Modern is Moving in the Wrong Direction

Hello Everyone!

Over a month ago I wrote about the Legacy banned list and thought about why cards are actually banned and which cards would be safe to remove. Of the 60 cards on the banned list, only 2 could reasonably come off. Today, we had the Banned and Restricted announcement, which I didn't know was being moved to line up with new set's releases. Nothing was changed in Legacy, however Modern did get a pair of bans.

Bloodbraid Elf and Seething Song are now banned.

This is the wrong direction to go with Modern. Here is the Modern banned list. For starters, Jund without Bloodbraid Elf will still get a top 8 in every event. The thing with Jund is it's just a pile of really good cards. Dark Confidant + Liliana is still a perfectly legitimate game plan, and cards like Tarmogoyf are still insane beaters. Bloodbraid Elf is simply another sweet card, nothing else. PV wrote an article recently where he talked about what makes a deck good. One major defining factor is that you have to play good cards that you never mind drawing. Look at this Jund list, what cards do you never want to draw in it?

"Damn, I drew a Maelstrom Pulse" - said no one ever

If we take Jund and then replace the 4 Bloodbraid Elves with 2 Kitchen Finks and 2 Huntmaster of the Fells, the deck hardly changes and we still have a dominant beast to be reckoned with. So banning Bloodbraid Elf doesn't get us very far.

Another angle I have heard people talking about is that we can just cut red out of Jund completely. The only other utility we were gaining from playing red was Lightning Bolt and Terminate, two cards that can be easily replaced, so we are free to explore other options. Jund has already been playing Lingering Souls, so why not go deeper into white?

3 mana 5/5, is that good? Pro Tour Amsterdam in 2010 Brian Kibler and Brad Nelson both came in the top 8 with the Treefolk Shaman. Here's his deck tech. Keep in mind that this format was Extended with legal sets ranging from Time Spiral through Magic 2011, so the format was vastly different, however it's an inherently powerful deck and can probably be effectively ported to Modern.

However before we look at Doran, Seething Song also got banned.... and no one knows why.... Storm is not a good deck in modern, and the loss of Bloodbraid Elf is not going to make it any better. The only reason that I think the DCI banned it is because they're trying to elimate combo decks from the format. This is a bad idea. No one likes getting combo'd out, but without the threat of powerful combo decks the rest of the format completely changes the way it interacts and the range of potential decks shrinks.

Here's a few legacy decks you may expect to see at a given tournament:
RUG Delver
Shardless BUG
Show and Tell
ANT
Miracles
Dredge
Goblins
Elves

Each of these decks have completely different game plans and so being able to fight against everything is simply impossible. The types of disruption each deck folds to is different, and this creates a tension in sideboard construction because you have to choose what you want to beat and what you want to lose to. Let's compare this to Modern:

Jund
Infect
Pod
UWR
Eggs
Storm
Affinity
Valakut

Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize answers everything. Storm could previously fight through Thoughtseize, but now without their best ritual, the deck lost its legs and will probably never see play anymore (not that it was ever good before...). With Storm now out of the picture this less diverse list becomes even tighter and decks like Eggs and Infect will have a lot more focused hate making them even more fragile and therefore weaker choices to play. This means that the only decks that are left are fair decks. That's not very exciting and the format will lose its tension and identity.

Restricting the kinds of unfair things that can be done in a format is ultimately worse for that format. I'm not saying this just because I like playing unfair decks, I also play standard. Modern is slowly becoming Standard with a bigger card pool. This is a flawed strategy. Standard is popular because every 3 months the format completely transforms so there is a constant draw to deckbuilding and innovation. With the addition of Gatecrash we go from 1144 cards to 1393. This is a 21.8% increase in the card pool - a very significant increase. Compare this to Modern which is going from 7276 to 7525 cards, a 3.4% increase - fairly negligible. Since Modern can't reasonably expect to be shaken up dramatically with every new set to the point that people find a new interest every couple months, it needs another approach to be popular. Legacy does this by having a diverse metagame and approximately infinite viable strategies so the meta is constantly shifting. Without any new cards the format shifts constantly which maintains an interest. That's the direction Modern needs to go.

So what am I suggesting to improve this? Just unban (almost) everything! The format will go into limbo and will be insane at first, but we will quickly see the decks balance themselves out against each other. The only card I think should stay banned is skullclamp, but all the others can come off. This will create more combo decks, but cards like Bitterblossom, Jace TMS, Mental Misstep, Stoneforge Mystic, and Sensei's Divining Top will open up 2 flavors of control (Caw-Blade and Faeries) to help counteract it. Midrange decks like Jund will still be viable because they can use hand disruption to slow down the opponent and let their proactive game plan take over.

The major reason all the combo decks were too good before what that WotC neutered the control decks and then wondered why they were absent. You know what wrecks Hypergenesis? Spellstutter Sprite. You know why no one is playing that card? Bitterblossom is banned. Why is Bitterblossom banned? I don't know.... We have Volcanic Fallout, Great Sable Stag, and Zealous Persecution as hate for starters....

We have the tools already in the format to not have a broken format, but instead we're not allowed to have any fun, and this is a major detriment to the game.

If you want to try Doran, here's an untested list I would start with:

4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
2 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf

3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Path to Exile
2 Thoughtseize
2 Abrupt Decay

1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Lingering Souls

3 Liliana of the Veil

1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Marsh Flats
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Murmuring Bosk
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
3 Razorverge Thicket
3 Treetop Village

Sideboard:
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Rule of Law
3 Blind Obedience
1 Golgari Charm
1 Path to Exile
3 Duress
2 Loxodon Smiter

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Gatecrash Pre-Release! *5-1 5th*

Hello Everyone!

I just got back from the Gatecrash Midnight Pre-Release at Larry's, and it was pretty awesome! I ultimately decided to go Gruul because I felt like it would have the most consistent and robust game plan, which is exactly as it played out. Here's the deck I played:

Wasteland Viper
Skinbrand Goblin
Disciple of the Old Ways
2x Warmind Infantry
2x Slaughterhorn
Crocanura
Scorchwalker
Zhur-Taa Swine
Rust Scarab
Wrecking Ogre
Ripscale Predator
Foundry Champion
Rubblehulk

Burst of Strength
Mugging
Madcap Skills
Pit Fight
Prophetic Prism
Boros Keyrune
Act of Treason
Clan Defiance

7x Forest
9x Mountain
Gruul Guildgate

Notable SB:
Naturalize
2x Gruul Charm

The other rares I opened but didn't play were High Priest of Penance, Biomass Mutation, and Signal the Clans. Overall I didn't think my deck was too great, but it managed to do just enough for me as I finished in 5th place with a 5-1 record in the Swiss. I played against Boros 3 times, Gruul 2 times, and Dimir once with my only loss coming to a Boros player.

Obviously after seeing how Gruul played out and watching other matches, my opinions changed on a lot of things. For starters, Gruul is completely non-interactive, and it's fairly boring to play. All you have to do is make sure you won't die on the swing back and you just attack as aggressively as you can every turn and hope to win. No thinking required. On a related note, Wrecking Ogre is not a fair card! Using that card I hit my opponents for 22, 18, and 16. Wrecking Ogre gives you so many free wins you otherwise didn't deserve it's grotesque.

One card that I had 2 of in the maindeck orginally but consistently felt underwhelming was Ember Beast. I realized that with cards like Mugging (very good!) and other removal spells he actually did nothing a majority of the time. Gruul usually attacks with one big creature every turn like the Abyss whereas Boros has the haste creatures to make Ember Beast more consistent.

Overall I had a great time at the pre-release and won 8 packs for my troubles. I haven't drafted yet, but I can imagine Gruul being an increbly good archaetype because it has so many free wins when you catch your opponent with their pants down.

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Post #300!

Hello Everyone!

I can't believe I have actually been writing about magic for 2 and a half years! Yet, looking over to the side column I can see how much I have written over the months and the years, and I am always in awe. My very first post on this blog was back in High School on April 19, 2010, and to say the least things have changed since then. For example, the second sentence, "I'm not much of a spike player, so this blog is dedicated to all the Timmys and Johnys out there." [sic] That clearly no longer holds true today. While I haven't lost my youthful fun for the game yet, I have grown significantly more competitive. This wasn't the intention when I started the blog, I just wanted to put my ideas out on the internet, I realize now that I can watch myself grow and develop as a writer and a player through my articles.

I started playing magic during my senior year of high school, took two years off, and now I'm in the second semester of my freshman year in college. In high school, I was incredibly lazy. I never did any homework, focused instead on my social life and sports, and in turn my grades weren't too great and I graduated in the lower 50% of my class of 350. I had enough sense to not go to college right away, instead working full time for two years. Then when I finally came back I have been doing much better, only 1 class away from making Dean's list last semester.

Clearly something changed in me over those two years. Being older doesn't necessarily mean you're any better or smarter or more mature, as I'm sure we have all seen a younger person rise above their older colleagues. Working full time in a warehouse surely made me reevaluate what I wanted from life, but it didn't sculpt me to be a better person. I can honestly say that my new found success in life can be attributed to playing Magic.

In those two years of no school, I found that I had nothing to work for. Classes were no longer a concern of mine, so I didn't have anything to study. As I played more and more magic casually, I was hit with a bug - I soon became filled with the desire to become the best player I could possibly be. I discovered websites like Channel Fireball and Star City Games and started reading everything I could, watching every video on YouTube out there. I made a point to play in every FNM, but I was in the store almost every day playing non-stop. I invested heavily into magic, especially in Legacy, and very quickly the results started arriving. I was consistently prizing or at least finishing with a positive record at FNMs, and I even started 4-1 in my first every SCG Open before receiving the harsh lesson of what happens when you don't eat all day while playing UB Control.

I didn't realize it then, but looking back I realize that I was a student of magic, and a very focused and driven one at that. I learned so well because I was so involved in what I was learning. Never before had I actually thought about why I learn the way I do, and how I can refine my study habits to learn better. I learned through Magic that I learn by hopping into the trenches, feeling around, and failing or succeeding by my own hand. This changes everything!

In high school I was always the cool kid hanging out in the back of the class with my legs kicked up on the desk's knee-height supports socializing with friends. I would listen to the teacher, but not take notes or ask questions. Now in all my classes I arrive early to sit in the first or second row and I always ask questions when I'm uncertain of what's happening to involve myself as much as possible in the learning.

If that was how Magic improved my life over the past two years, this story would be useless. Sure, I became a better student. But Magic's effects go beyond just being a better student, it's an attitude and an approach. In magic you decide how well you're going to do at an event before you show up with your level of preparation. If you didn't do any work on maintaining the best list or keeping a tab on the meta you won't do as well as if you did the appropriate things beforehand and through the event. In the same way I realized my success in class is exactly what I choose for it to be. I can choose to be successful and put in the time, or I can choose to be complacent and earn the lower grade I deserve.

In magic if you can't beat a certain matchup, you test it a lot and make changes to your sideboard and your card evaluations. In the same way if something is not working in other parts of your life, I far too frequently see people drop their goals or choose to lose instead of actively deciding to make it work. I was there once too. However through magic I am wired to always be proactive in solving problems and I won't give up on anything without at least exploring my options.

Through magic I gained a special class in economics. Last year I did a Pack to Moat trading project and through that I was taking a crash course full speed in the world of trying to gain value, something that we aspire for in every other element of life. As dumb as it sounds, I have noticed I have become significantly more fiscally responsible the more I have played magic. Now I constantly ask myself questions like "Do I really need this?" and "Are there other, cheaper options?" Now that I'm a college student, every penny really counts and has to go the distance, so figuring out being fiscal responsibility is even more important!

There's many more subtle things I could talk about thinking of the benefits in my life that Magic has had for me, but the bottom line is I'm incredibly glad I have had magic in my life over these past 3 years. I can attribute a lot of how my life has improved to the experiences I have had casting spells and becoming involved in the magic community. Thank you all for being supporters of my writing by reading it. Even if this is the first piece of mine you have read, I'm just happy to have my ideas out there and read. Thank you!

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Experimenting with Evolve

Hello Everyone!

This weekend is the Gatecrash Pre-release, and I can't wait! At this point I'm 95% going to play Gruul because I feel like the guild has the most raw power. 2 of the 5 Bloodrush cards at common give +5 power for 3 mana! That's insane, and can close out games incredibly fast! At uncommon you get additional abilities in Deathtouch, Trample, and First Strike, so your opponents can never feel safe attacking or blocking making the game go much easier for you!

Today I'm not talking about Gruul though. The keyword that has me most excited for constructed is Evolve. Since before Experiment one was even announced, I was already writing decklists for it. Since we have such perfect mana we can actually combine Experiment One with basically anything, leading to a lot of interesting potential lists. Here's what I have come up with:

GR

4x Experiment One
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Flinthoof Boar
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Pyreheart Wolf
4x Hellrider
2x Ghor-Clan Rampager

4x Skullcrack
4x Searing Spear
2x Rancor

4x Stomping Ground
4x Rootbound Crag
3x Hellion Crucible
5x Forest
8x Mountain

This list feels a little underpowered. I may want a Thundermaw Hellkite in here, but I feel like Skullcrack is an important enough card that late game I would rather hold up that instead of tapping out for a Hellkite. The biggest Experiment one can usually get in this deck is a 3/3, but Wild Nacatl is a perfectly respectable card, and I expect to get there fairly regularly. I have no idea how Ghor-Clan Rampager will play out, but I feel that's a sweet card in this kind of deck to help push through damage in the mid game without letting the opponent move into the late game and overwhelm us.


Jund Evolve


4x Experiment One
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Flinthoof Boar
4x Dreg Mangler
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
2x Thundermaw Hellkite

2x Ultimate Price
4x Skullcrack
4x Rancor

4x Stomping Grounds
4x Blood Crypt
3x Overgrown Tomb
3x Kessig Wolf Run
4x Rootbound Crag
1x Mountain
2x Dragonskull Summit
3x Woodland Cemetery

I like this list a lot more than I like the GR one. Black gives us fantastic options with Falkenrath Aristocrat and Dreg Mangler. Experiment one can get all the way up to a 5/5 in this deck, though it will more likely never pass 4/4. This deck feels like it simply has an overall higher card quality, and I would probably test this one before GR.



Naya Evolve

4x Experiment One
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Flinthoof Boar
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Restoration Angel
3x Ghor Clan Rampager
2x Thragtusk

4x Rancor
2x Bonfire of the Damned
3x Skullcrack
4x Boros Charm

3x Temple Garden
4x Stomping Ground
3x Sacred Foundry
3x Rootbound Crag
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Gavony Township
1x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Mountain

Adding white is when things start to get really spicy! With white we gain tricks like Restoration Angel and Boros Charm while also gaining the raw power of Loxodon Smiter. This list is much slower than the Jund list, but with Thragtusk - Restoration Angel in it, it's designed to go a little bigger and longer. Having Thragtusk in the deck may also turn out to be a mistake, but I'm just pitching different ideas. One of the things that can make Evolve awkward is drawing it late. Let's say we have a Thragtusk in play and a Restoration Angel in hand along with an Experiment One. If we play the Experiment One and then the Resto Angel at end of turn, even if our opponent Skullcracks us, we still gain tons of value making the Experiment One go all the way up to a 4/4!



GW Evolve

4x Experiment One
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Strangelroot Geist
3x Thalia
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Silverblade Paladin
2x Frontline Medic
4x Sublime Archangel

4x Rancor
3x Selesnya Charm
2x Faith's Shield

4x Temple Garden
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Gavony Township
2x Cavern of Souls
6x Plains
5x Forest

This is basically just a port from the Selesnya deck I have been playing online a little, but I think it works perfectly! The deck already had the nut draw of Pilgrim - Paladin - Archangel, but now it can have the nut draw of Experiment - Strangelroot - Rancor, Thalia. The tricky thing about this deck is that there are a lot of 2 power creatures that won't play well with trying to grow Experiment One as much as possible. However, we do have Rancor - Silverblade which is a cruel beating by itself, and Sublime Archangel is nasty at ending games abruptly on its own. This deck doesn't have much in the way of tricks, but it's incredibly high quality cards that don't require much to be any good on their own.



Bant Evolve

4x Cloudfin Raptor
4x Experiment One
3x Arbor Elf
2x Zameck Guildmage
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Restoration Angel

2x Simic Charm
2x Selesnya Charm
4x Rancor

4x Breeding Pool
4x Temple Garden
2x Hallowed Fountain
4x Hinterland Harbor
4x Sunpetal Grove
3x Glacial Fortress
2x Gavony Township
1x Moorland Haunt

Experiment One in a deck with Geist of Saint Traft seems like a perfect pair to me! Remember that Geist makes a 4/4 enter the battlefield every combat, which will trigger Evolve! With that, it's basically impossible for Experiment One to not be a 4/4 in almost no time! This deck gets to utilize Cloudfin Raptor as well, which is only slightly less powerful than Experiment One, but gains some very useful evasion. With the Geist angels, Cloudfin can grow to a 4/5 flier, which is just gross! One last card of note is Zameck Guildmage which isn't too powerful, but provides a ton of extra cards and can really power things up. Rebuying Strangelroots is sweet, and the interaction with Gavony Township is just fantastic.

I'm really excited to have Experiment One and Cloudfin Raptor in standard, giving us non RB options for aggressive decks. They requires better deckbuilding, but pay you back for your effort very nicely! I feel like there's a lot more avenues to explore as well! All of my decklists started in a GR or a GW base before expanding, but I wonder if something like a BUG deck is a viable option, or even dropping green all together? I'm doubtful, but open to new ideas.

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

BBBRRRAAAIIINNNSSS in New Standard

Hello Everyone!

This is my favorite time of the year! In fact, I get this 4 times a year! One of the amazing benefits of being a Magic player is you get so many more Christmases than everyone else. First comes the new cards, then comes the new ideas, then comes the new euphoria of discovery, then comes the amazing feeling of those ideas being successful. I love it especially because I am always met with a new wave of exciting and inspiring things to talk about, it's so much easier to pour out what I'm really thinking.

Today I decided I wanted to explore Zombies post Gatecrash. I have a bit of history with BRains, last year during the Delver era I played the deck non stop and had some solid finishes with the deck, making the most of the few opportunities I had to play. Since then it has always held a little place in my heart and I always look to see what Bx aggressive decks we can roll out next.

The first card I have been dying to pair with Geralf's Messenger for the longest time is Restoration Angel. These two are a pair made to bring a disaster. Having Restoration Angel in your deck with Messenger gives you the opportunity to trade more aggressively knowing that an Angel can restore your death machine to its former glory and kill again. Finally with Godless Shrine in the mix we have a solid enough mana base to pursue it.

BW Zombies

4x Diregraf Ghoul

4x Gravecrawler

2x Thrull Parasite

4x Knight of Infamy/Glory

4x Geralf's Messenger

4x Restoration Angel

4x Lingering Souls

4x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

3x Ultimate Price

3x Oblivion Ring

1x Sign in Blood

4x Cavern of Souls

4x Godless Shrine

4x Isolated Chapel

2x Plains

7x Swamp

2x Vault of the Archangel

Cards to consider for Sideboard:

Underworld Connections

Faith's Shield

Purify the Grave

Unburial Rites

Blood Artist

Duress

Sever the Bloodline

Obzedat, Ghost Council

Blind Obediance

Fronline Medic

One cool thing about this deck is how you can play either Knight of Infamy or Knight of Glory depending on the metagame without having to make any other changes to the deck. With Thrull Parasite and Restoration Angel both only profitably working with Geralf's Messenger, keeping him around is key! I really like Sorin in this deck because he will be incredibly aggressive, making emblems whenever possible while also allowing the deck to grind out longer games if necessary. The maindeck otherwise feels strong to me, and I want to keep the sideboard open to adjust for the expected new meta.

Underworld Connections, Duress, and Obzedat are all for longer, grindier games vs control decks. Frontline Medic is good there too, to counter their Sphinx's Revelations, but he also comes in vs Bonfire of the Damned. Faith's Shield is if Sever the Bloodline gets played to protect our Geralf's Messenger. Unburial Rites, Blood Artist, and Sever the Bloodline are all for creature matchups to win the long game. Finally Purify if for the graveyard decks, and Blind Obediance is something worth considering for red decks and haste creatures.

Grixis Zombies

4x Diregraf Ghoul

4x Gravecrawler

4x Knight of Infamy

4x Geralf's Messenger

4x Diregraf Captain

4x Duskmantle Seer

3x Rakdos's Return

4x Skullcrack

2x Searing Spear

1x Bonfire of the Damned

3x Ultimate Price

4x Cavern of Souls

4x Dragonskull Summit

4x Drowned Catacombs

4x Blood Crypt

4x Watery Grave

1x Steam Vents

1x Sulfur Falls

1x Swamp

Possible Sideboard Cards:

Pillar of Flame

Duress

Negate

Dreadbore

Izzet Charm

Blood Artist

This deck is designed to make Duskmantle Seer work. I forsee it as a fantastic closer for aggressive decks that can punish other decks for playing expensive cards like Thragtusk, Terminus, Angel of Serenity, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Unburial Rites. The average converted mana cost of this deck is 1.35. Compare that to the Human Reanimator deck that just won the last SCG Open whose average mana cost is 1.93 or 43% higher. This means that deck will take 43% more damage off Duskmantle Seer while we also attack for 4 a turn. Using cards like Rakdos's Return and Skullcrack, we can leverage our advantage over the opponent and end the game quickly.

Looking at the sideboard, the card I'm actually most excited about is Izzet Charm. Specifically I want to use it as a Spell Pierce to hit a Planeswalker or an X spell when we put the opponent under pressure, but its other abilities is what makes it better than a Negate. In fact, that may be good enough reason to earn a slot in the main deck!

If I had to choose between one of these two decks to play at the first FNM with Gatecrash, I would probably lean towards the BW list. It's a much simpler deck, which means it is better in a new format, but as the format matures it can quickly become outclassed by the options the more complicated decks bring to the table. Despite that, it plays a lot of inherently powerful cards, and I think it may have legs to be a viable deck in the long run!

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

Ryan Lackie

Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com

@ThingsILack

So much Gatecrash!

Hello Everyone!

It's been a while since I have discussed the new spoilers, and a lot has happened in that time! I have a ton of insane cards to talk about today, all of which I am incredibly excited for! This set is turning out to be an absolute A+ for me, and we're hardly half revealed!

Finally we have a creature with Haste and Battalion! Previously the problem with Battalion was that you had to set up your board ready for a Wrath and hope you were allowed to do your thing undisturbed. However, by having Haste as well, Legion Loyalist is significantly more powerful. The first thing to notice when looking at this card is it's a Raging Goblin with upside. Raging Goblin has never been any good, so we have to decide how highly we value First Strike, Trample, and pseudo-unblockability. I think the card this best compares to is Signal Pest - terrible on its own, but with a large enough army it can be insane! With that in mind I think Legion Loyalist will absolutely see play!

I would consider this in an Experiment One deck in standard, probably Dredge-uh-Vine in Modern, and Goblins in Legacy. In Standard, I imagine Experiment One will see a lot of play in Zoo-esque decks with lots of big creatures where the trample will be relevant and can give free wins when your opponent expects their Lingering Souls tokens to give them the turn they need to wrath. In Dredge-uh-Vine, the deck fills the board very quickly, so a card like Legion Loyalist is cheap enough to be a solid second creature for Vengevine, but also high impact enough to force all your creatures through to the opponent. And in Legacy I can see this as a one-of to tutor for with Goblin Matron to help push a board state and close out the game. I think Legion Loyalist will be enough to make Goblin Piledriver playable again since it just was underwhelming for the longest time being chump blocked and easily handled despite being so large, gaining first strike and especially trample is huge!

I'm not sure if this card will be good or not, but I think this may see play in Red Decks. We already want to splash white for Boros Charm, but Spark Trooper is a solid efficient burn spell that also gains you an insane amount of life to make racing nearly impossible for your opponent. Now if you have to race with your Red Deck, instead of using burn on your opponent's creatures to slow down their clock you gain just gain 6 to gain a whole turn on them, and then point the burn at their face.

I have been working on lists for post-gatecrash decks, and one of the important pieces is to find ways to not over extend, and a good way to do that is by having a lot of flash creatures. In addition to helping play around wrath effects by making sure you maximize your damage output, you can also add counters to Evolve creatures at instant speed, messing up combat math for your opponent. This Fish Crab (...?) does it all! I like how it's a 2/1, so almost any creature that would pump a 1/1 evolve will also trigger Shambleshark, but it hits a little harder every turn, doing what you would expect from an aggressive 2 drop.

Now this is an incredible card! Already there has been a lot of talk as to where Duskmantle Seer is best played, but no matter what happens, it's going to be incredibly good! If we're going to play Duskmantle Seer, we have to build our deck with a very low curve so that we never accidently kill ourselves with it. If you have ever played Dark Confidant in the same deck as Tombstalker, I'm sure you learned that lesson the hard way! So with that in mind, I want to play him in an aggressive deck, which probably means Zombies. The fact that the ability is symmetrical is actually a good thing for Zombies since it can act as a burn spell at the same time. I'm sure you don't mind your opponent drawing that Terminus when you're just going to kill them on your turn anyways! We can't reasonably expect to hit a lot of high drops with Duskmantle Seer though, so we need a card to push the balance back in our favor. Thankfully we have access to Rakdos's Return which in addition to cleaning up the opponent's card advantage also deals more damage, making it a perfect pair with Duskmantle Seer!

If you have been reading my blog for a while you will know I really hate mill, and completely ignore it as a strategy 99% of the time. So why am I so excited about this card? For the first time since Altar of Dementia we have a cheap repeatable milling effect which with any sort of recursive effect can quickly burn through an opponent's entire library! Imagine in Modern using Undercity Informer + Bloodghast! Any time you play a land, especially a fetch land, you can drain your opponent of ~5 cards in their library. Obviously thats not too much, but that kind of engine seems robust enough to open up the opportunity for a combo mill deck in Modern or Standard. Of course, mill tends to never stand the test of time, and Undercity Informer will probably have to be satisfied as a high pick uncommon in draft.

Just in time as Daybreak Coronet jumps to $25 and Hexproof Auras dominates a GP we have the semi answer to their plans. If Glaring Spotlight just had the static ability and not the activated ability, I would say it's absolutely terrible. However, as it is, it's actually a very good sideboard card because later in the game after you used up your removal on their dudes, you can turn your entire army into Invisible Stalkers and win the game out of nowhere! Hexproof has been the most aggravating thing players have had to deal with over the past year, and while this isn't an elegant answer to that issue, I'm glad to see we now have a viable way to deal with it.

When I first saw this card, I thought it was a bulk unplayable rare. Just a worse Orb of Dreams, which doesn't even see play, with Extort tacked on to make it less embarrassing. While that may be partially true, after thinking about it more I realized this card is actually much better than it seems! For a control deck, this card deals with Falkenrath Aristocrat, Thundermaw Hellkite, and to an extent Hellrider very well. Those cards are all so good because they play like burn spells. Even if you cast Supreme Verdict every turn for the rest of the game, those creatures would still get their damage in and it will have been worth the card. Blind Obedience changes that. Now your sorcery speed board wipes will also hit those creatures before they can get their card's worth value on you, saving yourself a ton of life in the process. Oh by the way, it also has extort for long term value and life gain for those decks.

Hello Vesuva! Thespian's Stage obviously compares closely to the clone land, but there are a lot of differences. The first is that it comes into play untapped uncloned meaning you can play it as your first land and play spells at a normal rate. Also, because it clones later, it can copy something that wont come into play for a few turns down the road. In standard and Modern, there's not many exciting things to copy. You can only make it into a Dual land for colors you already have, and in Tron decks you need one of each piece, not a lot of the same kind. However, in Legacy there is a deck called TwelvePost that has been around for a couple years. With Thespian's Stage we can make it 16Post! Well... Actually if this sees play in that deck it will probably be -2 Glimmerpost +2 Thespian's Stage and will remain as TwelvePost. However, this card can be played in all kinds of ways! Another interesting form may be to copy Legendary lands or Wastelands to disrupt the opponent's mana. Maybe getting more copies of your manland is essential? However it happens, this card is sweet and I'm excited for the new angle of deckbuilding!

Six mana wrath effect? Blagh! Well.... not quite. Merciless Eviction is actually insane, and I think it may even be good enough to push Terminus completely out of standard! Exiling all creatures is better than putting them on the bottom of libraries, so Merciless Eviction wins there, but then we look at all our options! Hitting artifacts and enchantments is normal stuff to expect - not remotely exciting, but essential to maintain balance. But then.... exile all planeswalkers?! Talk about Merciless! This card just does it all! At Wednesday Night Magic the other day I was playing against Esper Control (I was on Kibler's GB Ooze deck) and I scooped up game 2 when he had Sorin, Jace, and Tamiyo all in play together and I knew I had no hope. Thinking about that board makes me realize how insane a Planeswalker sweeper is! Normally there is absolutely no coming back from that position, but Merciless Eviction gives us hope now.

So let's go back to Merciless Eviction vs Terminus. Both cost 6. Both cost 2 specific colored mana. Neither actually kill the creature, playing around undying. But Terminus's only bonus from there is you can Miracle it at an uncontrolled moment whereas with Merciless Eviction you have incredible flexibility and raw power. I think it's obvious hands down that Terminus is now unplayable in standard because Merciless Eviction is always going to just be better.

Woah! This charm is insane! Once again we have a charm which has 3 relevant abilities as opposed to charms like Azorious Charm which have abilities you almost never use (Lifelink). Giant Growth/Unsummon/Vines of Vastwood. I have played all three of those spells in my day, but one deck in particular that this seems fantastic in is Modern Infect. Sure, we already have access to Vines of Vastwood, but this is a good second best card for redundancy. Simic Charm protects against targetted removal, sweepers, and can also win the game via the pump, making it the full toolbox. However, it costs 2 mana, which may actually be too expensive for such an explosive deck! Even if it doesn't see play there, this card will be huge in standard for the next two years, and I look forward to playing it in a deck that also has Selesnya Charm! All of the pumps, all of the tricks!

In original Ravnica block, there was a very similar card to Simic Manipulator called Cytoplast Manipulator. While the cards have tons of nuances that make them very different, it's cool to see these kinds of effects designed in such different ways. Simic Manipulator is awesome because you can play him as an attacking creature that evolves up to a relevant body and brings the heat, but then as the game develops you can gain tons of value consuming your opponent's board. It's worth pointing out that even if Manipulator dies, you don't lose control of the creatures you stole. I think this type of card may actually be playable in standard given the proper shell as a card to dominate the creatures mirror. Just 2 activations on decent creatures is already enough value to call it a day, and when there is nothing to steal, swinging for 2 is always a well liked option.

Rounding thing out for today we have an absolutely jaw dropping mythic! Sure, it's just a Giant Spider, but I think Master Biomancer may be enough to make Elves a relevant tribe in standard! Relevant Elf cards in standard right now are Deathrite Shaman, Arbor Elf, Elvish Archdruid, Elvish Visionary, Gyre Sage, and Zameck Guildmage. This is a perfect storm waiting for the right cards to put it over the edge, and Master Biomancer may be that card. All the elves can ramp up to things like Craterhoof Behemoth all well and good, but adding Master Biomancer to the picture means just bringing in the beats and turning dudes sideways is also a very viable option as well putting the opponent under significant pressure to react or else become overwhelmed. Even outside the realm of tribal, this is just a great value card to make the rest of your army more terrifying and completely dominate the board.

I get the feeling this is the infinite article I have written looking at Gatecrash cards (actually I think this is the seventh?) but Gatecrash looks absolutely insane, and we're only half spoiled! Gatecrash has already earned its title as an all-star set with tons of exciting cards and mechanics, so I am absolutely looking forward to the prerelease! I think the exciting cards are coming to a close from Gatecrash, so I should be posting up a TON of decklists across the entire rainbow and back again over the next week preparing for new standard!

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

Ryan Lackie

Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com

@ThingsILack

Breaking Enter the Infinite

Hello everyone!

When we first saw Enter the Infinite two months ago no one thought that it was just a flashy mythic that would never get anywhere. You get to draw your whole deck! No intricate combos, just BAM! Cast it and we're there. Once we're at that point winning is easy - we have our whole deck to work with so hopefully we can do something. The question is simply what allows us to cast Enter the Infinite and what is our kill condition?

One deck Enter the Infinite may fit in is High Tide. This mono-blue deck is capable of producing insane amounts of mana and usually wins by casting Blue Sun's Zenith x = 60 targeting the opponent. However I have some reservations. First off, High Tide is already an incredibly consistent and powerful deck whose problems don't come from not being able to close the game when you have tons of mana, but instead getting yourself in a position to properly combo off. Enter doesn't solve that problem, and it also costs so much mana that you actually need about 16 mana to cast it so you can follow up with a Turnabout, or else you just fizzle.

Another deck that Enter works in is Omniscience. This is another upper tier deck that, by putting a cheap Omniscience in play, can circumvent the steep cost and then win the game with some combination of spells from there. However, once we have Omniscience in play, we already have a card in the deck that we can cast and have it do all the work for us - Burning Wish. Enter the Infinite is no better than Burning Wish in terms of winning, but Burning Wish is far more flexible allowing you to grab another Show and Tell or other cards to help set up the combo before winning.

The third deck to consider for Enter the Infinite is Dream Halls. Dream Halls is better than the previous two options because the Enchantment only costs 5 mana, in case the Show and Tell gets Thoughtseized or something. Enter is significantly better than Conflux that it currently plays because it gives you more options, and it takes away the requirement of playing 4 Progenitus, which is dreadful to drop into play off a S+T. However it is worse than Omniscience because you need an extra card of the same color to cast anything for free, and your opponents get to use the enchantment too. However, all of these downsides are completely negated once we resolve an Enter the Infinite and draw our entire deck. We will have have access to everything possible to answer whatever our opponents are attempting to do, and we can win any way we want!

In Dream Halls decks of old where you would cast Conflux for packages of action cards, Progenitus, and more Conflux there were two major ways to win that I was aware of - False Cure + Beacon of Immortality or Prismatic Omen + Progenitus + Coalition Victory. The first one was much more popular however it targetted the opponent, so cards like Leyline of Sanctity would brick wall the deck. The second one was less popular since it was more complicated to Conflux chain into, but it did not target the opponent, instead simply winning the game. That combo is completely unplayable now though, since Abrupt Decay is so popular, and they can just destroy your Prismatic Omen in response to the Coalition Victory. I considered both of these options for EtI Dream Halls, because we could cut down to just one Progenitus, but there's something better out there!

Laboratory Maniac.

Such a simple, elegant way to win! Seeing as we're drawing our whole deck, the most natural way to win is to deck out! This kill condition is simply better than every other way to win that I have been able to find. First, it takes only 1 card instead of two, so we have an extra slot in the deck. Next, it's blue so we no longer need to play Progenitus. Thirdly, if our opponent plays counterspells or Swords to Plowshares, we have more counterspells than they do, but if they play Abrupt Decay, we can just win in response with Brainstorm! Even if we lose the Maniac to a discard spell early in the game, we can still win through it - Show and Tell in two Emrakuls, then cast another Enter the Infinite and go off again!

With Laboratory Maniac I am actually really excited for Dream Halls now whereas before I was a little skeptical. Here's my current decklist:

4x Show and Tell
4x Dream Halls
4x Enter the Infinite
2x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2x Griselbrand
1x Laboratory Maniac

4x Ponder
4x Preordain
4x Brainstorm
2x Intuition

4x Force of Will
4x Daze
2x Flusterstorm

1x City of Traitors
3x Ancient Tomb
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Misty Rainforest
8x Island

Sideboard:
4x Relic of Progenitus
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Divert
2x Spell Pierce
1x Wipe Away
3x Open Slots

I like to leave the sideboard open for the time being. Legacy is a format that ebbs and flows fairly quickly so if you choose to play this deck tomorrow, your sideboard could be 5 or more cards different than if you were to play again in 1 or 2 months. Regardless, this deck feels very robust and I am very pleased with it!

It feels really good to have figured out the whole combo, and I hope this deck takes off! I will be posting updates if I have any, although I feel like the maindeck is pretty perfect. That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Moar Gatecrash!

Hello Everyone!

So I was planning on having a much more calm week of previews with a lot of bulk rares and staple draft cards, but over the past couple days that theory has been completely shot. Today we have some sweet cards that have me going back to 60 card decklists and looking at more potential options for the future!

Kicking things off, we have the obligatory 1 mana card to rep a new ability. As I have said before, I don't think the best use for Extort in constructed will be in an aggressive deck, but instead in a slow controlling deck. A 1 mana 1/1 isn't exactly screaming aggro, but I actually do like this guy in a slower shell. Getting Extort online early is sweet, and Thrull Parasite has a very relevant ability where it's able to do a Grim Lavamancer impersonation, however instead of going for damage we're attacking planeswalkers and other things with counters on them. Instead of 2 cards in the bin, we're paying 2 life instead. I think it's quite elegant how Thrull Parasite costs life to use, but can gain you that life right back.

What's interesting about this guy is we can also use him in a completely opposite manner. Imagine if we played this card in a deck with the likes of Strangelroot Geist or Geralf's Messenger. Those creatures battle and die gloriously for the army, but then for the low low cost of just 2 life we can ensure they get another chance at life and undeath. With Geralf's Messenger, this guy can play the role that Fume Spitter did last year allowing you to rebuy Messenger, but with other value tossed in for fun. Sure, this one isn't removal, but this format isn't nearly as fast and killing their turn 1 Delver isn't a relevant play now.

And now presenting.... the first playable card with Bloodrush! This guy is sweet! A Titanic Growth with trample is a perfectly costed effect for infinite blowouts, and a 4/4 trample for 4 isn't amazing, but is a solid threat in it's own right. If you have played with Selesnya Charm in the past couple months, you have seen first hand how almost no one sees the pump spell coming. Ghor-Clan Rampager also has the added bonus of an extra +2/+2 and it's uncounterable! I have used Selesnya Charm to its best effects on a Silverblade Paladin, and on him the extra +2/+2 is downright terrifying and will win games completely on its own!

Frontline Medic is a little awkward, but the card is very good, and interesting to think about. Making all of your creatures indestructible is really sweet in that you can just slam your dudes into their board with no fear of losing any creatures in combat. The awkward part of the card comes where the Mana Leak ability doesn't streamline too well with the Battalion side. Regardless, I like me an aggressive disruption spell though, and a 3 mana 3/3 is perfectly on curve. There are a ton of relevant cards with X in their mana cost in standard right now: Bonfire of the Damned and Sphinx's Revelation are public enemies number one right now, but there are other incredibly powerful X spells you may run into like Rakdos's Return, Entreat the Angels, Epic Experiment, and Syncopate. It doesn't make much sense that a Human Cleric whose ability is to slam bodies into other bodies is also a walking counterspell, but just don't read too into it. This card is super good, and I expect to have it see a ton of play!

This card reminds me of Mirror Entity, a card I have had much success with in my Legacy Elves deck. The card is sweet because even if you can't pull off the infinite combo, you can still turn all your guys into 5/5s and randomly swing for 40 damage. Biomass Mutation, because it's an instant, offers us that surprise "I WIN!" moments. You don't need to get too big to make this card absolutely terrifying, as even activating for 4 in the late game will easily be enough to end the game right there. I don't think this card will do enough to push its way into constructed, but it may make it as a sweet 1-of? I think cards like Gavony Township and Kessig Wolf Run will be more consistent and more powerful overall, but at the very least, Biomass Mutation will be a sweet first pick in draft and will earn its place as the coolest pump spell ever made!

Holy crap! Talk about a card tailored for multi-player! I don't play EDH personally, but if I did, this is the kind of stuff I would want to be doing! Talk about the craziest Snapcaster Mage you have ever seen played! Usually EDH games are 4 person free-for-alls, and in those kinds of games Diluvian Primordial is an absolute must counter spell unless if everyone mutually feels like dying. The 5/5 flying body is cool and all, but it's the free spell casting that turns everyone's heads. EDH is full of the craziest, nastiest, most powerful spells everyone can muster and so being able to take everyone's best plays and throw it all right back at them for free all at the same time is actually a little nauseating! Pick up cheap foils if you can, this is probably the marquee card of the set for EDH!

Now this is a really awesome use of the Evolve mechanic! One of the things that detracts from mana dorks is that going late they become completely irrelevant because of their tiny bodies however Gyre Sage has Evolve and so as you drop your bombs like Thragtusk, then Restoration Angel it to get more triggers, life, and dudes, eventually you get to the point where we have a 5/6 Gyre Sage, and it starts packing heat! Nevermind topdecking an X spell and being able to tap for 3+ mana! Costing 2 mana and not tapping for any mana by itself are absolutely legitimate drawbacks, but I'm sure in no time we will see a home for our Druid and we will make all of the mana!

This card was spoiled by Frank Leopore, everyone's favorite fearless leader of TCGPlayer.com. While I don't think any monstrous insects will be rampaging standard any time soon, it's such a sweet card that closes a game terrifyingly fast by itself. Dealing damage in the powers of 7 is horrifyingly fast! I really hope to open this card in a draft so I can have the slowest grindiest deck of all time just so I can bring out the anti-raid and clean up house!

Remember that Battlefield Medic? Here's another INSANE X spell that it will have to counter in the coming months! Wow, where to begin? For starters, this is like an instant-speed fireball to the face, which isn't too exciting. However, like Fireball, we can split up the damage however we want among our opponent's creatures, but unlike Fireball we don't need to pay an extra mana for every new target making this spell much more efficient. But wait, there's more! This also taps all of those creatures! So now we can either use this as a pseudo Silence to buy some time, or we can effectively make our creatures unblockable to force through damage on the board. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! If we choose to do any damage to the opponent, they can't cast non-creature spells this turn! Geez! You know what non-creature spell I don't want my opponent to cast? Supreme Verdict. We can set up our board so that we have lethal for next turn, then on our opponent's upkeep ping them with Aurelia's Fury and guarantee we will not be wrathed that turn while also tapping/killing any creatures on their board. This puts the opponent in a position where they need near perfect to survive since they can only play dudes, and all their other work setting up the board is completely nullified. This card is an ace in the whole, and I think it will show up as a 2-of as a closer in Naya decks going forward!

Last but not least, Boros hits 2 home runs in a row! Boros Charm is fighting for best charm in the whole cycle since all of these abilities are insane! First there's the one-sided instant speed Flame Rift for the same CMC, which sounds perfectly fair. But then we can make sure our creatures survive through a Wrath/Removal Spell suite? Or our opponent plays something like Boom//Bust and we want to save our mana, or our Planeswalker gets Dreadbored and we want to save our friend? Sounds like an awesome card! But then there's the option for a Double Cleave?! It's a combat trick, but it can also surprise win you the game! Boros Charm is perfect for any aggressive deck looking to have a swiss army knife in their pocket. Every ability is very commonly relevant and will be used in all forms very frequently.

If this card gets too popular, Supreme Verdict loses a lot of value, and Mutilate may become the best wrath in the format.

The first thing I thought when I saw this card is how it will probably see play in Modern and Legacy. 2 mana for 4 damage at instant speed is incredibly powerful, and I think Modern burn will absolutely add white to fit it, and Legacy may find a space for it as well, although that version plays Price of Progress so it may not want the Plateau. However, Legacy Zoo may want it since they play a lot of burn in their decks, but they can also make use of the other 2 abilities as well to help push their creatures through for more damage.

Overall, Boros Charm is absolutely bonkers and is my pick for the most powerful card previewed today!

As we get closer and closer to seeing the full set spoiled, I am getting increasingly excited for the Prerelease in just a couple weeks! I am technically affiliated to Boros, so that's what I'm leaning towards right now, but I reserve the right to change my mind should something catch my eye, but for now I think I will rep the red and white! That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

P.S.
The other day when I was talking about Dimir Charm I thought the removal slice of the card was a neutered Smother when in fact the card is a Swat. This makes the card significantly worse. While it can still hit Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf is now generally safe along with guys like Wild Nacatl that cost little but grow in size quickly. Some important cards it can hit now that it couldn't before are Silverblade Paladin, Vampire Nighthawk, Metalworker, and Doran. Relevant Creatures it can no longer hit are: Phyrexian Dreadnaught, Insectile Abberation, and flipped Werewolves.

Spoils of the City

Hello everyone!

The first week of the spoiler season for any new set reliably is very flashy with new mechanics and marquee mythics released to significantly raise awareness and hype for the set. Then the second and third weeks are significantly quieter with good cards released every now and then, but for the most part the mind blowing cards are all done with. This is a good time to start figuring out the limited format. As with RTR, there are going to be 5 obvious archetypes to be in, but there are always some better than others, so we want to figure out which cards and guilds are our winners. Keep in mind that there are still plenty of playable cards being released for constructed, so we can't turn a blind eye there. However for the most part we're looking at nuts and bolts instead of new archetypes.

Starting things off we have the Boros Guildmage who seems absolutely bonkers! The first ability is incredibly good and can make you win games out of absolutely nowhere, but it's the second ability that has me really excited! Imagine if you're completely flooded out with nothing in hand, being able to activate the second ability and build up an army repeatedly each turn is huge, and just being able to get 2 activations a turn is enough to quickly overwhelm your opponents. I like how his two abilities play so well together too. In an empty board with nothing to do on turn 3 you can have guildmage pump himself and swing for 3. Going late going back and forth on the abilities will put your opponents under a significant amount of pressure. I think this card may be good enough to first pick!

Up next we have have a pretty sweet rare that will definitely be an early pickup for black, but definitely not good or fast enough for constructed playability. This card naturally pulls a lot of parallels to Smallpox, but hitting 1 less permanent and costing 4 additional mana simply means it's not good enough for constructed. In limited however, casting this and getting a couple Cipher triggers off puts you incredibly far ahead. Undercity Plague compounds upon itself so each time it's recast is slightly better than the time before.

Urban Evolution is a really sweet card that I think may have applications beyond just limited! Obviously this is very good in limited since it's all value, but in decks like Bant Control and Omnidoor Thragfire where both sides of the card are very relevant. You want to draw more cards early, but don't want to blow a Sphinx's Revelation on it, you want to play more lands, but there's no more Farseeks on hand. Urban Evolution lets you do both. In Omnidoor Thragfire that extra land can conveniently be the land for your Fog as well so you can just keep on ramping. I think this card is subtly awesome, and will see a ton of play, especially if the format slows down a little!

This is a card I initally dismissed as being just terrible, but then I saw the comparisons to Mystic Snake and Draining Whelk and I was more open to it's playability. Obviously it was a different meta then, but this is basically a Draining Whelk for 1 less mana which is pretty sweet. However, this is not a creature. The fact that those guys were creatures were part of what made them so good since they turned your Momentary Blinks into counterspells with flashback. We have Restoration Angel now, so if this were a Mystic Snake instead we would have that interaction. As it is however that is not the case. I think in general Dissipate will be better and more reliable, but Mystic Genesis does seem like a sexy 1-of.

For Avacyn Restored, Channel Fireball got to preview Bonfire of the Damned, and for Gatecrash they once again have another grand slam with Dimir Charm. The first ability is Envelop, a card that has seen play from time to time in Legacy as a cheap way to stop powerful cards like Show and Tell. There are lots of great targets like Past in Flames, Maelstrom Pulse, Time Spiral, Natural Order, Terminus, Entreat the Angels, Bonfire of the Damned, and hand disruption like Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach.
The second ability is a slightly neutered Smother. However, after looking on Gatherer for a few pages I realized there actually aren't that many 3 mana creatures we particularly care about! Here's what I found for good 3-drops: Knight of the Reliquary, Goblin Chieftan, Merrow Reejery, Master of Etherium, Vendilion Clique, and Vampire Nighthawk. (Kitchen Finks and Geralf's Messenger are good ones too, but inefficient). That's about a card in every deck which is certainly relevant, however there are significantly more dangerous 2 mana creatures to worry about like Dark Confidant, Tarmogoyf, Arcbound Ravager, Man Lands, Mana Dorks, and the essential first 2 turns of an aggressive deck's curve.
The third ability is significantly less powerful and will easily be used the least, however it certainly has its uses - If you really need one card to topdeck to survive, If you can win as long as your opponent draws a blank, or If you opponent sets something on top of their deck you want to clear out. Aside from those 3 narrow desperate instances, I think the third ability will be largely ignored. 2 out of 3 is still very good though! This card will be huge in control decks as a flexible option to deal with the opponent's threats.

Mind Grind is another sweet card that will completely blow opponents out in limited games, and may even be a consideration for constructed (though not really - then you're playing mill). Usually 40 card decks play 17 land, or 1 land in every 2.35 cards. This means it will be a lot like Increasing Confusion - a card that I almost always first picked in Dark Ascension draft. Mind Grind is slightly better and will be a windmill slam first pick, setting itself up nicely for a control deck made to go long, then blow the opponent's library apart before they get the chance to kill you. Obviously this is weaker than cards like Nephalia Drawnyard at milling out the opponent, but this will certainly be a popular card in the casual realm and should trade decently.

Simple, clean, straightforward, and awesome in not its guild. Syndic of Tithes feels more powerful in a Boros deck than Orzhov to me. In a boros deck a 2 mana 2/2 is very welcome and the Extort gets more useful as the game goes late to provide extra burn on top of the late game spells. While yes, a deck looking to abuse extort can use this guy too, the Boros deck makes use of all parts of the mammoth, and therefor we can use Extort primarily to finish out an aggressive game, different from its control use to stay alive.

Last but not least we have some spice! This card is insanely exciting up and down the chain! I expect this to see tons of play in standard in addition to EDH because there are so many sick things you can do here. Want to start with the most exciting? Wolfir Silverheart! When Prime Speaker enters the battlefield, 3 triggers will go off - the 2 from Zegana and the Soulbond trigger (assuming Wolfir isn't bonded yet). Put draw cards on the stack first, followed by +1/+1 counters then Soulbond last, so the soulbond trigger resolves first. This will ultimately make Zegana a 13/13 and you will draw 13 cards! Geez! That's the most ridiculous example out there, but just playing this card for value in a Thragtusk deck is just insane. 6 mana 6/6 draw 6 cards? Ok! Now add Restoration Angel to the picture.... And welcome to Value Town, USA! This card looks to have incredible potential and I'm really excited to see what insane decks decide to use her.

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Bloodbraiding Legacy

Hello Everyone!

This past weekend I had a blast hanging out with all my friends from the camp staff in our annual reunion. It's always to invigorating to be surrounded by people who truly love to lead and serve as the men and women I work with at camp do, which is completely different from a lot of what I see at school where I know those who waste away for days on end without interacting with other human life playing video games and whatnot. Naturally there was a lot of magic being played, however I have been effectively banned from playing because they can't beat me, but regardless I still enjoy teaching and helping to tune their decks.

In the outside world this past weekend GP Denver happened, which was legacy. Esper Stoneblade may have won the event, but it was Jund that won my heart. Pat Cox and Josh Ravitz both made the top 4 before both eventually losing to the champion, Vidianto Wijaya on Esper Stoneblade. This is actually not the first time I have seen a Jund deck in legacy. About a month ago there was a guy with a sweet beard at an SCG tournament who top 16d, though I can't remember his name or which one it was. At the time I thought it was interesting, but not something I would ever consider playing. This weekend however Jund had a very strong showing and established itself as the answer to all the delver decks and bug decks.

I have been playing the Jund deck online a bit to practice its style of game play, and it actually surprised me with how robust the deck is! In case you have not seen this piece of work, here's the list I am using:



4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Tarmogoyf
2x Grim Lavamancer
4x Dark Confidant
4x Bloodbraid Elf

3x Lightning Bolt
3x Abrupt Decay

4x Thoughtseize
3x Hymn to Tourach

1x Maelstrom Pulse

1x Sylvan Library
4x Liliana of the Veil


4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Verdant Catacombs
4x Wasteland
2x Bayou
1x Taiga
1x Forest
1x Mountain
1x Swamp
3x Badlands

Sideboard:

3x Pyroblast
3x Engineered Plague
2x Umezawa's Jitte
1x Life from the Loam
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Duress
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Chains of Mephistopheles

This has 1 less land and 1 additional Bloodbraid Elf in the maindeck compared the Ravitz and Cox but 23 land is still incredibly high in legacy, and our deck also has Deathrite Shaman so it's been very good for me.

If you have played the Modern Jund deck before things started getting weird with Lingering Souls, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Lotus Cobra that is how this deck plays out. Basically your first turn ideally you Deathrite, but otherwise cast Thoughtseize. Then turn 2 we have a plethora of options with Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Hymn to Tourach, and Liliana. From there you have a very disruptive game plan while Tarmogoyf shrivels their life total. Turn 3-5 he gets joined by a Bloodbraid Elf which gains some value, and then the opponent quickly dies from there. I think the best way to think of it is Team America but with Lightning Bolt and Bloodbraid Elf instead of blue spells.

Spoiler Alert!

Bloodbraid --> Hymn to Tourach is insane if you have never done it before, It's quite the rush!

The sideboard feels pretty strong, and against RUG and BUG I usually find that I don't board anything at all! Usually I will cut 2 Thoughtseize for 2 Jitte, but if they didn't many if any creatures game one, the maindeck is so robust there's no need to touch it. Against combo decks obviously Duresses come in, and I have been boarding in the Chains of Mephistopheles too. If you aren't familiar with this card, check it out! Basically it says "Whenever a player draws a card besides the first for turn, they discard a card." That's not quite it, but basically the idea is that you can't draw additional cards any turn, so if they cast a ponder they would normally end with the same number of cards they started, but now they're -1 card. Brainstorm is just stupid with this card....

I don't think I will actually go out of my way and build this deck, but I do happen to have a lot of the cards for it anyways thanks to playing Zombies, RUG Delver, and Storm. The only cards I'm really missing are the Lilianas! That's one of the great things about legacy is that so many cards are playable in so many decks so that when this happens I'm already 90% there, and I just need some Bloodbraids and a standard legal planeswalker and I'm good to go!

If you're looking for a sweet fair aggressive deck that has a lot of raw power and longevity, I highly recommend trying out Jund, because we all love Bloodbraid Elf!

Quick Aside

{

When playing this deck I had a flashback to old standard when my Bloodbraid cascaded into a Lightning Bolt to kill my opponent's Stoneforge Mystic that had tutored a Batterskull, and then I used Bloodbraid to kill Jace TMS. Just like standard 3 years ago! Weird....

}

End Aside

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

Ryan Lackie

Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com

@ThingsILack

Time to get Cracking!

Hello everyone!

Today we have a ton of sweet spoilers, including my early pick for the hands down best card in the set! (It's an uncommon) So let's get right into it!

This is an uncommon, and it's sweet, but it's not the best card in the set by far. This card is fantastic in limited however where he provides a rout to victory when the game is completely jammed up and no one can gain a footing to get ahead. Normally I don't like milling as a strategy, however this card does it well. The inherent problem with mill is that it doesn't actually do anything relevant or helpful, and more often than not it actually helps the opponent out. When you're accomplishing nothing, or negative value, it's really not worth investing a card for it. Duskmantle Guildmage is a 2/2 for 2 though, and a viable card by itself for that. The losing life for each card milled is good, but will be used a lot less than the mill ability. What I do like is how when you get really flooded you have to option to shoot the opponent for two and mill them for two every turn, which gives you some nice reach. Not a high pick, but not a card you can expect to wheel either.

Another uncommon, but still not the best card in the set yet. In case you can't read the french, here's the card text:

~Rapid Hybridization
U
Instant
Destroy target creature, it can't be regenerated. Its controller puts a 3/3 green Frog Lizard token onto the battlefield

This card is almost a functional reprint of Pongify, which I have always thought to be a really sweet card. I don't know how much play Pongify saw back in the day, but it certainly seems powerful enough to be worth your time. Destroying a Hellrider or Thundermaw Hellkite is big game, and against the non-red decks there are targets like Angel of Serenity, Sublime Archangel, Silverblade Paladin, etc. The one thing that concerns me about this card is that you lose a card, and they don't lose their board position. A 3/3 is still a viable threat, so Rapid Hybridization is just a card to buy some time. Overall this card feels like it is not playable, but it's very unique and could become something cool. You can also target your own creature, so maybe this sees play with Strangelroot Geist? T1 Breeding Pool, Arbor Elf. T2 Forest Strangel, EOT Hybridization? This card has a lot of choices to it, so who knows?

Now this is a cool card! This is the kind of card that Esper/5C Control is very interested in! At 2 mana this comes down before anything relevant has happened, and from there is can just sit in play staring down the opponent's board, daring them to attack. I wish you were able to destroy lands with High Priest so that you can block your opponent's turn 1 Gravecrawler for value, but still we have a ton of choices. It's important to note that there are a lot of ways High Priest will get no trigger - Murder, Liliana, Tragic Slip, Supreme Verdict, etc. Thankfully most of those cards aren't seeing any play right now, so High Priest doubles as a blocker and a removal spell which helps buy time to play out Lingering Souls into planeswalkers, and ultimately take over the game.

Lastly we have what I am already declaring the best card in the set!

Just take a few minutes to let it all set in. Now catch your jaw before it hits the floor. This card is INSANE! 2 mana for 3 damage is a perfectly fine rate for standard, decent for modern, but generally unplayable for legacy. However, it's the other part that makes this go from just another burn spell to a 4-of in every aggressive red deck from here on out. Being able to prevent life gain is so important in red decks and aggressive decks! In standard right now games can go on forever because of Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation, but adding Skullcrack to the mix completely changes the game. Now the beatdown decks can just leave up 2 mana the whole game for their "counterspell" and leave you cold and dead. BR aggro was already a tough matchup for Bant control because they put you under so much pressure it was hard to get a good sized revelation off, but now that they can push their advantage even further and control decks are going to have to be completely reworked simply due to the existence of Skullcrack.

By no means should cards like Sphinx's Revelation and Thragtusk be cut, they're simply too good and can end the game when Skullcrack isn't there, but cards like Dispel now need to be played in the maindeck, and when you cast a Revelation, you have to hold up mana for Dispel in case of a Skullcrack. Removal and counterspells have to go up and the control decks have to become more proactive again, because now they're being punished for taking their time.

On the aggressive side, having a Skullcrack in hand is an amazing feeling, knowing that you're nearly unstoppable. This plus Bonfire make GRx decks seem like a better and better choice post Gatecrash. I'm already in love with Experiment one, and this just makes things even better and more aggressive!

This will obviously see play in standard, probably as a 4x in the main. But in modern and legacy I think this will also see play, but only in sideboards. In both of those formats there is nothing that gains a significant amount of life, but red decks do face some life gain hate, especially in the form of Deathrite Shaman, so even being able to prevent the gaining of 2 life and dealing 3 is a fine deal, and will help both of those decks fight their greatest enemy.

That's all I have for today! This weekend I'm finally able to get up to Hidden Valley for the staff reunion, which is always an awesome event with tons of food, friends, fun, and of course infinite games including magic. Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack