Modern Storm!

Hello everyone!

This past Monday, I heard that we were having weekly modern tournaments at Toys for the past couple months. I don’t know anything about modern besides what cards are legal and what cards are banned. Thankfully though John, who is the guy who has been coordinating the events, said he had multiple decks and could lend me one. Given the choice between RUG Delver and UR Storm, I made the obvious choice and went with storm!

4x Sleight of Hand

4x Serum Visions

4x Gitaxian Probe

4x Thought Scour

1x Peer Through Depths

4x Pyretic Ritual

4x Desperate Ritual

4x Seething Song

4x Manamorphose

3x Past in Flames

4x Grapeshot

4x Pyromancer’s Ascension

2x Steam Vents

3x Sulfur Falls

4x Island

1x Mountain

2x Misty Rainforest

4x Scalding Tarn

Sideboard:

3x Defense Grid

3x Combust

3x Echoing Truth

2x Empty the Warrens

3x Pyroclasm

1x Volcanic Fallout

We wound up having 9 people, which was 4 rounds. Round 1 I got the bye, so I used the time to actually try out the deck for the first time against a guy’s standard delver deck. I wasn’t planning on playing against him, but I sat down across from him and he was game to playtest anyways. To say the least, the games were insanely 1-sided with me being able to combo off turn 3 or 4 while he was still trying to deploy threats, although obviously holding mana leak was probably the better play… Regardless I got practice in comboing off with Pyromancer’s Ascension in play (stupidly easy) and without (a lot trickier, but not impossible) which was the most important thing for me so I knew what to get on my Sleight of Hands and Serum Visions.

Round 2: Bobby – Splinter Twin

I won the die roll, and was able to turn a t2 Pyromancer’s Ascension into a turn 3 kill, so it was pretty easy. The amazing thing I learned about Ascension is that when it is active, it completely nullifies any kind of counterspells your opponent tries to throw at you. Bobby went for Dispells and Spell Pierces during the early parts of the combo, and I just let my stuff get countered because I was still netting mana off the copies of the rituals! Going into games 2 and 3 I brought in 3 Combusts and 3 Echoing Truths to prevent him from winning via the combo. Game 2 he was on the play and curved perfectly into the turn 4 kill. I combusted his Exarch, but he had the Mutagenic Growth to save it and kill me. Game 3 I feel was one of my best played games of all time. I had a Pyromancer’s Ascension in play with 0 counters and a couple spells in the graveyard from Cantrips and Thought Scour. By turn 8 I was stuck on 4 lands though, and Bobby was hitting almost every land drop such that he had 6 lands. I had 1 Combust and 2 Echoing Truth in my hand along with a Manamorphose and a Pyretic Ritual, both of which were in the graveyard. We were playing on the other’s End Step to play around tricks and whatnot. Eventually, by playing the Ritual and Manamorphose on his end step combined with cantrips, I was soon able to gain enough card advantage to go for the kill while never giving him a window to counter-combo me out of the game.

2-1

2-0

Round 3: ADB – Infect

In the least interactive matchup possible, ADB was about a turn faster than me, so despite doing things like Grapeshotting his creatures and bringing in Pyroclasm, he has just enough protection and barely edged me out.

0-2

2-1

Round 4: Charlotte – Elves

Another non-interactive matchup, but this time she didn’t have a very fast clock at all. Bringing in pyroclasm also does a fantasic job of being a wit’s end when they plays out her whole hand affinity style turn 2 and I kill everything.

2-0

3-1

I didn’t play much interactive magic aside from Round 2 Game 3, but that was probably a good thing. With a deck as complicated as storm, you really need to practice it a ton, get used to the math and shortcuts before you can add in the complexity that is an opponent.

While there are obvious similarities to the Legacy storm deck, which is black based and uses Dark Ritual, Cabal Ritual, and Ad Nauseum, there are some major differences. The first one is that there is no real interaction. Legacy Storm uses Duress, Cabal Therapy, and other such cards to clear out a path for the combo pieces. Modern Storm does that via Pyromancer’s Ascension. One card I am terrified to face is Cryptic Command as countering my spell and bouncing my Pyromancer’s Ascension is simply doom for me.

Another way the decks differ is how they get up to lethal storm. Legacy Storm gains card advantage primarily through Ad Nauseum, although Past In Flames can also work in a pinch. Modern Storm also tends to kill with 10 spells because you cast 2 Grapeshots, and it’s only way to gain card advantage is through Past In Flames. Without it you can probably get 7 or 8 storm if you have good use of Manamorphose and other cantrips, but that’s not enough to kill.

I really like this deck, and would absolutely recommend it! Oh by the way, it’s insanely cheap to build! Here’s the rares:

Pyromancer’s Ascension – 2 (8)

Past in Flames – 4 (12)

Steam Vents – 25 (50)

Sulfur Falls – 4 (16)

Misty Rainforest – 14 (28)

Scalding Tarn – 14 (56)

Total: 170

I found that the second Steam Vents was completely unnecessary, so you can save yourself a Jackson there (also remember that Izzet is in RTR, so there will probably be a reprint!). The only card that’s really of note are the 6 fetchlands. However, fetchlands are a staple of both Modern and Legacy, so they are worth investing in regardless because you will never run out of uses for them! After that, it’s less than $40 worth of cards, with most of it still standard legal!

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

Ryan Lackie

Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com

@ThingsILack

RTR Spoilers!

Hello everyone!

Today, the mothership posted an article about the upcoming Izzet VS Golgari Duel Decks. While I don't particularly care about the Duel Decks, I heard there were some spoiled cards in the article so I gave it the obligatory read. And let me say, it was cool! 5 commons/uncommons were spoiled, and I want to take some time to talk about them here:

First things first, we have this little guy who is showcasing the new Golgari mechanic from RTR: Scavenge. Rosewater said that he wanted the old mechanics from the original Ravnica block to coincide with the new mechanics in the return, and Scavenge does a good job of that! I think it's kinda funny how when you think of it, Scavenge is basically another form of flashback. I think going forwards, unless if the scavenge cost is very low (1 or 2) we should simply look at scavenge as simply a bonus and not an incentive to play the card. So how good is a 3/3 haste for 1BG? Very! This will naturally join Geralf's Messsenger at the 3 drop slot in zombies to make the deck insanely aggressive! Depending on how good the mana is, I can see Jund zombies being a completely legitimate deck if we still feel the need to play the burn and Aristocrat. Golgari does have Plant Zombie as its primary tribe, so I guess we will see what other goodies we get handed!

WOW! This card is insane! Making all your instants and sorceries cost 1 less is reminiscent of Helm of Awakening which dawned the first storm combo decks by combining with Priest of Gix. We have grown since then, and even if we just use the Goblin to make mana advantage, that's fine too. Wait! It's a creature? That just made it better! In the same way that Snapcaster Mage is so much better than Recoup because it swings for 2, trades with guys, and so forth Goblin Electromancer is so much better than Helm of Awakening because it's a legitimate way to win a control mirror. The only complaint I have heard about the card is that it's common so Pauper Storm just got way too good, but I know exactly 0 people who play pauper...

I'm going to upfront here - this card kinda sucks. In limited it's sweet, but in constructed it's just not going to cut the mustard (in other news: that's a really dumb saying). What more exciting than this card is the knowledge that there's going to be a cycle of these, so we will have 9 more chances at a fantastic guildmage!

Here we have another card which showcases the new Izzet Mechanic Overload. Similar to replicate, I am excited to see the cool things they can do with replicate! Some cool kinda of cards I want to see Overloaded: Counterspell, Lava Spike (for commander), Disperse, Unsummon, and Shatter. I see so much potential with this ability, it's awesome! I think this is probably going to be better than Replicate so long as the mana cost is right. Street Spasm seems very playable, however Bonfire of the Damned is simply better, so Bonfire will get the nod for a while, but this card is a windmill slam first pick in limited! Uncommon Plague Wind? Don't mind if I do!

I wanted to save the best for last, and here it is! A split card between Spell Piercce, Magma Spray, and Careful Study/Faithless Looting is just awesome! People have complained that all versions are a little overcosted, and there's a good reason for that! All the aforementioned versions are 1 mana spells, and this costs 2. I am absolutely willing to pay the tax of 1 mana to basically have 2 extra cards in my hand! This card is going to be an absolute all-star, and I am very excited to see what else they have in stock for the Charms! As is Snapcaster Mage wasn't good enough yet....

That's all I have for today! RTR spoilers don't officially start until September 10th, but I am gladly eating up these mini spoilers that we're getting now! I am incredibly excited for RTR, and I can't wait to get brewing! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Enchanting Worcester

Hello Everyone!

This past weekend was GP Boston located an hour's drive from Boston in a sleepy hollow called Worcester.  I really don't know why they just don't call the event GP Worcester instead of changing back and forth between Boston, Worcester, and Boston-Worcester, but hey I guess logic doesn't always win.

I was planning on playing in the main event, however my girlfriend had an uncle die last week and the funeral was supposed to happen Friday, but it got bumped back to Saturday, so I did what simply seemed right and proper and went to the funeral instead of playing in the GP. I wound up getting into Worcester late Saturday, stayed the night in my friend's apartment, and then went in Day 2 specifically to play the TCG Platinum Legacy event.

Here's the list I registered for the event:

4x Argothian Enchantress

4x Enchantress's Presence
4x Wild Growth
4x Utopia Sprawl
3x Solitary Confinement
3x Sterling Grove
4x Elephant Grass
2x Mirri's Guile
1x Runed Halo
1x Sigil of the Empty Throne
1x MOAT
1x Words of War
1x Oblivion Ring

2x Replenish
4x Enlightened Tutor

2x Chrome Mox
4x Forest
2x Plains
2x Savannah
1x Taiga
1x Karakas
2x Serra Sanctum
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs

If you have never seen Enchantress play out, which I'm guessing is most people considering the deck is basically never played, I will be writing a piece on it probably tomorrow that should cover everything you need to know on how to play it, and some budget options so you don't have to break the bank over things like Moat.

Here's how the event went:

Round 1: Storm

This is easily my worst matchup, and game 1 was good evidence of that. Game 2 I thought I had him by having a Runed Halo naming Tendrils of Agony, an Elephant Grass in hand, and a Sterling Grove in play protecting the Halo, but he just Echoing Truthed the Grove, rituated a ton, tutored for a Past in Flames, recurred the rituats, bounced the halo, and then killed my with Tendrils.

0-2
0-1

Round 2: Esper-Blade

This is normally a good matchup for me, however he got me in 3 long grinding games. All of the games were close but he just got there. I was surprised and frankly disappointed at the loss, but I guess you still have to lose 2/5 of the time in your 60/40 advantage matchup.

1-2
0-2

Round 3: Merfolk

This guy's deck was SWEET! Everything was foil and judge promos were all around! However, he also had a decent matchup against me. This matchup obviously revolves around the red zone, so Elephant Grass and Moat are my game plans. Unfortunately for me, it didn't quite work too well and I lost in 3. However, he said he was dropping anyways, so he gave me the win

1-2
1-2

Round 4: Counter-Top

This matchup was obviously very slow and grindy, so naturally I was advantaged. Game 1 I was able to stick an early Enchantress and crush him hunder the weight of my card advantage followed up with Words of War. Game 2 was much of the same, but I won with Angel tokens insead.

2-0
2-2

Round 5: Zombies

This round started off so casually and fun as we were just joking around ad having a grand old time. This quickly changed however when I quickly prevented him from dealing me any damage because of Elephant Grass and a Runed Halo on Goblin Bombardment. Game 2 went in a similar fashion, although he was able to beat me down to 6 before I drew into the Grass and locked him out.

2-0
3-2

Round 6: RUG

This game was insane! Game 1 he dropped me down to 1 life before I stabilized and set up the double enchantress + Solitary Confinement lock. I was playing very loose and tired though by this point and twice I forgot to discard for Confinement. My opponent immediately pointed it out, and I immediately sacrificed it. Thankfully, I had a Replenish to save my butt! Game 2 rather hilarious. I ramped into a turn 3 or 4 Baneslayer Angel and he just sat there for a second looking at it. As it turns out, the burn in his hand was a Fire // Ice, he had a Grim Lavamancer in play, and only 3 mana so he just barely couldn't do it. Baneslayer attacked him 5 times and that was the game, ending with me at 27 life!

2-0
4-2

Round 7: Maverick

This was another very straightforward and easy matchup. I was worried that this turn 2 Thalia was going to cause me problems, but I quickly learned that while it can be obnoxious, Thalia doesn't really do much... I have 19 lands (6 of which are basic), 2 Mox, and 8 ramp enchantments for a total 29 mana sources in the deck. Having to pay 1 additional didn't even matter! The one thing that's tricky about maverick is that without Knight of the Reliquary, the deck doesn't really apply much pressure. He didn't draw knight game 1 and so I was able to lock him out while at 7 life and then fly over the top for the kill. Game 2, once again, was one solely by Baneslayer Angel. I dropped the angel while at 12 life, and the rest is history from there. The lifelink kept me well ahead in the race and I won at 15 life.

2-0
5-2

I actually felt like this was a perfect deck for the event! Storm is easily the worst matchup, but no one is playing storm right now! The format is very fair, and so Enchantress is actually well positioned. If the meta doesn't change much, then I think this is a perfectly legitimate choice going forwards. I think the Chrome Moxes are unnecessary until the format speeds up again, so I will have to do some investigative work to see what I should replace them with. I know I definitely want a second Runed Halo, but we will see....

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Infectious Relapses

Hello everyone!

So I just got back from camp yesterday, and it's very sad.... Camp is absolutely amazing, I have so much fun being able to deliver the promise and help shape the future. However, sadly that is all over now, and I must return to the "real world".

And what better way to return is there than to jam some cardboard?! I had forgotten about the local Wednesday Night Magics until about 5 hours before it was to start, and so I quickly pulled together what I had of what I think is one of the coolest decks in the format right now: Mono-Green Infect!

I wound up not having much, so when I got to the store I did the usual beg and plead routine and I wound up registering this list:

4x Glisener Elf
4x Ichorclaw Myr
4x Necropede

4x Mirran Metal
4x Mutagenic Growth
1x Ranger's Guile
2x Apostle's Blessing
4x Gitaxian Probe
1x Mental Misstep
2x Wild Defiance
4x Gut Shot
3x Titanic Growth
4x Rancor

4x Inkmoth Nexus
1x Cathedral of War
14x Forest

Sideboard:
3x Viridian Corrupter

Yes, I had a 3 card sideboard. If anyone asked, I was planning on pulling out my trade binder and making the white section the rest of the board, but no one cared or even asked.

The deck played fairly well, although I felt like I did want to cut a land. Having 12 creatures and inkmoth was very good for me as it allowed me to fight through the hate that people are now devoting to the deck. Since playing, I have acquired 2 more cathedral of war, and will be picking up key cards, like Ranger's Guile and Wild Defiance. I think Just 3 Defiance is fine as I don't need it to win, and I would never want 2 in play together.

I wound up going 3-2, which was good for a booster pack of M13. Not too shabby for my first constructed event in 3 months! I then used that pack plus 2 I bought and came in 4th out of 6 in my first M13 draft. I drafted a RW deck with an insanely low curve, lots of tokens, just 16 land, and a couple trumpet blasts. Not a fantastic deck, but I certainly learned a lot about the format and frankly I think this is my favorite core set draft format of all time!

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

FTV: Realms Unboxed!

Hello everybody!

Today, Evan Erwin posted a video on SCG that unboxed FTV: Realms. And let me tell you! It's fairly..... interesting....

Back in February when FTV: Realms was first announced, I made up a prospective list as to what I would guess may be in the set. My list was:

Wasteland
Mishra's Factory
Glacial Chasm
Reliquary Tower
Boseju, Who Shelters All
Ancient Tomb
Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Tolaria West
Cabal Coffers
Barbarian Ring
Pendelhaven
City of Brass
Vesuva
Petrified Field
Academy Ruins

I went into detail on how I made my picks in my original post, and after comparing it to the real list, there were a couple of cards I was correct on:

Glacial Chasm
Boseju, Who Shelters All
Ancient Tomb
Vesuva

I felt like I was on the right path with the mono-colored lands, although frankly their choices were better in most cases like Dryad Arbor over Pendelhaven. Overall though, for the second year in a row, the From The Vault series has frankly dissapointed. There isn't much to be excited for... For FTV: Legends, the complaint was that there were basically no older cards. This time around we do have cards like Desert and Maze of Ith and Glacial Chasm that harken back to days of old, however this time around there aren't really any blockbuster cards... Here's the financial value of the set:

Ancient Tomb                           9.34
Boseju, Who Shelters All          4.38
Cephalid Coliseum                    3.93
Desert                                      0.58
Dryad Arbor                             3.07
Forbidden Orchard                   5.71
Glacial Chasm                           0.62
Grove of the Burnwillows          11.80
High Market                             6.74
Maze of Ith                               37.71
Murmuring Bosk                      3.80
Shivan Gorge                            0.87
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth     19.71
Vesuva                                      11.22
Windbrisk Heights                     4.12

Total: 123.60

After doing the financial value out, it seems to me like the financial value really is there, the set just feels dissapointing because theres no blockbuster card like Wasteland or Karakas that everyone was hoping for. Instead, the blockbuster card is almost never played, and only holds value because of its age rather than its abilities.

One of the other things that is cool about the FTV series though is getting to debut new art. This time around we have 8 cards with new art:

It's kinda sad that 3 of the 8 new arts went into cards that have never and will never see play (Desert, Shivan Gorge, Glacial Chasm) but there are some exciting new arts. First thins first though, there are no terrible arts this time around, like Progenitus last year. Some cards with new art that I REALLY want to get are 1 Dryad Arbor, 4 Cephalid Coliseums, and 1 Maze of Ith.

I will not be purchasing FTV: Realms, however I don't feel like it is the worst investment possible. There are a couple cards I am looking for, so I will probably just trade in for them.

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Hello, my name is the Lich Lord

Hello everyone!

I haven't been posting much this summer, but that's because I have been incredibly busy here at camp! We're in week 8 right now which is our final week of the season. Most camps are completely closed and packed up by now, but we're rocking one last week with 200 campers (smallest of the year)!

A lot of things have happened since I have been gone like the Hall of Fame voting (congrats PV!), but one thing in particular has caught my attention: A new card from Return to Ravnica!

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord!

Now the first thing that stuck out to me when I read this card was the middle ability "1BG, Sac another creature: Each opponent loses life equal to the sacrificed creature's power." I feel like if Jarad is to become a contender in standard (definitely too slow for modern or legacy), then it will have to be based off of that ability. The next thing I noticed about him was that he is a zombie, so he combos very nicely with Gravecrawler! Gravecrawler + Mortarpod was quite a nice thing this past year, and having 1BBG: All opponents lose 2 life isn't the worst...

But you know what card will very happily pair up with Jarad? Geralf's Messenger! Without things like attacking involved, look at this:

T3: Cast Geralf's Messenger (18)
T4: Cast Jarad (18)
T5: Sac Messenger to Jarad (15), Undying (13)
T6: Sac Messenger to Jarad (9)

So without turning any dudes sideways, the two combine for 11 points of direct life loss for your opponent! That's pretty nice! After packaging up with gravecrawlers, blood artists, and other disruption, we should have a pretty solid deck!

Now, the one limiting factor is going to be the mana cost... BBGG isn't too easy to do.... However, assuming Overgrown Tomb gets reprinted we will have that, Woodland Cemetery, and Cavern of Souls to fix our mana, so I doubt there will be a problem. Consider this deck:

4x Gravecrawler
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Blood Artist
4x Bloodthrone Vampire
4x Geralf's Messenger
3x Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
1x Disciple of Bolas

4x Tragic Slip
4x Duress
1x Vile Rebirth
3x Sign in Blood

4x Cavern of Souls
4x Woodland Cemetery
4x Overgrown Tomb
12x Swamp

I know that this isn't quite a final product, especially considering that I don't have any RTR cards in here, but It's a start. Some other cards I have considered for this deck include Ghoultree and Rancor. If I'm playing Ghoultree, then I would probably want to play smallpox as well because then I can still get value out of discarding a creature besides Gravecrawler. I am also considering Killing Wave, although that has generally been phased out at this point as being too cute and not actually effective.

I originally wrote a piece on the possibility of combining Jarad with Life from the Loam, however, then I was directed to this video from Dan Diego Comic Con where Rosewater explicitly says there are no returning mechanics. Yeah, that was from over a month ago, but I have been gone and missed it completely. I will hopefully get to watch this video in the next week and draw some information from it. I'm sure there is potential in Modern, but I haven't had the time to wrap ideas around the whole modern format!

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack