Pack to Moat week 17

Hello everyone!

This past week wasn't very prolific for trading. I was really getting bummed out about the whole thing when I realized that I have now officially been at this for over 4 months, and while I have made INCREDIBLE progress, I still have so far to go. However, I was able to pre-arrange a trade, and then two came to me, so even though I wasn't doing the usual rounds I was still able to get a couple of good trades in:

May 22, 2012

My:
Darkslick Shores (12.80)
Bonfire of the Damned (25.03)
2x Copperline Gorge (8.29, 16.58)

His:
Wasteland (46.16)

Net: -8.25

These are all today's (May 29) prices, but at the time of this trade Darkslick shores was 14 and Bonfire was 17, and I only lost $1. This trade was actually with a vender who was simply trying to help me finish, so I have to give props to Harrisons for being awesome! They had a stack of 6 or 7 Wastelands that weren't moving and they didn't have any of the cards I shipped them, so we both came out happy! I wanted to go for wasteland instead of other cards because in talking to Matt, who has the Moat, he mentioned the cards he wants most are Blue duals, Wastelands, and Force of Wills, so those are my target cards for the next few weeks. After learning he really wants Forces, I had to once again hit myself for shipping the one I had for stupid Natural Orders.... But in the end, taking a small hit to get final pieces is absolutely worth it!

May 25, 2012

My:
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (21.29)
Isolated Chapel (8.1)
Hinterland Harbor (4.45)

His:
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage (31.21)
Silverblade Paladin (6.27)

Net: +4.64

Nothing really special is happening here, although it is worth noting that I am slowly starting to include more Avacyn Restored stock to my binder now that the price booms and busts have mostly passed (Bonfire aside - I'm really glad I bought 3 at 15 each!). Obviously here I'm just looking to get more individually high-valued cards to help me get other cards I care about more.

My:
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage (31.21)

His:
Foil Zealous Conscripts (8)
Foil Hero of Bladehold (22)
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (3.82)

Net: +2.61

This trade happened less than 30 seconds after the previous one! As soon as someone heard me say "yeah, I just traded for this Tamiyo" as I was putting it into the binder, someone else came right up, stuck out their binder, and asked for the Planeswalker. He valued his Foil Hero of Bladehold at 20, which just seemed way too low, so I immediately snagged it up. Turns out he was pretty much correct. Hopefully when I move it I can get 25 for it because it retails for 14 normally, so the natural foil price would be 28. I really have no clue why the foil price is so low. Zealous Conscripts is another card with a sketchy foil price - it retails at 5 for the non-foil version, but it is the foil of a starter deck, so the foil isn't too rare.

3 Trades
Week 17 net: -1

I didn't really lose much value this week, and I got a Wasteland, so I would say this has been a good week! At this point, I only have 2 weeks left to finish up this project I am going to be very object-oriented. I may be losing value more frequently if I get things back that will get me what I need. With only 2 weeks left, I believe I can do it, it's just going to take some work!

That's all the time I have for today! Until next time, Stay Classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Legacy GPT Report?

Hello everyone!

I was supposed to go to a Standard 1K this past saturday but I wrote down the wrong time I was supposed to meet everyone at Cumby's and so I was woken up to the sound of my cell phone and a "Hey, where are you?" I had to tell them to just go without me. I REALLY wanted to play magic though, so I ran to my computer and looked at the new group I joined on facebook: Massachusetts Magic Calendar. I found a Legacy GPT for GP Atlanta (that I can't go to) that was just under 2 hours away. I decided to ignore that only 40 people were invited, of which 2 said they were coming and 38 didn't respond and set off for the trip anyways!

After working through traffic, I arrived at my destination: Lost Harbor Games in Westfield, MA. I got there just 20 minutes before the event started so I quickly grabbed my stuff and rushed in so I could register, fill out a decklist, and then hopefully order some pizza before things got started. However all that changed quickly when the guy behind the table said, "Hey, are you here for the GPT? You're the first one!"

Cool. I drove 2 hours for a cancelled event?

I wound up jamming some games with who I thought was the store owner. I was playing my trusty elves deck and he was on mono-white Stax. In case you didn't know, Stax has an incredible matchup vs any form of combo, so naturally I lost twice as often as I won (which was basically determined by whether or not he had chalice of the void). Just 5 minutes before the event was scheduled to begin, 4 of their local players meandered in, so I was no longer alone. No one else showed up, so we couldn't sanction the event, but we had a 6-man legacy event anyways. It was a 3 round swiss cut to top 4, and first place would either get an Underground Sea or $100 credit off a $10 buy-in. I played the exact same 75 from SCG Providence:

Round 1: NO RUG

I was on the play and had set myself up to go off on turn 3. However his turn 1 Hierarch allowed him to turn 2 Vendilion Clique me and steal the Glimpse. I then decided to play out my mana guys in hand and hope to draw a Green Sun's Zenith that would allow me to tutor up the Craterhoof and stomp him, but I did not have such luck, and he had multiple tarmogoyfs that easily outraced me. I put him on NO RUG solely because of the Noble Hierarch because some RUG Delver decks have been playing V Clique so I sided in the Gaddok Teeg in addition to the other stuff. For game 2 I only had 1 land, but it also had Jitte, so I kept. My GSZ x=0 was met with a Lightning Bolt. Llanowar Elves got a Fire//Ice, and then my Fynhorn Elves got the Daze. I wasn't able to get mana, so I lost, although 2 turns later he did V Clique out the Jitte from my hand too, so I was definitely not coming back.

0-2
0-1

Round 2: USA Replenish

One of my little phrases the past few months regarding choosing what deck to play has been "do something powerful". Consider the most powerful thing your deck can do, if it all goes well, is it that powerful? An example of something that isn't powerful is taking up your second and third turns to Personal Tutor up a Temporal Mastery. After you invest 2 cards and 2 turns you get.... half your investment back. Woot? In the same way, this guys deck kinda seemed cool, but even when everything goes right, it's not all that powerful. Basically what he was trying to do is use Faithless Looting to fill up his graveyard with disruptive enchantments and then use Replenish to dump them all back into play and gain a massive advantage. He also play Opalescence which allowed him to actually win once that was all done. He played all the seals as well: Seal of Fire, Removal, and Cleansing. It also played Porphyry Nodes which led to me frequently asking rules questions when I eventually did things like use mirror entity to turn all my guys to 1/1s while controlling an Archdruid to save everyone else, etc. The big enchantments? Parallax Wave and Parallax Tide.
So after playing all of these cards that frankly all suck by themselves, he then will Replenish and return everything to play which will be creatures because of Opalescence. Which means he has a 4/4 or 2, and a couple 1/1s. Oh man! I'm going to die! He just put 14 power on board! The inherent problem with the deck is that it was literally a pile of enchantments + Replenish + Faithless Looting, so it had no real interaction with the opponent. He also had no sideboard. The fact that my deck Qasali Pridemage didn't help his case either.
To say the least I just played guys and turned them sideways until he was at 4 life and had to exile my Regal Force with his Parallax Wave to stay alive - not a winning plan when it dies the next turn and I draw 6 cards...

2-0
1-1

Round 3: Mono-White Stax

He offered the draw as we would both be guaranteed a top 4 spot, so I obliged knowing how poorly our games when in pre-event derping.

0-0
1-1-1

Round 4: USA Replenish

So now it was a top 4 bracket with winner takes all. The 6 archaetypes at the event were: Elves, Mono-White Stax, USA Replenish, Aggro-Loam, NO RUG, and Esper Control. Aggro-Loam and Esper Control were the decks that missed top 4, and I was paired against the Replenish deck again. It was a very quick victory, and I went over to the other side and started rooting for NO RUG to win because I knew I should have rolled him last time. Unfortunately though, Mono-white Stax took it, and we were off to the finals.

2-0
2-1-1

Round 5: Mono-White Stax

Once again, he offered the draw and prize split, which I thought about but then ultimately decided it was worth doing. I knew I had a bad matchup and didn't want to risk getting nothing at all for the sake of trying to get all the gold. So we each took our share of $50 a piece and went on our merry way.

0-0
2-1-2

I took my $50 credit and had to choose between LED and Scavenging Ooze on what to get. Ooze was $40, but I felt LED was going to be overall harder to find, so I went for that! Who would have thought that a 2-1-2 record would have netted me an LED for prize?

For anyone who is near Westfield, I highly recommend checking out Lost Harbor games! Their stock is huge, the owners are very friendly, and the store is clean, spacious, has tables available for jamming games, and best of all: free parking! If it wasn't such a long drive for me I would definitely be a frequent visitor!

In other news, here is the list I can currently playing in standard:

4x Goblin Arsonist
4x Goblin Fireslinger
4x Vexing Devil
4x Goblin Wardriver
2x Stormblood Berserker
3x Goblin Chieftan

4x Pillar of Flame
3x Goblin Grenade
4x Shrine of Burning Rage
3x Brimstone Volley
4x Thunderous Wrath

21x Mountain

Sideboard:
3x Traitorous Blood
2x Torch Fiend
2x Manic Vandel
3x Bonfire of the Damned
3x Dragon's Claw
2x Dismember

This deck is really fun and is very random! With such high powered burn spells like Thunderous Wrath and Goblin Grenade comes a little randomness, but also comes with a lot of blowouts! I have been doing well so far prizing at FAM and being 1 win short of prize at FNM, and I will probably play this deck until I leave for the summer. Torch Fiend is a card I just discovered as I was putting this deck together, and if I had known about it when I was playing Zombies I would have easily played it over the Manic Vandels in the sideboard because Zombies was so lacking on the 2-drop slot.

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Pack to Moat: Week 15-16

Hello everyone!

After taking a week off after SCG Providence I got back into the trading world and had a fantastic week of trading! By the end of the week I am very seriously discussing the exact cards that will finish off this project, so I am very excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel! When I started this project, I thought it was going to be hard to get the project started, but then it would be easy to finish because I would have such good stuff. While starting was tricky, finding the cards that I need to acquire is actually very difficult, and then actually being able to make the trade work is a whole additional challenge. Regardless, this was a very prolific week for trading!

May 9, 2012

My:
Killing Wave (1.64)

His:
Desolate Lighthouse (2.66)

Net: +1.02

Neither of these cards are seeing much of any play, so this is just one of the small steps you have to take just to accumulate value.

My:
2x Chinese Foil Vapor Snag (6.00, 12.00)

His:
Geralf's Messenger (6.30)
Isolated Chapel (8.15)

Net: +2.45

I thought my trade partner was just dumb when he put Messenger at 6, so I snap went with it, but as it turns out he was right! I may have been able to value the snags at 7 each, but I find with pimping cards that people have a pre-determined cap on what they are willing to pay and if you break that barrier and then come back down they may decline, even if it is lower than their desired threshold.

May 16, 2012

My:
Laboratory Maniac (0.50)
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (3.86)

His:
Kaalia of the Vast (5.98)
Sunpetal Grove (2.94)
Dragonskull Summit (3.49)

Net: +8.05

Laboratory Maniac was on the front page of my binder with the other throw away cards, but this guy was legitimately looking for one. He set up this trade himself, and I liked it alot, so I was glad to go along with it! I think Kaalia should be an easy move because how good she just got with Avacyn Restored (specifically Avacyn and Griselbrand). The other duals are just normal liquid.

My:
2x Splinter Twin (4.01, 8.02)

His:
Vexing Devil (11.58)

Net: +3.56

I was very excited to make this trade work! Because we are no longer in the Modern season, I was worried that Splinter Twin would be impossible to move, and getting a hot card from Avacyn Restored is always a nice return! I have seen a lot of mono-red decks popping up recently, and Vexing Devil is just so good in it!

May 17, 2012

My:
Dragonskull Summit (3.49)
Hymn to Tourach (1.81)
Infernal Tutor (5.68)
Golgari Grave-Troll (3.13)
Undiscovered Paradise (7.54)

His:
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad (22.66)

Net: +1.01

One of my friends who I haven't seen in a while messaged me on facebook inquiring about the binder. I have made trips twice before out to Dunks to do some trades out of the pack to moat binder, and he always brings a friend or two which really helps! I thought Sorin was still 25 or 28 when I did this trade, so I snapped it up immediately, but even though my net was less, having more 20+ cards is really important as I try to move up the chain. The most valuable card I moved was an 8, so it made my binder look a lot more valuable than the value actually moved. My friend is working on Dredge, which is why I picked up the dredge cards a while back. Knowing someone specifically who wants certain cards is always incredibly helpful!

My:
Isolated Chapel (8.15)

His:
Phyrexian Metamorph (7.50)
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (3.86)

Net: +3.21

This was the other trade that happened at Dunks, and I think this might be the 7th Thalia I have had come in? She hasn't moved more than 25 cents her whole lifetime, but she constantly sells like hotcakes! If you never know what to trade for in someone's binder, Thalia is always reliable. Metamorph is a good card that is seeing a lot of play as standard is all about trumps, so playing lots of clones always maintains parity and keeps the race close

May 18, 2012

My:
Blue Sun's Zenith (0.81)

His:
Dungrove Elder (3.37)

Net: +2.56

I was really glad to be able to finally move USZ! I thought it would be easy to ship, but that has been far from the truth! Dungrove isn't seeing any play either, but it is worth more and it is the best card in its archaetype, so if someone wants to build that deck, this is the first card they will acquire.

My:
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (3.85)

His:
Ratchet Bomb (6.24)

Net: +2.39

And the next day, Thalia moves to a new home. Ratchet Bomb may be a liability now because tokens are much easier dealt with via Terminus and Bonfire of the Damned, but it's a fine utility card. Hopefully I can ship it quickly though, as I don't think there is any upside to the bomb. This time of year Scars block cards will start sinking slowly in anticipation of rotation.

May 19, 2012

My:
Natural Order (35.13)

His:
Darkslick Shores (14.42)
2x Copperline Gorge (8.6, 17.2)
Isolated Chapel (8.2)

Net: +4.69

I had 2 Natural Orders that I unhappily acquired from the Force of Will, so now I have to ship them as soon as I get the opportunity. I wound up going to a legacy tournament saturday (small review to come) and afterwards a guy saw the NO and mentioned he had 3 Visions ones and 1 Portal one, so he wanted to get the arts right. I wasn't too thrilled to get Standard Duals for it, but having 1 is a much smaller liability than 2, and these duals are much much easier to move! The only bad thing is that the individual value of cards takes a small hit which can fight against the case a little.

My:
Chinese Show and Tell (45)
Gaea's Cradle (69.27)

His:
Tarmogoyf (98.18)
Phantasmal Image (13.35)
Bonfire of the Damned (17.63)

Net: +14.89

After that trade, there was one guy left to trade with in the room. He had all beta cards (though played horrifically) so the Chinese Show + Tell caught his eye. He only had 3 Dark Confidant (46.8) and 4 Tarmogoyf for big cards, and the original version of the trade had just Gaea's Cradle and a Bob instead of the Goyf. He wanted the Show and Tell and I said I could 1-for-1 the goyf in for the bob. After many deliberate minutes of thinking he finally obliged. I'm SO glad he did, because I might not have accepted if he was only willing to ship the Bob as it is worth so much less than Cradle!

10 Trades
Week 15-16 Net: +43.83

So obviously obtaining a Tarmogoyf is HUGE for me, however Matt (the guy who has the moat) said he doesn't care about Goyf, so now it will have to make itself into a blue Dual Land, which Matt actually wants.  At this point I have passed the $300 threshold that is Moat, and now I just need to get the right stuff. I may be doing a few more trades where I lose value as long as I am getting something big and significant back. My goal is to get things like blue duals, Force of Will, and Wasteland, so those may start showing up more frequently now in trades. After 4 months of trading it is crazy to see this all slowly coming to a close!

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Variation is Essential

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry I haven't been posting very much recently. I haven't played any magic for the past 10 days, and honestly it has been nice for a change. I spent a lot of time thinking about and preparing myself for SCG Providence and after the event I was kind of lost because it passed so quickly. I will probably be going to Wednesday Night Magic though, so I should be getting back into the game again.

In this past week and a half I have done some reflecting, about magic and beyond, and I thought this might be something cool to talk about to get back into blogging: Variance.

Magic is a hugely complicated game, this has been said many many times. But you know what else is a complicated game? Chess. But I would say that Magic is more complicated than chess because Chess lacks any variance. Play 5000 games of chess, and they all start the exact same. Often times, depending on your style, your first 4 or 5 moves may be the exact same every game too! This is obviously not the case with Magic. Deck and card selection is a cause of variance before you even sit down to play! Never mind opening hands, mulligans, etc!

I obviously love playing Magic, and I used to be an avid chess player. However, I have grown a little further from Chess because I feel it is a "fixed" game. Because there is absolutely no variance, there is the capability for there to be an equilibruim to be reached where the only way for the game to be different is if a player makes a move that is objectively non-optimal. I tried to have a game against myself last week, but after 5 moves I had to walk away. I wanted to make the absolute best move possible for each player, so before I would do anything I would plan out how things would go the next half dozen moves. It took about a good minute of thinking for each potential move, and if you know anything about chess than you know by 5 moves in there are up to a dozen pieces that can justifiably be moved. So after 15-20 minutes of thinking about potential moves, I finally decided to choose the one that didn't seem so bad. Now the problem here is that I know exactly how I will react to everything, so it is completely impossible for me to make a mistake and capitalize on it (or maybe I make a mistake, and I never see it to win a free piece or something). After 30 minutes I had to call it quits because I could smell the neurons frying themselves in my head....

A different example of a "fixed" game is called the Prisoner's Dilemma. I highly recommend you take the time to watch that video, it is only 3 minutes long and it's very efficiently explained. I have been watching a lot of his videos and have been thinking about the elements of game theory in a lot of places in my life. So many things beyond the prisoner's dilemma have strictly better choices, and very quickly we can shortcut them such as playing a land turn 1 instead of discarding down to 7. Very quickly, these fixed games become boring. At first you may have been intrigued by the Prisoner's Dilemma. Couldn't both players just not rat the other out? Then they both get only 1 year in jail! However, once you learn the real solution to it the game is no longer interesting. For example, if I showed you this game matrix:

3, 7      4,10
1, 6      2, 8

The obvious answer is that the game will come to an equilibrium at 4,10. This video is about humor specifically, but the lessons about learning and boredom and still relevant here. So to bring it all back together I had been playing so much that I felt I had solved all my matchups, or at least done enough that I felt thoroughly satisfied. I had everything "fixed" in my head, I knew how every matchup would basically play out, where I would play my cards on what, etc. Unfortunately after doing all that and the event came and went there was a very quick drop off back to reality. Big events are awesome! So much so that normal FNMs become meh again. Just like how people say they had the best X food in the world that they can't eat it anymore because nothing else compares, in the same way after going to a huge event everything else feels underwhelming.

So this is where variance kicks in. Deviation from what we would expect. A lot of people are complaining that Avacyn Restored has made magic way too variance based especially with Miracle cards. For the first time in 27 months - 2 1/4 years - Channel Fireball did not make the top 8 of a Pro Tour. That is incredible! I asked PV on twitter what the first event was that CFB tested as a team for and he said PT San Diego (right after Worldwake came out, CFB played Boss Naya and LSV went 16-0 in the swiss). Pro Tour Avacyn Restored was the first Pro Tour in the history of Team Fireball that they have not Top 8'd. WOW! I looked at the coverage of all the Pro Tours and World Championships, and while usually there was only 1 in the top 8, they often had 2, and they even had 4 this past World Championships! Blame the bad mana, blame the super-high variance of miracles, whatever you want. But if it weren't for variance changing the way this game works, then CFB would simply top 8 every Pro Tour for the rest of time, and win a good amount of them too.

Without variance magic becomes a game of chess where we both players can quickly get full information either based on way opponent plays or based on your turn 1 Gitaxian Probe and can then solve the game. Sure there is some small variance based on what they draw, but that rarely can completely change everything as the game goes on. With miracles though, we have an aggressively undercosted spell that dramatically changes the game state. This is exciting! This makes me want to get right back into the game again! This is what made me not scoop up my cards even though I was at 2 life, my opponent had 12 power on board, and I had no creatures in play (didn't get the bonfire, but how incredible would it be if I did?!?).

Sometimes the only way to win is to get super lucky. Variance creates those moments. Sometimes you find yourself paired against LSV round 1 and you just have to hope you get lucky and pull out a win from nowhere. With the higher-variance standard format we are now in this is a lot more possible. People complain about variance because "rather be lucky than good" but I love it! Standard is going to be awesome for the next 18 months and many many matches will come down to "at the last possible moment I topdecked a miracle!" and everyone will really enjoy it (maybe not your opponent, but if he is a good sport then he should be able to enjoy the euphoric moment with you).

Will Miracles and the higher variance destroy magic? Please, don't be ridiculous! The best players will still rise to the top, but now there is more opportunity for insane games and overall more fun moments! If I weren't leaving to work at camp this summer, I know that I would be thoroughly engaged for the long run!

I did in fact get back and play in my local Wednesday Night Magic event and went 3-2 with Goblins, which I should write about soon. But that's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

SCG Providence!

Hello everyone!
This past weekend I traveled down to Providence RI to play in the Star City games open event. Leading up to it, I was incredibly excited to play both Standard AND Legacy as the last 2 times the series came to Boston (which was actually in Boxboro, not Boston), I wasn't able to play the legacy event. Obviously it's nearly impossible to justify commuting to the event from home when it was about 90-100 minutes each way, so I had to find some guys to get a hotel room with. I formed a group of 4 with the legacy players, and I was looking forward to the weekend. Then within 2 days everyone either dropped out or said they only want to play in legacy and they would just be driving down for Sunday. So all of a sudden I had no one to go with and the event was in 10 days! Thankfully though I was able to find 2 other gents that were looking for a roommate, so we made arrangements for a hotel that was only a 15 minute drive from the event. 2 Days before the event, Ed wants to join, so we take him in. 10 minutes before we're about to leave, John decides he can't go. Geez! I feel like I'm juggling people up and down here! Ultimately though, we had 3 people go down for the hotel, so it was the same price as previously anticipated, just a different crew.
Finally we get to the hotel, and you know it's a classy place when I am standing right next to the sign that says "21+ ID required to rent room" and I pass over my under 21 ID to the lady behind the desk and she glances at it, nods, and gives me the key. Yeah....
So anyways, finally we get to the event saturday morning, and I am pretty excited about my standard list:

4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Gravecrawler
2x Fume Spitter
2x Porcelain Legionnaire
2x Highborn Ghoul
4x Geralf's Messenger
2x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Phyrexian Obliterator
2x Falkenrath Aristocrat

4x Pillar or Flame
2x Tragic Slip
3x Go for the Throat
2x Geth's Verdict
2x Brimstone Volley

4x Blackcleave Cliffs
4x Draonskull Summit
15x Swamp

Sideboard:
2x Bonfire of the Damned
3x Manic Vandel
2x Skinrender
3x Nihil Spellbomb
3x Act of Treason
2x Cemetery Reaper

I worked with some of the local players on this list a few days before the event, and one thing that is very different from my previous versions is that this list doesn't have any Cemetery Reapers in the main deck. I wound up really missing them all day, and I boarded them in almost every matchup. Having a lord for your team is already really good by itself, and the fact that it can build its own army is just gravy!

To say the least, I didn't exactly do very well this past weekend. I went 0-3 drop losing to GW Wolf Run, BW Tokens, and UB Creatureless Control. I have no idea what happened honestly as I felt I played optimally but for whatever reason what I was doing simply wasn't powerful enough. Maybe it was the deck, maybe I really was playing like a chump, but for whatever reason I fell to a quick 0-3 drop.

I was a little annoyed, but you have to get some bad beats in from time to time. So I went around trading until I learned of the Legacy challenge which was a 4 round swiss legacy event which only cost $5 to get into because I played in the Standard event. So I figured I might as well take the nearly free event as a chance to practice my Elves for Sunday. Aaaand.... I went 1-3. Wow, this is not looking to be a good weekend! I lost my notes on this event, but I remember my win and two of my losses.

My win was in round 2 vs BUG Control. He didn't have much pressure at all on me, in fact his main win condition is Jace, TMS, which basically means I have all the time in the world to assemble Wirewood Symbiote + Elvish Visionary and severely outdraw and out attrition him. I wasn't able to combo either game, but instead I provided a steady stream of pressure backed up with a Pendelhaven to play around things like Snapcaster Mage to slowly nug him for the game. Game 2 was VERY interesting as he cast Massacre on me twice (Savannah is a plains) and Pernicious Deed once, but each time he did, I responded by assembling Voltron (Symbiote + Visionary) again and quickly rebuilding back up my forces. The last turn of the match was interesting. I had a judge watching the whole time, sitting next to me, as our game was one of the last being played. I had made an attack last turn that hit him for 1, but I don't believe he recorded it so I hadd him at 2 and he had himself at 3. His only blocker was a Mishra's Factory and I had 2 1/1s in play + Pendelhaven. I attacked with both my creatures and he did the usual animate - block - pump himself play, so I pumped the unblocked one and reached out my hand. He looked at me confused ad stated he was going to 1, but I had him at 0. A very long "argument" broke out where I explained multiple turns of attacks and he seemed to misremember one of them. He accused me of changing life totals outside of the actual moves of the game at which point I just pointed at the judge next to me and gave the "really?" look. After another play through of what happened over the last 5 turns, the judge ruled I had won. What was the tipping point? According to the new IPG rules (and by new I mean a half-dozen weeks old) every time a life total changes both players must verbally declare what the new life totals are to help prevent these confusing events. I was declaring new life totals and he wasn't. Thankfully I was able to keep it cool and play with a level head or else we may have had a very embarrassing mess on our hands!

Both the losses I can remember happened vs combo decks, which is my worst matchup. The first was to TES, which is the much faster version of Storm. Usually this version loses to its own inconsistency more than the opponent actually doing anything. He got a turn 2 on the play win game 1, but game 2 he was stumbling. I was able to build meager force and attack him down to 12. He looked at his hand, then back at me, shrugged and said, "Hey, let's have come fun!" at which point he cast 3 rituals before casting Burning Wish for Dimishing Returns. In my new grip I had the only interactive spell possible which was Chord of Calling. Untapped I had a Gaea's Cradle with 3 dudes in play, a Forest, and a Wirewood Symbiote. Here is where I really punted: in response o the first spell he cast (LED) I cast Chord X=3 for Thalia.... I did in fact SB in Teeg, and I did in fact completely forget about it. Pu-pu-pu-punt!

My other loss came to High Tide. It's pretty obvious what your opponent is on when he goes turn 1 Island, Candelabra of Tawnos, go. As far as I knew, High Tide needed 4 islands to go off, although 3 was occasionally doable. So I waited to pull the trigger on the combo until he had 3 islands in play and he didn't have to right cards to answer my threats so I won. Games 2 and 3 were different. I set my game up such that I would win when he had 3 islands in play to maximize the odds of my combo killing him. However both times on turn 3 he went High Tide, Turn About, Time Spiral....etc...etc...etc...mill your whole deck. To say the least, it was VERY frustrating!

So I wasn't feeling too good about my chances for Legacy on Sunday, but I didn't have any other decks that were full unproxied so I stuck with Elves. Here was the list I registered for Sunday:

4x Nettle Sentinel
2x Fyndhorn Elf
3x Llanowar Elves
4x Heritage Druid
3x Birchlore Ranger
4x Wirewood Symbiote
4x Elvish Visionary
2x Priest of Titania
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Mirror Entity
1x Regal Force
1x Craterhoof Behemotoh

4x Green Sun's Zenith
2x Chord of Calling
1x Crop Rotation
4x Glimpse of Nature

4x Forest
2x Savannah
1x Bayou
1x Misty Rainforest
2x Verdant Catacombs
3x Windswept Heath
2x Gaea's Cradle
1x Pendelhaven
1x Dryad Arbor

Sideboard:
1x Elvish Archdruid
1x Umezawa's Jitte
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Thoughtseize
1x Gaddok Teeg
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Viridian Shaman
4x Faerie Macabre


Here's a quick rundown of how my day went:

Round 1: Goblins
I always undervalue any opponent I play against, and I committed myself to not do that this time. I started on Forest - Llanowar Elves, and he went Scalding Tarn, go. I put him on delver at first and played out my next turn setting up the combo but then he cracked fetch for Taiga, played a mountain, and dropped in a mini-Gather the Townsfolk in the form of Mogg War Marshal. I realized that I was under absolutely no pressure at all, so I just laid back for another turn before attacking for 104 trample damage on turn 4. Game 2 he showed me the only card that could deal with my deck: Goblin Sharpshooter. And it did its job VERY effectively. For game 3 I brought in 2 Thoughtseize to deal with said Sharpshooter and I was able to snag one right after he grabbed it with a Goblin Matron and I was able to go undisrupted from there on out.

2-1
1-0

Round 2: UR Delver
This was very frustrating for me. Both games I was 1 turn short of killing him - I had all the pieces on board. However both times Chain Lightning ended the game just 1 turn too early.

0-2
1-1

Round 3: UR Delver
This was basically a carbon copy of last round, although I believe I may have thrown one game when I miscounted my mana. I can't remember the exact board, so I will never never know if I did have the kill or not, but I had everything set up for the Mirror Entity - Nettle Sentinel - Heritage Druid - Wirewood Symbiote infinite mana - infinite damage combo next turn both games but I got killed just 1 turn too early! I think UR Delver is my worst matchup because they are 1 turn too fast for me. I think I may add Gut Shot to my sideboard to kill the Delver and buy myself enough time to kill him first.

0-2
1-2

Round 4: UR Delver
I played against UR delver this round, but I was convinced I was against mono-red for the first few turns. His first two turns were: T1 Mountain, Grim Lavamancer, go. T2 Chain Lightning you, miss land drop, go. As it turns out I was just against a terrible player. I usually don't like making fun of someone for being bad, but this was one of his turns: untap with Volcanic Island, Mountain, Grim Lavamancer. "Upkeep, Brainstorm..... Grim Lavamancer your Nettle Sentinel, go." Me: "Move to draw step?" Yeah...

2-0
2-2

Round 5: Not Quite Maverick
Finally! Something besides UR Delver! Her list seemed a little different, and afterwards we were talking after she told me she specifically called the deck "Not Quite Maverick". It didn't have cards like Mother of Runes or Linvala, Keeper of Silence that make the matchup much more difficult for me. As it was, I faced very little disruption and was able to have a relatively easy round.

2-0
3-2

Round 6: Burn
My last round took a very long time to play out, and when we finished I didn't actually look at the slip before I signed it and the judge standing by us took it away. As it turns out it was accidently listed as her winning 2-0 instead of me. I thought something was strange when I was seated at table 80 and my opponent was X-3, so I quickly ran over, saw I had 6 points on the pairings sheet, and told the judges. Ultimately I just switched opponents with my round 5 opponent and I sat down ready to jam!
Unfortunately, it wasn't much of a game as I just took some Lava Spikes to the face and died before I really do much of anything interesting. I brought in Thalias among other things, and while I think they would have bought me a couple turns, I never got them and promtly lost in 15 minutes... Woo!

0-2
3-3

Round 7: RUG Delver
This match went to 3 games, although I can't remember which ones I won and lost. The final life totals on the 3 games were: 1-14, 2-11, 8-11 so in all of them I was behind on the race, but I had to have pulled it out in 2. All I remember is that in a sideboarded game I cast a turn 2 Scavenging Ooze and it absolutely dominated the matchup as it made his Nimble Mongooses and Tarmogoyfs completely useless! When your opponent can't safely attack his Tarmogoyf into your Llanowar Elves, you know you have yourself well set up. RUG is a million times easier than UR because they are about a full turn slower and far more reliant on their animals, which we are always advantaged in.

2-1
4-3

Round 8: Storm
I was so used to playing against fair decks all day that I forgot that there are fast combo decks in the format! He went turn 1 Underground Sea, Ponder and I had no idea what to put him on! If I hadn't just played vs 6 creature decks in 7 rounds I probably would have been able to figure it out better. Regardless, he wasn't able to assemble anything game 1, and I was able to score a win. I was able to figure out what he was on by the time we went to sideboard though when he Infernal Tutored revealing LED the turn before I got him, so I brought in my anti-combo package. Game 2 was very interesting! He went for a quick small storm because of his mulligan, so he dropped 12 Goblins onto the battlefield. My board was just a Nettle Sentinel and a Forest. On my turn I cast a second Sentinel and a Wirewood Symbiote off a Pendelhaven. I did the math out and after counting for a Llanowar Elves in my hand if he attacked every turn and I blocked with 3 guys a turn, he would deal 9, then 6, then 3, and then 0 damage off his goblins which would leave me at 2. So after his first attack which I had to trade off my Symbiote I was able to get in for 4 damage a turn before casting a green spell and effectively fiving my Sentinels vigilence. The score was 11-8 when he attacked with his 9 guys and I blocked to bring myself to 5 when he cast Branstorm and drew into Cabal Ritual + Tendrils of Agony to get me for the last damage before I could have potentially killed him. Regardless, game 3 a lot of my disruption went to good use to slow down his game plan enough to allow me to beat in before he could assemble much. Despite my opponent playing red he was not playing Burning Wish, so you can imagine I was thoroughly surprised when he cast Infest in the post-board games. I personally think Burning Wish is too good to not play, and Infest just makes your Ad Nauseums worse (although I never actually did see a Ad Nauseum cast...)

2-1
5-3

Round 9: UR Delver
And here we go! Final round! Before the round started I was in 70th place, so a win would allow me to win $50 whereas a loss would get me nothing on the whole weekend. When I sit down I realize I am against a guy I have seen at some other regional events and it is someone I highly respect as a player. So the pressure was really on to see if I could earn a cash finish fr my first ever major legacy event. I joked that he was probably just going to play Volcanic, Delver because that's what everyone has been doing all day, so he casually shrugged said "ok!" and did exactly that. Our game was a very grindy one and I was having a tough time sticking too many threats. The game was pretty tight with him just having a 1/1 Delver in play and I had a meager board and both of us were at 17 when all of a sudden his Delver flipped and he cast 2 Goblin Guides??!! So BAM I jump down to 10. So to return the favor, I just went for a glimpse chain to at least try and draw enough cards to muster a resistance. As it turns out muster a resistance really means attack for 30 with Craterhoof Behemoth because it's the only creature that didn't have summoning sickness by the time you finished comboing. Game 2 I got destroyed pretty quickly. He led off with a Goblin Guide and I started eating damage very quickly which was soon backed up with a Delver and a miracled Thunderous Wrath. Game 3, the final match of the whole weekend that would make or break my day, was finally here. I was very tired and kept a terrible hand of 5 lands and 2 dudes (although if I remember correctly it was Symbiote + Visionary). However, because I am simply a champion, I drew all the cards I needed right off the top and was once again able to combo kill him when I had no non-summon sick creatures when I cast my Craterhoof and poked for 30.

2-1
6-3

Woo Hoo! I finished in 44th place, which was really great for my first ever Legacy Open! The deck was really solid, though a lot of my learning came over the course of my matches as little things started coming up (like actually respecting Priest of Titania as a card), and I feel very comfortable with the deck now. I look forward to SCG Worcester, although by the time that rolls around I may be on a different deck - maybe Dream Halls? However, even if I play elves again I really won't mind because more practice always leads to better results.

I had an absolute blast at SCG Providence! If you don't usually go to major events I absolutely recommend going to any and all that you can! There are tons of people to trade with (just watch out for sharks!), tons of magic to be played (both the main event and side events), tons of people to meet and talk to, and dealers that have almost everything you could want! One my favorite things about the dealers is selling off bulk, which are the rares and foils that you really can't move and will never really be playable (things like Cyclops Gladiator) and you can sell them for $0.10 a piece. I had enough bulk stocked up that I was able to get $58 cash or $70 store credit for. I wound up turning my huge piles of bulk (though there were a lot of $0.25 cards, I didn't have 580 bulk cards!) into a Lion's Eye Diamond, Bloodstained Mire, and a Japanese Avacyn Restored pack (for drafting). I can't wait, but in 4 weeks SCG is coming back to New England for SCG Worcester, so I will certainly be going to that!

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Pack to Moat week 14

Hello everyone! This past weekend was SCG Providence (report will be up soon) and I actually didn't trade nearly as much as I expected myself to, although that's partially because I was kinda tilted saturday, and way too in the glimpse zone sunday. I did however make some huge trades, and a couple potentially damning mistakes too, so here we go:

May 2, 2012

My:
Sulfur Falls (5.94)

His:
Solemn Simulacrum (6.93)

Net: +0.99

I did not know that Sulfur Falls had risen a dollar in value, although now that Innistrad is no longer being drafted I think all of the dual lands will start to rise in value assuming they aren't getting reprinted in M13 (which they have no reason to). In general picking these up is a very good investment for the next few months. However, I am going for a short gain, so Solemn Simulacrum is a solid choice, especially with how popular ramp is right now with Cavern.

May 4, 2012

My:
Thoughtcast (0.52)
Path to Exile (4.87)
Woodland Cemetery (4.85)

His:
Ichorid (7.49)
Misthollow Griffen (3.56)

Net: +0.81

Once again, I thought Path was worth 4 instead 5 which cut into the potential profits of the trade. I decided to prospect the Misthollow Griffen in case it did well at the Legacy SCG event. Steve wrote about the deck on TCG Player today, though the ever-important "I went 2-3" line will stick out to too many. Obviously though, no deck is optimized on the first weekend it is legal and within a month a far more refined list will probably break into the top 32 of a SCG Open and it's popularity will receive a solid bump.

My:
2x Hinterland Harbor (4.16, 8.32)

His:
Phyrexian Metamorph (7.60)

Net: -0.72

As much as it sucks to lose some value here, I really didn't gain or lose anything here. Hinterlands trade at 4 and Metamorph is at 8, so when we aren't counting pennies I am theoretically gaining value by turning my smaller estate into bigger plots of property. I am at the $300 required value for the Moat, so all I need to do now is turn all of those dollars into higher value more compressed cards in order to present an appealing deal. This is the kind of trade I hope to do more of.

May 5, 2012

My:
Solemn Simulacrum (6.93)

His:
Champion of the Parish (4.92)
Maga, Traitor to Mortals (0.71)
Infernal Tutor (5.66)

Net: +4.36

Maga is the unique kill card for the Food Chain deck, and at $1 to pick up, it was too good of an opportunity to pass on! Champion and Tutor are both very solid safe staples that will definitely not lose value. In fact, Champion does even have the opportunity to grow a buck if the Boros/Naya humans deck comes through (I prefer Naya despite never thinking of it myself).

My:
Stoneforge Mystic (7.60)
Bayou (66.87)
Jace, the Mind Sculptor (58.99)

His:
Force of Will (66.66)
Gaea's Cradle (69.22)

Net: +2.42

And here was a MAJOR marquee trade! Basically the Stoneforge means nothing for this trade and it was just a pawn to make him happy about it. Force and Bayou were basically the same value, so I really upgraded my Jace into a Cradle, which I am perfectly glad to do! I feel these cards will be cornerstones of making the final deal happen for me!

My:
Phyrexian Metamorph (7.60)
Myr Superion (1.31)
Heartless Summoning (1.68)

His:
2x Chinese Foil Vapor Snag (~6.00, 12.00)

Net: +1.41

And once again we have a trade where some cards simply don't matter, and for this one that is obviously the Myr and Heartless. They were rotting in my binder ever since I acquired them, and I counted them as $0 value when calculating whether this trade was viable or not. These Vapor Snags will probably be tough to move, although when I finally do find someone who wants them I can image it will be a very interesting trade, and they will most definitely go together.

My:
Champion of the Parish (4.92)

His:
Killing Wave (1.69)
Inferno Titan (4.05)
Thunderous Wrath (1.19)

Net: +2.01

Killing Wave has some potential as a sleeper card that is startign to gain popularity because of the Kamikazee deck that Smi77y is advocating. The deck seems very powerful, though I haven't tested it myself, and if it picks up than Killing Wave can gain some value, maybe even up to 3! At the time I made this trade, T Wrath was at 0.50. Inferno Titan was a tough card to move last time, so I really don't know why I picked this one up.... This will probably come back to bite me....

My:
Thinderous Wrath (1.19)

His:
Gavony Township (1.70)

Net: +0.51

Simple, quick, elegant, resouceful. This is as easy as trading can get.

My:
Gavony Township (1.70)
Mirran Crusader (4.15)

His:
Undiscovered Paradise (7.56)

Net: +1.71

Undiscovered Paradise constantly sees play in fringe legacy decks like Dredge and Zombies, most notably powerful because of its interaction with Bloodghast. This might never find a home, but if it does, that person will be very excited to have finally found it because I NEVER see these in trade binders!

My:
Spellskite (4.42)

His:
Hinterland Harbor (4.16)

Net: -0.26

Spellskite isn't really tradable, any Dual Land is. Plain and simple. I can lose a quarter for a card that is actually liquid.

My:

Force of Will (66.66)

Ichorid (7.49)

His:

2x Natural Order (36.03, 72.06)

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (3.88)

Net: +1.79

And this is the trade that made me lose sleep that night and made me not trade all of Sunday.... I probably would have never had to move that Force of Will until the final trade was made for the Moat, and yet I traded it into some $36 fringe cards.... GAH!!! I feel like I really took a few steps back with this trade.... And by few I mean many... If there was any trade I wish I could undo from this whole process it would be this one. Losing $20 to get a Bayou isn't nearly as bad... -_-

11 Trades

Week 14 Net: +15.03

Aside from the very last trade of the weekend, this was a fantastic week for trading! The problem I have found though is that my normal binder is pretty terrible, so it is hard to work my way into trades when my only decent binder is the value-trading one which is a turn-off for people. I find that doing a pleasant normal trade leads to a good Pack to Moat trade because they are more comfortable with me as a person and they don't feel like I am a big mean jerk. I guess I will have to put a lot of work into my normal binder to help make the pack to moat better. It's kinda crazy how these things work!

Despite making mistakes from time to time, this has really been a learning process for me. A few weeks ago I said I hoped to have it done by SCG Providence. Obviously that hasn't happened, but when I started the whole project I aspired to do it by the summer, which is still a very real possibility. Seeing as I am already at the right value (~310 right now) I think getting the individual high value cards over the next 4 weeks shouldn't be a difficult task. I may slow down with the project a little as I don't have any big tournaments planned until SCG Worcester although I may take a weekend to visit a new store (probably in Boston?) which may help accelerate the final stage. It will certainly be a relief to finally have it done!

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie

Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com

@ThingsILack

Avacyn, Restore my Binder!

Hello Everyone!

Last week, when I was at the TCQ at TJ's, I did some huge trading which ultimately netted me 7 dual lands, and some other awesome legacy staples. At what cost? A little over half of all my trade stock. After the event I went to go update my binders, and what was 2 has now become one. In fact, I dare say the pack - moat binder is much more appealing than my normal one. Just because we're down though, does not mean we are close to being out. With Avacyn Restored coming out this weekend, the financial world is going to get its quarterly shake!

If you are new to the financial and trading game, here's the first and most important thing to know: 80+% of the cards in any new set are overpriced. So the real goal is to be able to figure out which cards will go up and trade for a few more than we normally would in order to reap the rewards when the price goes up a little. Since I started writing this a few days ago, a couple cards have already exploded in price, and I wasn't able to write about them ahead of time. Those two cards are Entreat the Angels and Bonfire of the Damned. Entreat has gone up from its original $4-5 up to $20 where it currently rests. Bonfire of the Damned has gone up from $7 to $12-13. I think people playing the pre-release helped those cards go up because nothing helps players understand new mechanics than actually playing with them. Entreat and Bonfire are both perfectly fine for their normal casting costs, and when miracled things just get dumb.

So unfortunately I can't prospect those, but I have some other cards that I find to be intriguing. So let's take a look at all the (relevant) mythics first:

Will go down:
Avacyn, Angel of Hope (currently $12)
She is simply unplayable outside of the realm of casual, down to 6 or 7.

Bonfire of the Damned (currently $12)
As happens with all cards that boom in price (besides Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Tarmogoyf) their price will soon settle back down to reasonable levels. Bonfire is very good, and I will hopefully get 1 or 2 for my zombies deck to tear open the creature mirrors, but it will probably settle to 8-10.

Entreat the Angels (currently $20)
Just like bonfire, the boom will ineitably read to a bust. The important card to compare Entreat to is White Sun's Zenith. If you have 11 mana, Entreat will make four 4/4s for (that's a lot of 4s in a row!) 16 power. WSZ will make 8 2/2s for the same 16 power. When miracled, Entreat will make 9 4/4s for 36 power. However, WSZ is an instant and Entreat is a sorcery. Entreat to be effective generally requires tapping out on your turn, giving the opponent a 1 turn window for action. Even though you are tapped out, you can set up your game plan such that they actually can't deal with the angels and they just die to Avacyn's Army. I think this will see play everywhere WSZ used to, but Entreat will drop to $10 or 12.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (currently $6)
She came out at 10, and has dropped to 6, and will continue to drop to 3

Griselbrand (currently $12)
He is very good, and will probably stay around $12, but may deflate a little down to 10

Sigarda, Host of Herons (Currently $14)
Good card, but not $14 good. I anticipate this to sink to $10

Tamiyo, the Moon Sage (Currently $33)
Once the Jace tax is paid, this will be a $18 planeswalker

Temporal Mastery (Currently $32)
I expect to see a lot of this card at SCG Providence, but as people play with the card more, they should realize there are just better options. This is the major bust of the set, and will be a $8-10 in no time

Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded (Currently $17.68)
This is a very hard card to evaluate (and though I said I would, I haven't gotten to it yet =X) but I think he is very good in the right deck, which won't be widely popular. $8 for you sir

Will go up:
Bruna, Light of Alabaster (currently $4)
One of my friends is building a sick EDH deck with her where you play cards like Traumatize to aggressively put enchantments in the graveyard that come back attached to Bruna when she attacks someone. If this kind of a deck takes off, then I can see her value.... not changing. Generals aren't worth anything unless they are foil. For example, Azami is worth $2 unless it is foil at which point it is $40-45! Jhoira, another popular general is $4 normally, but $30 when foiled. So Bruna is selling for $15 foil right now on SCG, and I anticipate that going up to $25 in short time once this deck starts getting around.

Craterhoof Behemoth (currently $2)
I have been playing with this card in Legacy Elf Combo, and it is the real deal! At the same cost as casting and activating Ezuri, Craterhoof almost always deals more damage, and is basically as effective as Emrakul at winning all by itself. I don't think Behemoth with go anywhere dramatic, but I expect it to bubble up a little to 3 or 4 over time.

Misthollow Griffen (Currently $3-4)
In case you haven't heard, when you combine Food Chain and Misthollow Griffen, you get infinite mana of any color that can only be used on creatures. I may nor may not write about it, I haven't decided yet, but the 2 big cards to cast are Emrakul (obviously) and Maga, Traitor to Mortals. If this combo takes off I can see Misthollow rising in value up to $6 or 7 and Food Chain will rise from its current $10 up to $15 (the card was at 3 before Griffen was spoiled). However if the combo doesn't pan out to be any good, than Griffen will settle to $5 and Food Chain will rest at $7.


So as I see it, there isn't a lot of potential money to be made in this set via Mythics. So now I want to highlight some rares that are of interest to me:

Alchemists Refuge (Currently $2)
I think this card will go down to a buck or less initially, but will rise to $3 over the long-term. The card to compare it to Winding Canyons, which is a $5 land from Weatherlight. Winding Canyons only lets you cast creatures, but the activation is colorless. Refuge lets you cast anything, but the activation is color-specific. I can see this being playing in a Momir Vig EDH deck, but not much more than that. Pick this guy up when it sinks, and over time the card should come up the give a small payoff

Cathars' Crusade (Currently $1)
This card is a snap staple in any tokens deck. It combos quite nicely with Pentavus and Ghavu, Grave fo Spores. Using either of those cards while Crusade is out, every time you make a token by removing a +1/+1 from your guy, you get a +1/+1 on all your tokens AND the creature that make the token, so you don't actually lose any counters from your Pentavus/Ghavu and you can basically go infinte. That may not effect Crusade's value at all, but it is worth knowing the interaction.

Cavern of Souls (Currently $24)
Everyone is losing their heads over this card, and I really don't know why... It is a very good card, no one can deny that, but everyone is lamenting a $30+ land in standard, which really makes no sense to me! I think this card is good, but as we have seen with Mythics around, it takes A LOT to make a rare stay in high value. Notice how Stoneforge Mystic is the second-highest value card in its set, but can't break $10 despite being banned in Modern and the center of many archaetypes in Legacy? Why is Snapcaster Mage $25 despite being the best blue creature ever printed and legal in every format? Cavern of Souls is good, but not $30+ good. I think this guy will live in the $15-20 range, and then when the Titans rotate out it will drop to $10.

Deadeye Navigator (currently 0.50)
If it weren't for the titans, I would be talking about how to make a combo deck with Deadeye + Priest of Urabrask to make infinite mana, maybe win with something like Heritic's Punishment or just Bonfire of the Damned. However when the titans leave, so will Priest and the combo will never live. That being said, this guy is straight up value! I can see him being played in some kind of heartless summoning deck where strong ETB abilities shine. This isn't likely to go anywhere, but it has potential

Descendant's Path (Currently $2)
They have tried making enchantments like this before in the past, but this is definitely the best of the bunch. Will it be enough to make it playable? I don't know, but I intuitively want to say no. Only looking at 1 card once per turn cycle is very little value as this will probably only trigger a half dozen times a game, and will be very unreliable. In my Zombies deck for example I play 25 creatures which means Path will hit less than 50% of the time. And I consider Zombies to be very dude-heavy! Even if you play 36 creatures and 20 land, this will only hit 60% of the time, which is not very consistent at all.

Desolate Lighthouse (Currently $3)
We haven't seen any spell-lands from this block ever get too high in value despite many being incredibly good, and this is another to keep you finger on. This card will be huge in BV decks and Grixis control decks, and I expect this card to be played for eternity.

Dual Casting (Currently $1)
This has so much potential, it's insane! Here's one combo I know of right now: Enchant Dual Casting to Midnight Guard, then cast Gather the Townsfolk. Retaining priority, make a copy of the spell. When the copy of Gather resolves, Midnight Guard will untap and you can do it again. Another potential combo would be to enchant Deceiver Exarch with Dual casting, then target it with a Cackling Counterpart. Use the same combo as before to make tons of copies of the Deceiver Exarch, all the end of the opponent's turn. The only problem with these combos is that they require tons of mana, and when the combo is resolved you have either a bunch of 1/1s a la Empty the Warrens or a bunch of horned Turtles. Cool. There is a lot of potential with Dual Casting though, so I look forward to seeing how it can be busted open.

Riders of Gavony (currently $1)
I can see this card being a sideboard card for the human decks against any kind of tribal deck, but that doesn't sound overly exciting, and sideboard cards aren't ever worth too much.

Silverblade Paladin (currently $5)
Man.... I really should have written this review last week, shouldn't have I? Last week Chas Andres sent out a tweet asking people what financial predictions they had, and I called Silverblade to be a $6 in no time. And here we are, just 1 week later it rose from 2 to 5, and i expect it to keep rising!

Terminus (Currently $4)
I think this is the best miracle of them all, and the most likely to see play in legacy. One top local player already has this in his Counter-Top deck along with Brainstorm and Jace TMS to set it up, and as an Elf player that makes me a sad panda. being able to instant-speed wrath the board for W is so freakin insane!!!! This card WILL be played, and I think this is a card that will hold good long-term value from the set.

Vexing Devil (Currently $15)
Goblin Guide you are not, sir. GG is currently $5 and this will share its fate. Ship 'em if you got 'em

This set seems to be lacking a little in terms of money cards, although it does have a few. The block Pro Tour is coming up in 10 days, at which point the best thing you can do it stay glued to the live feeds and on twitter and have your finger on the trigger ready to move cards as soon as you know where they are going. That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack