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

Crashing Down Your Gates

Hello everyone!

Camp is SUPERFANTASTIC right now as we start our 5th week of program out of 8 today! We are full to the brim again this week, which is very exciting to see how every year we continue to get bigger and bigger despite being one of the biggest scout camps in New England already! While scouring the interwebs today, I discovered some information from the multiverse regarding Ravnica: The second set in the RTR block has been revealed: Gatecrash.


                                                       


Unlike a name like Rise of the Eldrazi or Avacyn Restored, knowing that the set is called Gatecrash doesn't tell us anything. So I can't really talk about the flavor side much, I can talk about some of the other information that came out with it. First, they announced that the guilds are still present, which at the end of the original Ravnica block were apparently dissipated. 5 guilds will be featured in RTR and the other 5 will be featured in GTC. Then in the final set of the block there will be all 10 guilds featured. I actually like this a lot because it allows us to have some development in our favorite guilds even though there won't be much love. Now here's the part that I don't like:

Gatecrash is going to be a large 249 card set

Recently, wizards has been experimenting with different ways of doing block structures. Traditionally it has been Large-Small-Small, but since Llorwyn it has been occasionally played with a little. Llorwyn block was Large-Small-Large-Small. Other obscure large sets include Rise of the Eldrazi and Avacyn Restored. Gatecrash will be the first time that the second set in a block is large. This would naturally make me think that  the third set in the block will be a small set. I highly doubt they can get away with selling 4 large sets in a year and not make people get very frustrated.

Now lets do some basic math. Large sets are about 250 cards, so that's basically 50 cards per guild for RTR and GTC. Small sets are about 150 cards, which means there will be 15 cards per guild. That's actually a lie though - there are cards that are not associated to any guild, so I'm guessing there will be more like 20-30 cards per guild in RTR and GTC, which would leave 100-150 cards that are not associated. I am expecting there will be about 8-10 cards per guild in "sinker" which would leave 50-70 cards not associated to any guild. So this doesn't actually give us a whole lot of cards to actually sink into our guilds of choice once we account for breaking up between commons, uncommons, rares, and 1 or 2 mythics.

I like that WotC is willing to try new things, however I don't like how the draft formats get changed so frequently. I started drafting in Zendikar block, so my only normal block of drafting was with Scars block, which I really enjoyed! Having a growing beast over the course of the majority of a year was something I enjoyed developing. Also, having more cards printed means there are more cards you have to get to get the set and it messes up how the financials work. Of course, I am a purest in most things and I like tradition, so maybe it's me sticking to the good old ways...

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

We Have Internet Back!

Hello everyone!

It's been a very long time since I last posted, and that is because today we finally got internet here at camp and I have been able to catch up on Magic 2013 and get a chance to finally post something up! Magic 2013 is a very cool set for a lot of reasons, but there are some certain subtleties that I feel do need to be addressed in the set, starting primarily with the bread and butter commons:

Counterspells:
There will no longer be mana leak in standard! The good counterspells that will be around post rotation will be Negate, Essence Scatter, and Dissipate. That really isn't a lot of choices, and frankly Essence Scatter is never really good so it's just Negate and Dissipate.

Creature Spot Removal:
Doom Blade, Go for the Throat, Galvanic Blast will no longer be around, so our default creature removal is taking a hit. Our choices include Dead Weight, Geistflame, Pillar of Flame, Tragic Slip, Unsummon, Victim of Night, Murder, and Barter in Blood are basically where our choices lay which are either muck more narrow or more expensive than before.

Sweepers:
Day of Judgement is not being reprinted! Magmaquake, Mutilate, and Terminus are our go-to choices which all have their drawbacks.

Hand Disruption:
Duress is back!! This is huge! We're losing the completely useless hand disruption we had before and now we're getting one of the best pieces of hand disruption ever printed back!

Library Manipulation:
We're losing Ponder and it is being replaced by Index which does not replace itself upon resolution so it is basically useless.

All of these things combined makes control seem like a very difficult task to accomplish. However some specific cards, most notably Duress, Barter in Blood, and Mutilate make me think that mono-black control could become a legitimate thing. I haven't had much time to mull it over, but here is where I would start with a mono-black control deck:

4x Duress
4x Tragic Slip4x Sign in Blood
2x Murder
2x Barter in Blood
4x Mutilate

2x Curse of Death's Hold



4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Vampire Nighthawk
2x Bloodline Keeper
4x Bloodgift Demon


24x Swamp


I feel like there are some clunky elements to it, like being too dude-heavy, however I do think it's a good start. One thing I considered doing is adding Liliana of the Dark Realms, Griselbrand, and Army of the Damned, but I think Bloodgift Demon is the way of the future! Two cards that stifled it from seeing play - Go for the Throat and Dismember are rotating out and our big Dark Confidant will have its time to shine! In the list above, Bloodline Keeper is the odd man out since Nighthawk is so good with Sign in Blood and Bloodgift Demon in addition to simply being amazing by itself, and so I would consider looking for something else to replace it.


As I was looking at the black cards, some other ideas came to mind, and that is going back to my good old trusty Zombies!


4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Gravecrawler
4x Blood Artist
4x Geralf's Messenger
4x Vampire Nighthawk
4x Disciple of Bolas

4x Duress
4x Tragic Slip
2x Vile Rebirth
2x Dead Weight
1x Killing Wave

23x Swamp

The special additions here are with Vampire Nighthawk and Disciple of Bolas. Both of these may actually be complete duds, but they seem good. Nighthawk is good on its own right, but Disciple of Bolas in exciting! Sacrificing Gravecrawler or Geralf's Messenger is where we get our super value from. I think Disciple will be better than Nighthawk, but Nighthawk is so good on its own that I feel it deserves a slot.

That's all I have for today! Now that I have internet back, I should be able to post periodically whenever ideas start developing so hopefully you shall hear from me more often. It feels great to be back online posting my ideas again! But until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack