Gideon: Champion of Disappointment

Hello Everyone!

After the nearly infinitely long article yesterday, I decided I would be better off writing a short piece every day on those day's interesting spoilers as opposed to trying to do so every other day. Today we had three cards each get their own article, and then a ton of cards were released through the promos article. So lets go!

Starting things off we have our first playable Cipher spell, which is very powerful! I don't think this guy will see any constructed play, but in limited, this card is probably first pickable as a modular removal spell. What I really like about this card is that it enables itself - by casting Hands of Binding you create an opportunity for your creature to get in for some damage and recast it, putting yourself very far ahead. This card feels a lot like a Detain to me, and when we have Dragon's Maze-Gatecrash-RTR draft I think this will see more play in Azorious then it will in Dimir. This card is sweet, and I like how they are making Cipher seem more playable.

This card is actually very interesting. If control decks become more popular and you're anticipating the mirror, Specter feels like a good mirror breaker to me, putting your opponent on a clock and drawing a card every turn. if you flip a land to Specter, you can play that as well, so there are no dead flips at all! I'm pretty sure if you cast a spell that you exiled it will go into your opponent's graveyard, so something like Think Twice would be awkward to cast with Specter since you and your opponent both get to draw a card, but you do get it at a better rate, for what it's worth.

This is the card that is given out to everyone for playing in the gameday event, and it's actually very good! An Oran-Rief the Vastwood with the ability to draw lots of cards makes this guildmage likely to be constructed playable, especially in a Bant deck with Gavony Township! I'm known locally for playing Elves since I did so well with it at the SCG event, and this is another in the small line of playable Elves in blue. Edric, Spymaster of Trest is good enough that I have considered adding a Tropical Island to my Elves deck for one of him. After a quick gatherer search, I found Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and Sages of the Anima as two creatures who can guarantee any Glimpse of Nature to go infinite and win on the spot (Momir Vig is a guarantee, Sages of the Anima is just very good). I can see this guy and Edric in a UGx value-elves deck that plays a super-efficient beatdown plan with big creatures and plenty of cards, with maybe a few tricks up their sleeves. At the very least, this guy offers sweet value and I expect it will see play

This is a spicy meatball! One of the things that hold cards like Fireball back is that they are just very inefficient 1-for-1 removal spells. Clan Defiance, on the other hand, changes that. At it's very worst, this is a fireball to the face for 1 less damage. However, it's significantly better than that because you're usually going to be casting it to kill a creature, and the damage to the other player is just a bonus. In standard right now, there's enough flying creatures seeing play like Sublime Archangel, Restoration Angel, Thundermaw Hellkite, and Lingering Souls that you will be able to reliably 2-for-1 the opponent while also hitting them for some damage in the process. If we get some awesome stuff to ramp into, and that kind of deck arises, I can absolutely see Clan Defiance seeing some play as a way for those decks to protect themselves and stabilize the board, along with Huntmaster of the Fells, before their big guns take over.

And last but not least, we have a very disappointing planeswalker. I have heard people complaining about how they don't like the art, how they think the name is just a little too long and it's awkward how it touches the mana cost, how the three abilities seem awkward together and doesn't seem to have much of a game plan. I just think he sucks. Yes, all the other comments are absolutely right - I mean his art makes him look like he is in space, not in a city - but I'm boring and the furthest thing from a Vorthos player, so I just care if he is playable. I think there is one redeeming quality to Gideon though - being a fantastic example to show someone when teaching them how to evaluate if a planeswalker is any good. Back when RTR was being spoiled,  I immediately was underwhelmed with Vraska because the + ability didn't do anything relevant and the other abilities couldn't compensate. With Gideon, we have the same issue, but just more dramatic.

Starting with the plus ability - usually the reason you choose to play a planeswalker - we have actual blank nothing for text. You gained some loyalty counters.... Yet absolutely nothing else changed. At least with Vraska there was a punishment for your opponent if they wanted to shut down your planeswalker, but here there is none. Sure if your opponent is beating down with a Merfolk of the Pearl Trident you can just beat him with your Gideon, but you were going to win if instead of Gideon you had an Arachnoid instead. Sure, Gideon gains a lot of counters if they have a lot of creatures, but if they have a lot of creatures, they simply don't care about Gideon and will just kill you instead, or they can send one big dude at Gideon to put him in his place and still whoop your ass. If they don't have any creatures? Then Gideon's loyalty grows at a painfully slow rate, and you wish you had that Arachnoid instead.

Moving onto the 0 ability - the only reason you can defend playing Gideon. We have a creature that can attack our opponent with an indestructible body with reasonable size if it had a good pump the previous turn. This is definitely a good reason to run the card! Back in the day Gideon Jura created a very short clock after establishing balance on the board (and the clock would be especially fast with Celestial Colonnade). If your opponent has 2 guys in play, attacking with an indestructable 7/7 of turn 5 is pretty big game!

Then we have the flashy -15 ultimate. First things first, this is not remotely realistic to achieve. Sure Jace TMS had a -12 that was very playable, but his + was actually relevant and would lock opponents out of the game very quickly. Also, that -12 won the game on the spot whereas Gideon's puts you in a decent position, where hopefully you can get ahead from and eventually figure out how to win. Keep in mind you lose all of your own stuff too.

So if we have 1 good ability, why do I still not like it? A 4 mana attacking planeswalker reminds me of Koth, which was an incredibly powerful planeswalker for the mono-red deck. However, Koth worked well with that game plan of fast damage and provided inevitability with the Emblam. Gideon does neither of these things. First, he doesn't have any immediate effect on the board. If you look at aggressive decks, all creatures have haste or "haste" via an ETB effect. Silverblade Paladin, Sublime Archangel, Thragtusk, and Wolfir Silverheart are all good because they all provide an immediate effect. Back in the day there was "the Jace test" which basically meant "was your guy playable if you could never untap with it in play?" Creatures that don't pass the Jace test can't see play. So Gideon fails there. Second, if he is an aggressive planeswalker, that means he will be in a deck with other creatures that should all be turning Sideways every turn. This means no one can protect him, and your opponent can just tap their creatures and create a build-your-own-Visara the Dreadful. In aggro mirrors being able to attrition out your opponent's creatures is incredibly important for an inevitable kill since usually aggro decks can't come back from behind as well, so allowing your opponent to destroy one of your guys (or bring it to 1-3 loyalty and therefor pretty weak) without them investing any cards is something they will always take.

So now let's say you do get to finally do your thing and use Gideon's 0 ability, what do we have? A dude. With no abilities. Whoop-de-freakin-doo. I'll block with my Llanowar Elves. Ruhan of the Fomari is really tearing it up right now too! We have a dude with no abilities that may be undercosted, but it absolutely the top of your curve which dies to all the same removal as the rest of your deck. What makes you so special? You're a planeswalker? Don't you feel so privileged? With no "haste", no protection, and no real reason to go out of your way to make it work, this card gets an F from me.

TL;DR: this card is horribly bad, and if you open him sell/trade him immediately! I'm predicting this will be a $10 card by Dragon's Maze

Unfortunately today, we don't have anything that has me incredibly excited, just a couple sweet limited cards and a very underwhelming planeswalker. As the great philosopher Fortin once said, "They can't all be winners".

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

Ryan Lackie

Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com

@ThingsILack

Happy New Year!

Hello Everyone!

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a superfantastic start to the new year, I certainly did reuniting with old High School friends having a big party and being ridiculous together. There's nothing like getting to reminisce on how life was back in the day when you had such famous dance moves as the squid, and you get to show off to the new members to the group. My current girlfriend spent a long time with my ex, and surprisingly I'm not yet single. And naturally there was the watching of the New Years special on ABC and getting to make fun of how out of tune Taylor Swift sounded in her performance right before midnight. All together I had a fantastic time, and even managed to avoid all the drunk drivers on my way home.

The last and first days of 2012/13 marked the first and second days of official spoilers for Gatecrash, and wow! We already have some incredibly powerful cards out and I'm excited!

Starting things off, yesterday we had the mechanics article go up which showed off a couple commons and uncommons that displayed Gatecrash's new mechanics. Bloodrush was an ability that could have been framed in a couple different directions, but Viashino Shanktail helps identify how the mechanic was designed. The ability still costs 3 mana, but the boost is basically like equipping the creature for the turn, so the pump isn't even on the front and back, and gaining abilities like First Strike make this ability significantly more exciting. We will certainly also get a green one that gives trample, probably a 4/4 for 3GG. I like how Bloodrush can be so tricky with other abilities, so I'm definitely a lot more interested now in what else they pull out

Another pull from the mechanics article, this card is awesome, creating the opportunity for another Delver-esque card by being a 1 mana large threat. Unlike Delver however, this cannot do it alone and Blue isn't known for it's creatures, so unfortunately Cloudfin Raptor will probably never see the light of day. If it did, I would think of it in an Azorious shell with lots of detain creatures that builds tempo on the opponent. Curving Raptor into Azorious Arrestor into Lyev Skyknight is a nice curve that swings for 1 on T2 and then 4 on T3. Definitely not that powerful, but there is certainly potential there.

This was one of the cards from the mechanics article discussing the Orzhov mechanic, which as I said I feel will be the future of control decks. Horned Turtle has never made it into a constructed deck, but it is certainly a fine card in its own right. I think this may turn out to be a decent control card as a low cost relevant Extort guy. Guards on 3, holding up Dissipate mana with Think Twice in hand will be the future of draw-go control slowly grinding out games under their opponent's feet.

So at first I looked at this card, and I thought it was pretty terrible. It's just a Grizzly Bear with negligible upside. However, someone on facebook pointed out how you can play Burning-Tree Emissary and Flinthoof Boar both on turn 2. Dropping 5 power on turn 2 should not be ignored! Another card I added in later was Mogg Flunkies. In a very creature-heavy deck Flunkies is basically just a Watchwolf, and by playing Burning-Tree Emissary in the same turn we are sure to have a buddy to attack with on turn 3. While it's not resiliant to removal and sweepers, it is incredibly fast and powerful nonetheless, so it is absolutely worth looking into! It's important to keep in mind that this is only a Grizzly Bear at the end of the day, but it does make you one turn faster in deploying threats and therefor that much faster of a deck.

One last card from the mechanics article! This is not a good card, but I thought it may have had some legs when I thought it was an instant. The thing I wanted to point out with this card is that you can cast this on an empty board for full value. You can cipher Call of the Nightwing onto the token it creates, allowing you to produce more and more tokens.

This card is a very cool sideboard card for W/x aggressive decks. In the GW deck I'm playing right now, you can play this and a Rancor on a Loxodon Smiter and give your opponent the business! A 4 (or less) turn clock forces them to wrath quickly, but Murder Investigation will allow you keep up the pressure in an arguably better fashion now that it's harder for your opponent to deploy enough blockers. Normally you read "Enchant creature" and you can already just pass on its playability because of the inevitable card disadvantage, but Murder Investigation plays as an insurance policy allowing you to bring the heat while not having to worry so much about being out of gas if your opponent has an answer. It is important to note that this will only trigger if the creature dies, so cards like Terminus, Rest in Peace, Azorious Charm, and Unsummon will not trigger Murder Investigation.

This is a pretty interesting card that will surely see approximately infinite casual play as it allows for so many combos to be created. One combo I thought of immediately after seeing the card was this + Pentavus/Ghave, Guru of Spores. These two together will allow you to net additional +1/+1 counters and tokens. Adding in a card like Ashnod's Altar makes everything go fully infinite. Plan on picking the foils for this guy up quick and cheap, it will be very valuable for a very long time!

GEEZ! About 10 days ago I mocked up this card to come out in Gatecrash as just a 1/1 for G with Evolve, and I thought that guy was very powerful. But Experiment One takes it to a whole new level by being able to regenerate! So now not only do we have a very aggressive beater, but we also have one that can protect itself? Sign me up! Playing this dude on turn 1 allows for so many insane openings, like Experiment One, Strangelroot Geist, Dreg Manger. If your opponent casts Supreme Verdict, you can regenerate Experiment One, Strangelroot Geist will Undie and trigger Experiment One, and then we have a Scavenge creature in the graveyard for future use. With that opening your opponent's Supreme Verdict is effectively blanked because you went from having 8 power to 5 with them at likely 8 life, so Searing Spear is GG. A turn 4 kill regardless of opponent's sweeper? Sounds fair! I'm surprised that this is only an uncommon for how good it is, but thankful as well since this would be a solid $5-6 rare. Every single aggro deck I build for the next 2 years will start with 4x Experiment One because it's just that good!

A 5/5 flier for 6 isn't a bad rate, and while I don't think this will see any constructed play, this is an insane first pick bomb for limited! 5/5 fliers are already very good, completely dominating the board, bu the fact that this is nearly unkillable makes it even spicier! One funny thing that you can do with Deathpact Angel is after it dies, populate the Cleric token to make an army of potential Deathpact Angels in case if something bizarre happens and you need a patrol of Clerics willing to do your bidding. Not a terribly exciting card, but definitely what I want to open in a pack for drafting!

Dimir Keyrune is the first card I saw in 2013, and it's actually very exciting! This card reminds me a lot of Creeping Tar Pit, which sees play from time to time in Legacy, since it is a mana source that going late will eventually win you the game. Right now decks like Reid Duke's Bant control deck win through Nephalia Drownyard, but Dimir Keyrune + Extort offer a different line of attack which also offer defensive elements through life gain and a 2/2 blocker. Dimir Keyrune is awesome because it's a reliable clock for minimal mana investment, but for the entire game leading up to that moment of stabilization it's not a dead card, but instead allows you to cast more spells every turn, something control decks are very interested in. Only Rakdos Keyrune has seen much play so far, and that is as an answer to Thragtusk, but I think Dimir Signet will see play as well in a slow Esper/Grixis/4C control deck.

The next card previewed today is a wall of text that amounts to a very strange clone. a 4 mana 3/3 Hexproof is decent, but the clone ability is where things get interesting. The way it works is if your opponent mills a creature, Lazav can become a copy of it, but retains its name, the clone ability, and Hexproof. This cloning isn't just until end of turn, but until you decide to change it up. This is definitely a cool ability, but it has the problem where it's just not very good. Obviously even hitting a Bonebreaker Giant is improvement and randomly hitting something like a Titan is very juicy, but right now the best creatures are good because of enters the battlefield abilities, or are small/cheap. Neither of those condones itself well to Lazav. Making a hexproof Thragtusk is cool, but not gaining the 5 life is terrible, as that's basically the sole reason for the card seeing play. Same is true for cards like Angel of Serenity, without the ETB effect the card is completely useless (and even with, the card has lost half its value over the last 2 months). Then there's the problem where this guy is just better in a mill deck, but then you're playing mill and thats another issue to deal with. Overall I feel like it's too confusing with too much text, and not good or inspiring enough.

And finally we have our last card for today! A dozen cards in one sitting has been quite the haul, but we're almost there. Last but certainly not least we have the Ghost Council here to argue how you're going to die, not if. The art on this card is sweet, but the text is even sweeter! Being able to completely dodge sorcery speed removal while being resilient to most instant speed removal makes this guy a very difficult card to actually deal with. I can only think of Selesnya Charm and Murder to actually kill Obzedat (point for most bizarre name?) of which Murder sees no play, and Selesnya Charm isn't played in the decks you want Obzedat against. I think this card will see a lot of play in midrange Junk and other midrange WBx decks as a solid answer to control decks as it is a very safe threat - almost impossible to kill - and it provides inevitability along with a 3 turn clock by itself. One really funny thing about this card is that it's possible you and your opponent both have Obzedat going and because he is exiled on your opponent's turn they won't legend rule each other out. Obviously you can choose to not exile it and break the cycle, but the Obzedat mirror must be pretty funny from a conceptual standpoint.

I'm very excited for Gatecrash, and these cards are pretty freakin sweet! Experiment One is by far the best card previewed today, but Obzedat is definitely the runner-up, and everyone else is scrambling for their 15 minutes of fame. I already have ideas for decks percolating, but I'm going to let spoilers run for a little bit so I have more information because spewing thoughts.

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Magic.tv

Hello everyone!

At the beginning of the year I posted a short piece on Magic streaming. It wasn't very much, but I wrote right as I was discovering the world of streaming, and how awesome and fun it can be. Since then I have come across a lot more streamers, and the whole thing has gotten far more popular. I used to have an issue where I wanted to watch high quality magic play out, but there's actually nothing great out there. YouTube doesn't really have any fantastic players posting up videos (and usually that leads me thinking angrily at the screen for poor deck/play choices), and watching SCG open archives, GP archives, or PT archives isn't really helpful either because you can't see the player's hands and therefor it's a lot harder to really know their line of thinking. Videos posted on websites like ChannelFireball and SCG are awesome, but they don't show up nearly as much as I would like.

[Streaming enters from stage right]

Streaming is perfect for everyone! For the people who run the streams, it requires a lot less work for them because they don't need to compile any files, ship any files online to either their website or YouTube, and they aren't under as much pressure to have a perfect series of games to be archived for eternity. Also when you're streaming you can relax a little more, put on awesome music, talk to the viewers on the chat, and have a little more fun in the process. Also, some streamers have a donate button set up so they can make a little money in the process.

For the viewers it's also awesome because now that there are so many streamers out there you have the luxury of selecting who and what you want to see whenever you sign on. Sure, when I'm up at 3am there's not a lot of choices, but there's other things to be worrying about at that point. When you're watching someone stream, the chat is there so you can joke around with players, argue different lines of play, discuss draft picks/card choices in a deck, or ask the player questions. If you don't have a Twitch.tv account, I highly recommend you make one, because every once in a while getting to chat is a very cool experience, especially when they have a great discussion with you!

Streaming is getting more and more popular with lots of top level players making streams. Just before Christmas  we all received a free gift when Jon Finkel announced his new channel. This afternoon there will be a major event completely revolving around streaming that will be awesome! The MTGO Streamer's Championship is taking place today, and it's going to be awesome! 8 high quality players streaming an insane amount of magic is very exciting, and I look forward to watching 2 or 3 angles. My favorite players for the event are Tom Martell, Sam Black, and Cedric Phillips in that order.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to get an announcement up sooner, but I just got my wisdom teeth out 2 days ago, so I haven't been able to do much for the past few days. I'm looking forward to a day of relaxation and streaming, and hopefully I'm alive and well again to actually play some magic of my own IRL! My friend is lending me this sweet GW aggro deck for standard:

2x Arbor Elf
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
2x Ulvenwald Tracker
3x Strangelroot Geist
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Silverblade Paladin
4x Sublime Archangel
2x Wolfir Silverheart

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

7x Forest
2x Gavony Township
6x Plains
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden

Sideboard:
3x Centaur Healer
2x Intrepid Hero
1x Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
1x Nevermore
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Rest in Peace
1x Triumph of Ferocity
2x Rootborn Defenses
1x Garruk Relentless

I haven't played a single game of live standard since rotation because of school, so I'm hoping to get 2 or 3 FNMs in this break and get back into it! This deck has been doing very well on Cockatrice, and the Silverblade-Sublime interaction is absolutely brutal! This deck is fairly cheap, with just Sublime Archangel holding a big price tag, so I think it's actually a very good choice right now if you like punching people's teeth in, and winning out of nowhere!

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

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

All the Gatecrash Mechanics!

Hello Everyone!

The other day I posted about the first released mechanic from Gatecrash, Evolve, and since then we have also had this card spoiled with that mechanic on Monday:

However we both know this card is pretty terrible. It does do a good job showcasing the cool things we can expect to do with Evolve, and with this card in particular it does draw you a card for any reason so Scavenge or Increasing Savagery is pretty ballin value (and yes, Increasing Savagery will draw you 5 cards). When it comes down to it though, a 4 mana 1/1 with no self-protection isn't very playable. If you do want to force the deck, play black for Undying Evil. When the Fathom Mage undies it will draw a card because of the +1/+1 counter it returns with so it's protection and more value.

Fathom Mage was spoiled on Monday, and on Tuesday, WotC released this guy to the world:

Bloodrush doesn't seem to be the most exciting Mechanic at first, but I think it's actually awesome! Pump spells and combat tricks have always just a little short of being playable because while they play as removal, an actual removal spell is just better. However, when Selesnya Charm came out, all of a sudden we had a pump spell that had the flexibility to be anything you want it to be depending on the situation. Low and behold, I use it as a pump spell 70% of the time (removal 25%, dude 5%), and it's always awesome!

So coming back to Bloodrush, we have an ability that holds an incredible amount of value for no cost! Like Scavenge, it is simply an upside ability, so we have to evaluate any card with Bloodrush as if it didn't, and if it's a good rate, then Bloodrush is just the icing on the cake. It's a little hard to discern which way the machanic will go, but I think the cost will be variable from card to card and the pump will be based off the discarded creature's P/T. Here's two simple cards I would be interested in seeing printed:

~Name 1
RG
Bloodrush - 1RG
2/2

~Name 2
{R/G}
Bloodrush - 0
1/1

No, I don't think either are constructed playable, but they are both very limited playable. A turn 1 or 2 play in the early game to build a presence, but in the later game when they really no longer matter, they become a pump spell to trick the opponent and add more tension to game play. I really like this mechanic and hope we get a couple cards that become playable in constructed, but it will add a sweet new dimension to standard. If the bear has a Bloodrush of 1 mana I would legitimately consider it for constructed.

On Wednesday, We were graced with the Legion's Battalion:

This card has caused the most conversation in the online facebook group I'm in, and for good reason! Lightning Helix has basically never stopped seeing play since it was first released, and getting a free one for free every turn is insane (2 a turn if you go real deep with Aurelia, the Warleader). At first I didn't like this ability because it required investing too much to the board to make it active, and another guy made the comparison to Odric, Master Tactition and how he is completely unplayable. But then I started thinking about a Naya aggro deck and if you play this card turn 3 off an Arbor Elf. As the control player looking across the board from 3 lands, Avenger, Elf, and a couple cards in hand, do you Wrath? If you do, you didn't really gain much value off that Wrath, and they have a good size hand to put up a second round of threats, but if you don't then they can play something like Strangelroot Geist and swing for 9+.

This is a very high-risk, high-reward mechanic. The key is finding ways to reduce the risk such as Strangelroot Geist - he is haste so you can play him as the third creature to get at least one Battalion activation in, also when your opponent does wrath he can undie and continue the fight. Another card that I feel will see play along with Battalion is Lingering Souls. It creates the 2 other creatures at the price of only 1/2 a card, so if you have 2 sounds and a Firemane Avenger a wrath is trading 1 for 1.5, neutering the value on the wrath. This card and the mechanic as a whole definitely holds a lot of potential! One thing that is absolutely relevant with Firemane Avenger is acknowledging the existence of Restoration Angel. Even if that's enough to hold back Firemane for this current standard season, if things change going into next year's standard format, I can see this guy completely dominating creature matchups!

Outside of Firemane specifically I really like this mechanic and can see WRB tokens becoming a legitimate deck off the back of Battalion, especially if we get a decent cheap Battalion guy (guys gain +1/+0?) along with Midnight Haunting, Sorin, etc. This is mechanic we will be seeing a lot of going forward!

Thursday released what is probably my favorite mechanic in the entire set: Extort! When I first read it, I thought it was basically kicker where that spell could drain for 1, however after another reading I realized it makes ALL spells gain that kicker, it's value went up a lot. For the sake of arguing how good the mechanic is (because this card is bulk), I proposed this card:

~Name
{W/B}
Enchantment
Extort

To which everyone said that they would play. I always try to talk down how good cards are and shut down hype in our group, but I think Extort is a powerful enough mechanic that I too would play that card in constructed, given the right shell. A lot of discussion about which archaetype it would best fit in, and I thnk the answer is Combo/Control. In an aggro deck you want to build tempo on your opponent, and casting a bunch of Death of a Thousands Stings isn't how you get there, it just sets your entire deck 1 or more turns behind. Sure, if a good on-curve creature has Extort, you can play it as a bonus for additional reach going late, but you wouldn't play a below the curve guy because he has Extort.

Combo and Control is a different story. There is no combo deck right now that wants Extort (there really aren't any combo decks in general) but the comparisons to Tendrils of Agony can't be ignored, so keep your eyes open. In control decks, Extort is simply awesome! Imagine this cheap Extort enchantment exists, it's legitimately possible to have that be your win condition! The fact that standard has infinite life with all these Thragtusks, Centaur Healers, and Sphinx's Revelations makes this plan less effective, but it's still good to think about - a deck with lots of answers, some flashback spells like Think Twice, and cheap Extort cards. You can just contain your opponent as you slowly ping at their life total while also keeping your head above water. Because your deck has such a high density of counterspells and removal, your opponent will never be able to out-threat you and you can grind them until they're thoroughly dead.

Take note that Extort is a triggered ability which can be triggered multiple times off one spell if your have multiple permanents with Extort. Going late when you're completely flooded out, having 2 or 3 Extort cards + Think Twice makes for an incredibly short clock! Extort looks sweet, and while it's not flashy, it will be a major player in the future of standard control!

Last but not least, today we finished off with an interesting Dimir mechanic:

Cipher is a bizarre name for the ability, but regardless it's pretty cool. An instant/sorcery version of Haunt that like basically all other Instant/Sorcery based mechanics finds a way to cast it multiple times for cheap. However here it simply feels awkward. Blue and black have the least and second least amount of creatures respectively (though red is very close in the 3/4 slot with black), so having an entire mechanic designed around gaining advantage through your creatures feels wrong to me. That being said, there is a certain guy named Invisible Stalker that saw a ton of play last year which will jump right back into the center stage if there are any good Cipher cards, so we can't turn a blind eye to the mechanic.

I think one thing to really look out for when new Cipher cards are spoiled is to see if there are any playable instants. If you attack with a creature or two and they aren't blocked, then you can cast a Cipher spell before damage, Cipher it onto the unblocked creature and gain immediate value off it.

Thinking about potential Cipher cards actually has my head scratching. Blue is most known for drawing cards, bouncing things, and countering spells. We have Whispering Madness which draws cards, and we will surely get a Reach Through Mists (read: Curiosity), which leaves bouncing things and countering spells. Countering spells doesn't work with Cipher because damage is sorcery speed, which only leaving bouncing things. Maybe 2U Unsummon, Cipher or 2UU Eye of Nowhere, Cipher? Looking at black they have creature kill, hand disruption, and paying life for card advantage. So maybe we get a 4 mana Doom Blade, 2 mana Duress, and a Divination that shocks yourself?

The overall problem is UB decks have next to no creatures (besides UB fish which is all dudes), so having a mechanic that requires creatures that you think will survive is so awkward. I'm sure there will be a good few printed that see play, but I really don't know what to expect here.

Overall, I am very excited for Gatecrash and I'm already thinking about and preparing myself for all the sweet brews that will come out of the sweet cards and especially the mechanics! Here's my ranking from most awesome to least awesome for these 5:

5. Cipher (Dimir)
4. Bloodrush (Gruul)
3. Evolve (Simic)
2. Battalion (Boros)
1. Extort (Orzhov)

I think it's worth noting how 4 of the 5 mechanics revolve around creatures, which feels very high to me. RTR had 3 as well, but 4 is just overwhelming. It doesn't feel like there will be many options outside of lots of creatures and lots of combat math.

That's all I have for today! I'm really excited for GTC now that we had our first taste of the treats to be offered, and I can't wait for 1 more month to go by when we can start cracking packs! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

The Newest Evolution to Magic

Hello everyone!

Twitter is a wonderful way to keep in touch with the greater Magic community. People like Gavin Verhey, Mark Rosewater, and Aaron Forsythe bridge the gap between Wizards of the Coast and their consumers. They send out cool insights to the company, Rosewater has a daily comic called Tales from the Pit, and they all will frequently poll their followers on cool mtg related things. I also follow professional players like LSV, PVDDR, Chapin, etc who sometimes offer insights into current formats, and the behind the scenes of the pro life. Naturally financial writers like Corbin Holster, Paul Feudo, and Chas Andres can keep you up to the moment on the latest spiking cards.

Beyond the everyday things like that, whenever a story or event happens, Twitter can keep you up to the second on it. For example, this picture has been getting retweeted a ton in the past 30 minutes:

Simic Fluxmage
2U
Evolve
1U, tap: Move a +1/+1 counter from Simic Fluxmage onto target creature
1/2

Our first mechanic spoiler from Gatecrash! In case you can't read it, this is the Simic mechanic called Evolve. Evolve reads, "Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature." This is a sweet mechanic!

The old Simic Mechanic was called Graft, which meant that a creature with graft would enter the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters (X determined by the number next to Graft) and that whenever another creature entered the battlefield you could pass 1 +1/+1 counter over to it. Evolve is basically reverse Graft. Just like how with Graft you can do things based on creatures having +1/+1 counters on them, in the same way Evolve can manipulate +1/+1 counters as well. As we can see with the Simic Fluxmage he can graft out a +1/+1 counter every turn so he will remain small, keep on accumulating +1/+1 counters, and distributes those counters to the rest of your team.

This actually makes me excited to see what other cards may come. Obviously Simic Fluxmage isn't constructed playable (random sidenote, you can pass a +1/+1 counter to your opponent's Undying/Unleash creature to turn them off), but consider this card:

Evolving Dude
G
Evolve
1/1

This card is insane! Think back to the Fervor Jund deck I made back when Domri Rade was spoiled. If we were playing that deck with this guy on the 1-drop slot we can go:

1 - Evolving Dude
2 - Strangelroot Geist, swing for 4
3 - Dreg Mangler/Flinthoof Boar, swing for 8

At the end of turn 3 we have our opponent at 8 life, and we have two 3/3s and a 2/1 Undying. That is a completely dominant board, and even if we get hit with a Supreme Verdict we have a 3/2 swinging our opponent down to 5 with the rest of our deck designed to beat down. This card has so much potential it's impressive. Even as a 0/1, it would still be able to pack a solid punch, though that would be noticeably worse.

I think the Evolve mechanic is a very exciting mechanic for constructed purposes if we get solid cheap guys. Even in limited it will be a very important mechanic to help build up a strong board against any opponent. That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

2 Man Drafts

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since I last posted, but since then I have entered into, and successfully escaped alive, from finals. It was a lot more pain and suffering than it was fun and joy, but there was one especially shameful moment - Sociology. I already hated the class and thought the professor was a complete joke, but then his final permanently cemented that for me. It was a true work of art how he managed to embarrass himself:

1 - First he registered the wrong day, time, and location of our final on the school website, telling us a completely different (and earlier) time in class.
2 - The final was held in the same room where we normally have class, which is completely full for his lectures. He decided to combine 2 classes together for the final pushing us all so close together you couldn't get up to walk around, and people were fully pressed against all four walls.
3 - The professor showed up 30 minutes late to tell us he forgot to print out the test and that's what he was working on now (100+ students in room, 10 page test)
4 - The test was all multiple choice with many questions having a blank being filled from the choices. Many of the questions didn't make complete sentences with any of the choices, and one question didn't even have enough choices to fill all the blanks on any choice. I asked the professor about one, and he couldn't figure it out either

So with that fabulous display of leadership, Arturo Ramos-Dalmau proved himself to be a true american hero, and a leader to us all!

On a more serious note, I am now back home and naturally celebrated with a 3 hour nap immediately followed up with a 14 hour nap, followed by a two-man draft. No one showed up for the scheduled 8-man, so myself and Nick decided to do a heads up draft which was actually incredibly fun!

I had done two-person drafts before during the Innistrad-Dark Ascension draft format. The way we did it then was with three piles (I don't know if there are any names for 2-man draft styles). First you have both players open the packs face down, take out the tokens, and then shuffle all 6 packs together. After shuffling, take the 6 packs and place them in a single pile on the table, then from that stack make 3 single card stacks in a line going away from the original stack. The three piles are numbered with the closest to the original stack being pile 1 and the furthest being pile 3.

The first player (determined by rolling) looks at pile 1 and can either keep it or pass. If they keep, they put all cards in that pile into their hand, take the top card of the stack, put it on the pile, and then pass to the other player. If they choose to not take the pile, then they take the top card from the stack, put it on top of the skipped pile, and then move to the next pile, repeating this process. If the player chooses they don't want the third pile they take the top card of the stack, put it on the third pile, and then take the top card of the original stack and put it into their hand. This process repeats until all cards have been used.

When I drafted against Nick though, we tried something new. This played out far more like a Rochester draft, and in the end I liked it a whole lot more. Both players start by opening their 3 packs face down, but this time you don't combine them. Instead each player shuffles their own 3 packs together separately, then makes two face-up piles next to their original stack and places one card in each. The first player can then pick any of the four piles and pull all cards in that piles into their hand, and pass to the other person. After each player takes a pile each pile gets one additional card from each player's respective stacks.

As I said, I liked this rochester-esque style of drafting much better. I won the roll and decided to go second. Nick and I were both in Golgari after the first 4 rounds of picks when Nick snagged a Vraska, the Unseen, so I knew I would have to get out of it quickly. A few picks later I was graced with a Supreme Verdict, and in combination with my Horncaller's Chant, I knew I was going down a much slower road. My deck wound up being a four color monstrocity being primarily Bant but splashing a Goblin Electromancer and Essence Backlash off a single Izzet Guildgate because of a lack of playables in my primary three. I had a lot of proliferate cards like Eyes in the Sky so my game plan was to invest as few cards as possible to build a board presence, gain card advantage through Supreme Verdict, and then go over the top to win. The plan worked worked very well as I was able to beat Nick's BRg deck 2-0.

If you're looking to try something new for drafting, but only have 1 other person to play with, I highly recommend trying the Rochester 1vs1 draft! I had tons of fun, and like a real Rochester there are tons of decisions to be made while picking your cards. I'm looking forward to playing tons of magic over the course of this next month, and bringing tons of reports and technology back to the blog! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack

Counting to 10 in Legacy

Hello everyone!

Legacy infect is a deck that has been talked about a lot, but has never really become a thing. As a part of my quest to make everything playable, I have decided to turn my lens over to infect. Recently I have been giving lessons to some guys on my floor, and one of the things I start with is consistency and power. Power is basically, "what is the most powerful things your deck can do?" For infect that's a mulligan to 4 that wins on turn 2. Then the second part asks about consistency. Can your deck reliably get all the pieces together quickly enough? Can your deck fight through disruption? I think infect may actually be able to do those things too! Here's the list I'm currently on:

4x Noble Hierarch
4x Blighted Agent
4x Glistener Elf

1x Crop Rotation
4x Brainstorm
4x Gitaxian Probe
3x Ponder
4x Daze

3x Vines of Vastwood
4x Might of Old Krosa
3x Berserk
4x Invigorate

4x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
4x Tropical Island
2x Pendelhaven
3x Centaur Garden

Sideboard:
3x Tormod's Crypt
4x Chain of Vapor
3x Tezzeret's Gambit
3x Force of Will
2x Ranger's Guile

I took this deck (-3 Tezzeret's Gambit +3 Leyline of Sactity) into an online Legacy 8-man, and by golly I won the whole thing! It was a legitimate win too, I wasn't playing against something like Kobolds combo anywhere. I played against Bant, BUG Deathrite, and Junk in that order, so there was A LOT of Tarmogoyf!  It's a good thing this deck doesn't care about Tarmogoyf, otherwise I would have been bringing a knife to the gun fight as I saw 2 or 3 other Tarmogoyf decks while watching other games!

Here's a breakdown of the deck:

Dudes:
Glistener Elf - This is actually your worst infect dude because she doesn't have any evasion. It does only cost 1 mana though, and gives you a ton of game against the likes of Show and Tell or Storm by allowing the turn 2 kills to happen.

Blighted Agent - This is fantastic because your mana isn't tied up every turn and he will not be blocked. However, this guy dies to all kinds of removal including things like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Supreme Verdict

Inkmoth Nexus - While not completely unblockable, the lack of playable flying creatures (Delver, Vendilion, ...?) effectively makes this so. Abrupt Decay has seen a spike in play recently, especially in the BUG Deathrite Shaman deck, but Abrupt Decay can't hit lands so Inkmoth gains a lot of value. Dodging sorcery speed removal is awesome too, but the tradeoff is it can die to Wasteland, and it can tie up your mana a lot.

Noble Hierarch - When I saw this in Ari Lax's modern infect deck from the Pro Tour, I was skeptical, but in testing Hierarch is insane! This deck is so fast that it doesn't have enough time to hit enough lands drops to play out the whole hand, so doubling up on mana turn 1 is a huge help! The Exalted is another major boost as it allows you to play fair much better.

Pump:
Invigorate - This is your best pump spell. Life doesn't matter when you're killing in poison counters, so this is a 0 mana +4/+4. Simple, clean, elegant.

Might of Old Krosa - This is usually the first card to get sideboarded out in any matchup that plays creatures. Showing your hand and committing a creature to a pump spell during your main phase has a significant cost attached, but it very good on the Blighted Agent and Inkmoth Nexus

Berserk - Playing Berserk after an Invigorate or a Might of Old Krosa makes a perfect 10. Besides that, the card is fairly bad which is why we only play 3. Having to sacrifice your guy at the end of turn is a significant disadvantage to the card, so use it only when winning.

Pendalhaven - This card is awesome! Like Noble Hierarch, it helps you push through incremental damage over the course of a couple turns and apply significant pressure on the opponent.

Centaur Garden - In an effort to stuff as much possible value in the deck as we can, we take a page out of Dredge's book. In my experience I find it is actually relatively difficult to accumulate 7 cards in your graveyard to activate the Garden, but it has also been integral for a couple grindy wins, so overall I have been pleased with it.

Other Spells:
Crop Rotation - This card has always been decent for me, but never insane. It offers you some Wasteland protection, it helps you get Threshold for Centaur Garden, it shuffles post-Brainstorm, and can tutor for an Inkmoth when in need. It's important to remember with Crop Rotation that you sacrifice the land before putting the spell on the stack so counterspells REALLY ruin your day!

Brainstorm - We're a blue combo deck with 7 fetch lands and Crop Rotation, obv playing best card in Legacy

Ponder - Like Brainstorm, we just want to find combo pieces and get there

Gitaxian Probe - Every combo player's best friend! This simply leaves nothing to the imagination and allow you to sculpt your game plan based on what they have.

Daze - A common mistake people make when building combo decks is to not have enough interaction with the opponent. That's why Belcher has never won anything and probably never will. We too are trying to ignore the opponent as much as possible, but Daze is simply to good to not have. Dazing your opponent's game plan, be it a Tarmogoyf or Jace is sweet, but Daze will also help you push pump spells through your opponent's disruption.

Vines of Vastwood - The primary responsibility of this card is to make a creature Hexproof and save it from a Swords to Plowshares/Abrupt Decay. The kicker is just gravy, but essential to remember. In the final game of the 8 man I was down to just a Vines in Hand because he had a Liliana of the Veil. He was at 1 Infect and I had a Blighted Agent in play. I topdecked a second Vines and was able to kick two of them to get in for the game!

Lands:
I decided that I really didn't want to have any basic lands in the deck because I felt there simply wasn't space or need. Usually people will try to save their Wastelands for your Inkmoth Nexus, which allow us to cast our cantrips and ignore the Waste.

Sideboard:
Tormod's Crypt - because Dredge is a bitch

Chain of Vapor - This is designed to be a catch-all for cards like Moat, Umezawa's Jitte, and other random goodies.Simple and straightforward, but I have been very pleased with it

Tezzeret's Gambit - This isn't tested, but it feels decent in theory. Basically I want to answer Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach by ignoring them, recouping my hand, and then just killing them anyways. I played Leyline of Sanctity in the 8-man, but never wanted to bring it in.

Force of Will - We have a very low blue count (19 in the main) so Force isn't the most reliable spell however in the matchups we want it, we want it BAD

Ranger's Guile - This is to back up Vines of Vastwood to help grind through a wall of removal. I went with a second Ranger's Guile over a fourth Vines because games with tons of removal are far grindier and we may only have 1 mana, so I want to get the extra point of power when I can.

I have been very pleased with this deck in testing, and reccommend it if you're looking for a combo deck no one is prepared for. Like I said, the decks I beat in the 8 man were Bant, BUG, and Junk all of which pack tons of disruption. Cards I had to fight through include: Swords to Plowshares, Daze, Force of Will, Abrupt Decay, Darkblast, Inquisition of Kozelik, and Liliana of the Veil. I feel this is a perfect sample to show the resiliency and power of the deck, two essential qualities of a good deck for Legacy.

When it comes to playing the deck, I find the best approach is to be slightly conservative. Obviously when your opponent plays a turn 1 Aether Vial off a mountain you can just dump your hand and go all-in, but unless you know exactly what you're up against, there's no need to get blown out. The deck can kill out of nowhere so feel free to take the extra turn and make sure you actually have a window of opportunity. In general a turn 1 Noble Hierarch is better than a turn 1 Glistener Elf, and a hand without an infect guy is basically unkeepable.

This has been a very fun deck to play, and I think it may have legs to be a fully competitive deck in the metagame! That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack