countless hours experimenting and testing for.... a kitchen table game. Why would they invest so much energy and time to produce an article if that is where it all stops? Sure, they may get paid for the article, but why would anyone read it? Without the Pro Tour, we lose all of competitive magic. It's like if we took MLB out of baseball; how competitive can you really be if you are consciously aware that there is NOWHERE bigger or better to go with it? People would stop reading articles because the PT dream would be gone, which leaves us with.... Star City Games Open series.... $3,500 first place prize vs $40,000? Not quite the same....
Now let's say you don't even care about those first two points; you don't read articles and couldn't care less if the most valuable card you opened in 10 packs of Innistrad was Grimoire of the Dead (it's a mythic, and thats all that matters!) then consider this: without the Pro Tour, Magic could completely curl up and cease to exist. Man.... that's bold..... Here's my reasoning: Wizards of the Coast is a business. They only care about their bottom line and whether or not they're making money, just like any other business. How do they make money? Selling boxes of product to retailers and GPs - as far as I know that's it. I am pretty sure PT entry is free (which is why it can be considered the PROmotional Tour). GPs are cool and all, but when you have 1 tournament every week somewhere on the entire planet, you are immediately preventing 90% of the world from going to it, and it's not too special either because there's one every week. Compare this to the Pro Tour which is VERY special, which immediately makes anyone who is graced with the opportunity to go willing to make any adjustments possible to enable themselves to go. Actually, GPs can be simply promotional events too when they're in less populated areas and have low attendance. I can imagine the cost of renting the building and the payouts makes their profit margin slim to none:
GP Santiago (located in South America)
Entry fee: $50
Participants: 737
Gross: $36,850
Prize Payout: $30,000 total
So basically, WotC earned $6,850 before accounting for renting the site, which I don't have data on. AKA not that much. 798 players were at GP Hiroshima, so WotC would have made an extra $3,000 on the weekend, which is a little more defendable. But what's the difference? Santiago is in South America where there isn't a large player base and Hiroshima is in Japan which has been huge for magic for a long time. If it is not profitable to have events in those smaller countries, then there's little reason to host events there unless if WotC feels the loss is worth the advertising. This could mean that Magic loses it's world stage and retreats back to just USA-Japan-Europe (GP Pittsburg had 1435 players). Don't even get me into how the lack of Pro Points and Pro Players club will completely sever people from going to international GPS.... This can only have negative effects for the game.
So that was a long winded explanation as to why GPs aren't the cash cow, which leaves us with selling boxes of product. The reason that people buy new cards is to get the cards they need to build their decks, and to draft. I only draft for fun, but I know a lot of people will draft to practice for higher level events like SCG Draft opens and GP drafts. Without competitive magic, there will be less drive from players to invest so much money into packs (if they only buy singles, they are still supporting buying packs because the packs provide the singles stock). This will insanely reduce the amount of money that WotC makes off magic to the point of ----- i don't want to go there -----. "
Now I realize that this may have come over as a little intense, and I want to say up front that I am NOT a chicken little type person crying that the sky is falling whenever anything happens (I for one loves DFCs the moment they came out), however if things get worse, they can go REALLY worse. Here's the facts we have right now:
No Magic Player's Rewards (old news, but still relevent)
No Worlds
No Pro Player's Club
No Pro Points
More GPs are being scheduled every year
GPs and PTs are happening the same weekend in the same place (PT Paris)
PWPs reward more play as opposed to high level play
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would say WotC is trying to remove the Pro Tour and have it replaced by GPs and a myriad of smaller events. I for one am VERY opposed to this change. If you agree, there is a petition you can sign to get your voice heard. I truly hope this change is reversed, because the system seems so good right now, I really have no clue why things need to be changed....
That's all I have for today, until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
November 2011 Secondary Market Update
Hello everybody! If you enjoy these secondary market updates that I do monthly, you may be wondering where October went, to which I respond "I have no clue, but I wrote it..." I wrote up my October report last month, clicked "Publish Post" and instead of popping up on the front end of the blog, it just disappeared.... Awesome. Honestly, it can feel like a bit of a hassle to look up all the prices when I am uninspired (which I was last month) so I let it go to the way side. But fear not! I am back for November. It is important to note that these price changes will be against the September prices. Also, I don't have the hot-off-the-press Innistrad prices from last month, so I will include approx changes.
With that being said, all prices are TCGPlayer Medium, and any change of less than a dollar will be marked as -0-. Let's go!
Innistrad
Liliana of the Veil 45.60 -24.40
Snapcaster Mage 27.15 +2.15
Garruk Relentless 24.23 -0-
Geist of Saint Traft 18.52 +5.52
Skaab Ruinator 9.74 -10.26
Stromkirk Noble 8.52 +6.52
Army of the Damned 5.02 +2.02
This is obviously only a little bit of what is going on in Innistrad, but it's a fair sample size to work with. Notable cards left off the list are the Dual Lands, but those will slowly deflate in value as the cards get drafted more, but probably not by more than a buck. They will be forever in demand. One thing to note for long term is they have generic enough names to be printed in a core set which would attack their value. As for the mentioned cards above: Liliana is probably going to be a $30 card, it's just going to take a while to get there. However the card has appeared as a 1-of in legacy decks like Team America and UB Control where it is a 3 mana edict effect with bonus value, reminiscent of Gatekeeper, but with a less restrictive mana cost. Garruk is good, but not 25 good. I think his value will remain inflated as long as Garruk Primal Hunter sees play just like Baby Jace did to attack Jace TMS back in the day (though a stream of dudes is less devastating than a resolved Jace 2.0). Snapcaster Mage is obviously the card in the set with the most longevity as it is already a 4-of in Legacy and it can only get better over time. It's value will drop down to as low as 20 eventually so if you don't need him immediatly you can wait, but then his value will go up to 45 or 50 within 5 years, so he isn't a bad investment for the future. Skaab Ruinator is a cool card to tinker with, but his price is suffocating because it is so hard to make work (Abyssal Persecutor). Stromkirk Noble is merely ok in RDW. I have heard a lot of people talking about how Goblin Arsonist or Fireslinger is better because it is an absolute guarantee to turn on Bloodthirst whereas T1 Noble looks like a fool against T1 Llanowar Elves. I would say Noble isn't where you want to be right now (also don't forget Goblin Grenade is in standard!!). And finally an odd card that I think is simply fantastic: Army of the Damned. This card is INSANE in UB Control. Against a control deck sweepers like Slagstorm and Day of Judgement don't do a whole lot, so they tend to get sided out. Knowing this, Army of the Damned is a sweet finisher as it is simply a diversification of threats. Flashback is really nice too as a little 2-for-1 never hurts in the control mirror. I was surprised when I saw it at 5, and I'm sure I can get them at 2.
Magic 2012
Garruk, Primal Hunter 38.62 +12.14
Jace, Memory Adept 23.40 -5.72
Primeval Titan 14.18 -0-
Chandra, the Firebranded 13.86 -8.97
Gideon Jura 13.54 -3.45
Angelic Destiny 12.26 +3.26
Phantasmal Image 11.24 -0-
Solemn Simulcrum 9.45 -2.08
Grave Titan 8.97 -0-
Sun Titan 8.70 +2.70
There has been a TON of moving parts in the M12 financial world. Primeval Titan technically "hasn't moved" in the past 2 months, but last month it was in the 11 range, so there actually was a dip in price for a month. I said Prime Time would drop to 5 by Christmas because I thought there weren't any degenerate things in the new standard, but I didn't give Kessig Wolf Run the light of day. It's even the same colors as Valakut! But smacking myself in the head aside (I WILL do a mega report on Dark Ascension), I think the card will drop to the 8-10 range. Along with that card, Garruk Relentless is a card I can't see sustaining this high of a value for long. Sure it's good, but not $40 good. I would say were looking at a $20-25 planeswalker here. The only reason to play big Garruk over little is the -3 ability, which is insane, but I think he may be a little slow for long term. Jace, on the other hand won't be dropping below 15 for at least a year, but I can see him also staying just above 20. A resolved Jace in the control mirror is automatically game over as he is a 3 turn clock that doesn't die to spot removal. I played him in Vengeance against Solar Flare and UB Control and I can't tell you how insane he is! Just drawing an extra card every turn as a + ability is good, and I have +ed him to 7 then milled my opponent to death (with a 1 turn shorter clock by making them draw 20). Chandra will join her other clones down at 5 or so, Gideon is chillin at 12, and Angelic Destiny will slide back to 10 or 11. Everything Else is stable.
New Phyrexia
Sword of War and Peace 19.36 +2.02
Phyrexian Obliterator 16.13 -5.18
Karn Liberated 13.19 -1.70
Batterskull 13.04 -0-
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 9.82 +4.23
Spellskite 9.41 -0-
Birthing Pod 9.28 -0-
Phyrexian Metamorph 6.78 -0-
There has been surprisingly few movements in New Phyrexia, though Elesh Norn makes sense, as a double Curse of Death's Hold + double Glorious Anthem + 4/7 Vigilance is simply nutty! I play this card in Reanimator and Dredge, and it is simply insane! The card auto-beats Merfolk, Dredge, Goblins, Elves, Zoo, and basically any deck that attacks with creatures. Caleb Durward is using Phyrexian Obliterator in a new Legacy brew that is yet to be unveiled, but I don't think that will do enough to save the card's value. I think Sword of War and Peace is the best Sword in standard right now as it gets through all the W/x decks and puts them on a fast clock. Birthing Pod isn't seeing any play right now, and I have dumped off my foil one as soon as I had a moment, and the rest are soon to follow. With Ancient Grudge in the format, there's little reason to play artifacts, never mind making it the centerpiece of your whole deck!
Sword of Feast and Famine 38.59 +14.00
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 18.42 -7.38
Inkmoth Nexus 16.83 +5.25
Elspeth Tirel 25.73 +14.98
Mox Opal 21.44 -0-
With that being said, all prices are TCGPlayer Medium, and any change of less than a dollar will be marked as -0-. Let's go!
Innistrad
Liliana of the Veil 45.60 -24.40
Snapcaster Mage 27.15 +2.15
Garruk Relentless 24.23 -0-
Geist of Saint Traft 18.52 +5.52
Skaab Ruinator 9.74 -10.26
Stromkirk Noble 8.52 +6.52
Army of the Damned 5.02 +2.02
This is obviously only a little bit of what is going on in Innistrad, but it's a fair sample size to work with. Notable cards left off the list are the Dual Lands, but those will slowly deflate in value as the cards get drafted more, but probably not by more than a buck. They will be forever in demand. One thing to note for long term is they have generic enough names to be printed in a core set which would attack their value. As for the mentioned cards above: Liliana is probably going to be a $30 card, it's just going to take a while to get there. However the card has appeared as a 1-of in legacy decks like Team America and UB Control where it is a 3 mana edict effect with bonus value, reminiscent of Gatekeeper, but with a less restrictive mana cost. Garruk is good, but not 25 good. I think his value will remain inflated as long as Garruk Primal Hunter sees play just like Baby Jace did to attack Jace TMS back in the day (though a stream of dudes is less devastating than a resolved Jace 2.0). Snapcaster Mage is obviously the card in the set with the most longevity as it is already a 4-of in Legacy and it can only get better over time. It's value will drop down to as low as 20 eventually so if you don't need him immediatly you can wait, but then his value will go up to 45 or 50 within 5 years, so he isn't a bad investment for the future. Skaab Ruinator is a cool card to tinker with, but his price is suffocating because it is so hard to make work (Abyssal Persecutor). Stromkirk Noble is merely ok in RDW. I have heard a lot of people talking about how Goblin Arsonist or Fireslinger is better because it is an absolute guarantee to turn on Bloodthirst whereas T1 Noble looks like a fool against T1 Llanowar Elves. I would say Noble isn't where you want to be right now (also don't forget Goblin Grenade is in standard!!). And finally an odd card that I think is simply fantastic: Army of the Damned. This card is INSANE in UB Control. Against a control deck sweepers like Slagstorm and Day of Judgement don't do a whole lot, so they tend to get sided out. Knowing this, Army of the Damned is a sweet finisher as it is simply a diversification of threats. Flashback is really nice too as a little 2-for-1 never hurts in the control mirror. I was surprised when I saw it at 5, and I'm sure I can get them at 2.
Magic 2012
Garruk, Primal Hunter 38.62 +12.14
Jace, Memory Adept 23.40 -5.72
Primeval Titan 14.18 -0-
Chandra, the Firebranded 13.86 -8.97
Gideon Jura 13.54 -3.45
Angelic Destiny 12.26 +3.26
Phantasmal Image 11.24 -0-
Solemn Simulcrum 9.45 -2.08
Grave Titan 8.97 -0-
Sun Titan 8.70 +2.70
There has been a TON of moving parts in the M12 financial world. Primeval Titan technically "hasn't moved" in the past 2 months, but last month it was in the 11 range, so there actually was a dip in price for a month. I said Prime Time would drop to 5 by Christmas because I thought there weren't any degenerate things in the new standard, but I didn't give Kessig Wolf Run the light of day. It's even the same colors as Valakut! But smacking myself in the head aside (I WILL do a mega report on Dark Ascension), I think the card will drop to the 8-10 range. Along with that card, Garruk Relentless is a card I can't see sustaining this high of a value for long. Sure it's good, but not $40 good. I would say were looking at a $20-25 planeswalker here. The only reason to play big Garruk over little is the -3 ability, which is insane, but I think he may be a little slow for long term. Jace, on the other hand won't be dropping below 15 for at least a year, but I can see him also staying just above 20. A resolved Jace in the control mirror is automatically game over as he is a 3 turn clock that doesn't die to spot removal. I played him in Vengeance against Solar Flare and UB Control and I can't tell you how insane he is! Just drawing an extra card every turn as a + ability is good, and I have +ed him to 7 then milled my opponent to death (with a 1 turn shorter clock by making them draw 20). Chandra will join her other clones down at 5 or so, Gideon is chillin at 12, and Angelic Destiny will slide back to 10 or 11. Everything Else is stable.
New Phyrexia
Sword of War and Peace 19.36 +2.02
Phyrexian Obliterator 16.13 -5.18
Karn Liberated 13.19 -1.70
Batterskull 13.04 -0-
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 9.82 +4.23
Spellskite 9.41 -0-
Birthing Pod 9.28 -0-
Phyrexian Metamorph 6.78 -0-
There has been surprisingly few movements in New Phyrexia, though Elesh Norn makes sense, as a double Curse of Death's Hold + double Glorious Anthem + 4/7 Vigilance is simply nutty! I play this card in Reanimator and Dredge, and it is simply insane! The card auto-beats Merfolk, Dredge, Goblins, Elves, Zoo, and basically any deck that attacks with creatures. Caleb Durward is using Phyrexian Obliterator in a new Legacy brew that is yet to be unveiled, but I don't think that will do enough to save the card's value. I think Sword of War and Peace is the best Sword in standard right now as it gets through all the W/x decks and puts them on a fast clock. Birthing Pod isn't seeing any play right now, and I have dumped off my foil one as soon as I had a moment, and the rest are soon to follow. With Ancient Grudge in the format, there's little reason to play artifacts, never mind making it the centerpiece of your whole deck!
Mirroden Beseiged
Sword of Feast and Famine 38.59 +14.00
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 18.42 -7.38
Inkmoth Nexus 16.83 +5.25
Consecrated Sphinx 14.91 -0-
Hero of Bladehold 14.76 +5.48
Thrun, the Last Troll 14.49 +6.76
Hero of Bladehold 14.76 +5.48
Thrun, the Last Troll 14.49 +6.76
Hero of Oxid Ridge 10.70 +4.20
Green Sun's Zenith 7.86 -0-
As with many SoM block cards, these cards have been slowly ascending. For the longest time, I didn't think Inkmoth would ever budge in price, then it rose to 15 and I thought it was done there and traded for my set. And now all of a sudden its at 17 and still rising. A comparable card is Mutavault which is currently sitting at 30. I don't think were looking at a $30 card here, but maybe 20-22 isn't out of the question. I can't see these cards continuing to rise for too long, but I think another buck or two all around is likely.
Scars of Mirroden
Elspeth Tirel 25.73 +14.98
Mox Opal 21.44 -0-
Koth of the Hammer 21.36 -0-
Wurmcoil Engine 21.34 +11.36
Venser, the Sojounor 16.14 -0-
Seachrome Coast 12.79 +5.17
Wurmcoil Engine 21.34 +11.36
Venser, the Sojounor 16.14 -0-
Seachrome Coast 12.79 +5.17
Darkslick Shores 11.99
Sword of Body and Mind 11.65 -0-
Skithryx, the Blight Dragon 9.66 +2.55
Sword of Body and Mind 11.65 -0-
Skithryx, the Blight Dragon 9.66 +2.55
Razorverge Thicket 9.35
Copperline Gorge 8.40
Blackcleave Cliffs 5.05
There is a whole lot of rising prices here, especially with the dual lands! I remember all of those going at 2-4 just 9 or 10 months ago! But that was then and this is now. A card I think should get dumped off is Wurmcoil Engine. I have heard people talking about cutting Wurmcoil in GR Wolf Run in lieu of Inferno Titan, which feels like the same cycle of fatties that Valakut went through as the aggro decks that could outrace it started showing up. Inferno Titan destroys the board, and then wins in just 2 turns by itself (never mind the rest of the army that Wolf Run has that Valakut didn't). One bit of relevant information I just re-learned about is that the next Duel Decks is Koth vs Venser, so if you don't need the cards right now for your decks, they are a good idea to let go of as their value will drop come next March. I can't see many of these cards going much higher, though i expect another buck or two out of all the duals.
That's all i have today! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
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