Sealed with a kiss

So how have we been going lately? Actually I'm not sure, I only see iRony lately, and usually across the virtual realm of DotA, which I'm terrible at.

No, Magic-wise we've been doing great. iRony and I took on a 4-3-2-2 draft the other day, and made videos! So here they are - they're good too, trust me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ-nOj6kcXQ

Yes we sound like that.

Yesterday I managed to get something relevant practiced. I started to buy Seismic Loam online, but then jumped into a Sealed. I had some pretty bomb rares, wanna see?

How am I supposed to win or build with that? Surely I just drop and cash in right? Nah. I build the BGR version of the deck and go lose win win win for a 3-1 result and some 6 boosters for my efforts. Pretty sweet!

GP Sydney is very close, so we'll have to figure out how we're staying in the city or not, but apart from that just more practice is good. PLAY LOBBERCREW.

Sealed with a swish (...of Isperia's wings)

Tried busting out some sealed lately! JD and Ammonium weren't available, so it was just iRony and me. He cracked the nuts azorious pool, with red splash. He had Isperia, supreme Verdict, double Explosive Impact, Thoughtflare, Inspiration, LOTS of good stuff.

My junk couldn't handle it, but we played until I beat him. I had to swap from my azorious attempts (wrath as well) into green/white, dropping more and more pressure every turn while waiting for the double board Wrath to occur, then keeping up Aerial Predation for Isperia. I think it was 6-1 in Rony's favour by the nights end?

We tried again for this tuesday, but Ammonium has a job interview (you go girl, tap that money source!) and JD is sick, so poop again.

It's just funny how hard it is to organise this. I've also started selling off cards I don't want and wont need for a while, especially seeing the next big Magic thing will be sealed anyway, so I need monies for that.

Oh and new years, xmas, etc etc. I haven't submitted my latest article to Good Games, so it's right here if you haven't read it yet, "http://community.goodgames.com.au/articles/magic/2012/11/22/murdoch-monthly---gp-auckland-na/"

I have the second one written and ready to go, I just need to double check it all tomorrow and then post. Ta da!!

The Latest of Life

Not really. I've just finished the writing on GP Auckland, right before I have to start work on finalising Popalot #11, which I attended and had a blast at.

I've also voiced my intent to get paid to write Magic on facebook, tapping ppl for what they think I might do. Usually, top 8 an event worth knowing. Also, write a lot more and play a lot more. Already in the plans!

My mate Petr and hilarious Magic comic also suggested monetizing this blog, how can I do that?

Apart from that, we're organising R2R sealed days to practice for January, though it seems like MODO would be the simplest way for individuals to do that. It's at times like these I envy James/Ammy the most, because they live with another player. How hard is it to play Magic THEN?

So cool. Also, Nick, I remembered your name correctly and put it properly in the article on GP Auckland.

Fox out.

New Frontiers?

Hello readers once again. I am over my jetlag, and "you suck" lag, and preparing for tomorrows event hosted by POPaLOT. It's a major event, and one that they need your attendance at, because if they don't hit a certain amount they lose a premier event status.

Do you want more Magic in Australia? Play in these. It's all you can do. FREE PLUGS ASIDE, I'd like to quickly gloss over my thoughts on Standard, and how they've changed before and since GP Auckland.

For starters, Slaughter Games is a very real threat, but not an active one. You can't go turn 4 Slaughter Games without the opponent going turn 4 Unburial Rites for Angel of Serenity anyway, gee gee there fella? That doesn't mean my deck idea was bad, and I still like the idea of toying with the idea, maybe brewing it for Modern.

Also, it was clear that Standard had formed quite a few archetypes before hand, and that's not solidified with all the recent GPs. So that means its still wide open, but only so far as aggro/control goes. They're both viable with the cards available, such as "red haste deck" being great aggro, and 24+ Wraths control deck being very control. In the middle is Planeswalkers and "mid-range" but on the whole, Vraska, Nicol Bolas, O Ring and Detention Sphere help keeping any particular permanent from dealing massive damages.

So a few notes, taken today, looking back at how people imagined Standard would look.

+Zombies is no longer viable, but everyone thought it'd be the nuts rock solid. There were so many 1 drop 2 power guys!
True, but no longer relevant, seeing everyone is playing answers to normal creatures that naturally exile them upon death, such as the Pillar of Flame/Annihilating Fire or my always-favourite Terminus. Nothing turns off junk faster than that third turn Terminus for three.
+Rest in Peace would keep the graveyard decks in check, and it was waaay too strong already and Tormyd's Crypt why roflmao? Rest in Peace hasn't seen great amounts of play in many places, mostly because anyone playing white IS the reanimator deck! No one's going to play an automatic "turn myself off" in a deck if they can stop it, and it's relatively easy to. Not to say it's not in people's sideboards, but it wasn't that crash hot. Also? Abrupt Decay.
+Jace is hot and omg can't wait to play him! Well, he's great fun to -2, and he's cheap enough at four, but last time you were paying four for Jace in Standard... he got banned. This time Jace feels more like the "Ponder" of the format, which is odd seeing he's a four-drop, and a Planeswalker. Nobody has forgiven Wizards yet for Index. There's still a twinkle of hope that the new Dragon's Maze will bring the goods. That's besides my point, Jace went from $120 a playset (when I bought) to $160 (when I should've sold) down to $120 again (after the GPs and people realised he wasn't all that crash hot. Even resolving his ulty wont gaurenteed finish a game).
+Oros Zombies can live! More on that later. See also: Boros / Ozrhov.

So in playing the deck I'll take to Popalot tomorrow, I'll keep in mind my original thoughts, as can be applied to reanimator.
+Terminus in the sideboard. Game 1, I don't think I'll need to clear the board. If I do, I want the full four.
+Rest in Peace. There will be reanimator everywhere, and I want to get it. Sure, it kills my grave too, but that's why...
+Abrupt Decay and Grisly Salvage are Instants. This style of play allows me to control the board, until I'm ready to go off, of after the opponent has thought "Fiddlesticks, I'll play it honest," and paid a proper 7.

Here's the list of todays thoughts I wrote at work, pondering the imaginery make up of the meta tomorrow.

50-60% reanimator
10-20 aggro Rakdos
20% "rogue"
10% Epic Experiment

I think Travis Woo has done a lot for Magic lately, over at ChannelFireball. Apart from being highly inspirational (I've build 2 of his last 3 decks) he sports decks that ppl enjoy and play, namely dirty cheap dirt red, and Epic Experiment. It means that they'll show up as "awesome tech" that someone thinks will be really good, but really they'll die to aggro and never have to face me.

I haven't tested against a great field yet, though yesterday came second at FNM at Mega Games. After my horrid streak at GP Auckland, felt good to be playing for first.

So short of giving you an actual list, there's my thoughts and good night! Also props to Ainsley for the lift.

Fox.

ps I am the only member of You Don't Say who'll be there.

Wounds and what not

So we all collective went pretty bad. "You don't say?" We do say. I think the trip overseas was great, as was seeing NZ and all the new/old players that we're used to, but in terms of achieveing results the team was lacking.

Myself the worst, I reckon. I fretted and didn't know what to play until the night before, and ended up with a very uncompetitive azorious izzet "good stuff" deck. Fine for FNM, but this is not FNM. I drew a round, that I instead conceded because I didn't want to be in the draw bracket all day, then continued to every other match of the weekend, just about. After the initial slaughtering, I could only look back at the Slaughter Games deck that I didn't play, and ponder on what it could've been.

So games aside, it was still a great time. I hadn't really packed my bag all that great. Cards first, then "essential clothing only". So shirt, pants, and 500+ pairs of socks n such. Every rare/uncommon Ravnica card that I owned, no commons and nothing from Avacyn block besides anything already in a deck.

We had a good nights practice when I showed up, greeted in the hotel lobby by the clerk, asking for me by name. That's a pretty good feeling, when you arrive, very late and very tired, in a foreign place but your mates have been asking for you by name and you know you've arrived when you get there. That was awesome.

We didn't grind very much, and I found out I didn't have that 1 bye I thought I did. Oh wells! Ammy had her three byes but didn't do crash hot, getting one more draw than she needed to make day 2. James spotted another version of his deck doing well, but in general the day was owned by the "simply most obvious best cards" in each colour. It was mostly reanimator, and again with Witton in the top 2! I remember him winning with Primeval Titan/Valakut, and cheering him on. Good decks indeed. Also another local you'll know is Justin Cheung, who made top 8 with his build. Also Robert Liu. I remember playing him once at Rony's old place, and asking him "So are you good?"

He said no. I believed him until 10 minutes later when I lost the match :P

Rangor went well with his aggro humans build, and I'm always happy to see Matt Anderson do well, this time with his blue black noncreature build. It always seems like a good call, because it immediately blanks several cards against opponents. In rare cases it can leave a deck incapable of removing "dead cards", when they haven't actually got 60 cards in their main n side that don't care about creatures.

Apart from the Magic and how various players went, there was NZ itself. Very cool place, from what I saw. One big windy street that leads to our hotel, all with a lot of places that sell alcohol, but not a singular can of Guiness. We eventually found a place that didn't care about the "new laws" that forbid singular selling of cans, so our saturday night commiserating our achievements was "fun" to say the least.

All the food on offer was pretty awful, if you went to an asian style take away. I'm sure there's good ones out there, but we were only ripped off, as tourists rather want to be. We had a very good korean bbq one night, which I was rather kicking and screaming about until my brain managed to "unlearn" the previous Mass Group Self Food Poisoning that happened when I was in the real korea, and nobody knew how to cook.

The coins were fun, but I did have the impression the entire time that we were playing with toy money. Not just the conversion rate (that was great!) but the colours, and different sizes. I didn't manage to find any of the LOTR style $1 coins, but it was still fun. Get out some money, only costs a fraction of that much. I would consider returning for a trip at some point in the future, simply because it's a nice place and the gf killed me for not taking her. You know.

SO, what do we take from this? One, I like my team. LOVE them. Two, lock in your deck a lot earlier (or in my case, DO lock in A deck) and base it on the decks that are getting coverage. There's no real use being rogue unless you're Conley Woods, in which case please come live with me and we'll brew the awesomest thing ever for GP Sydney.

Seriously. It was a great weekend, and even though we all had rough experiences (I'm thinking of the toilets on sunday night. 3 cubicles, but only 1 useable after the first was used abundantly and left broken, the other filled with my vomit from that Nandos that I just couldn't stomach) but we're all the better for it.

Next time, I would take a jacket.

Fox, for the You Don't Say team.

GP Auckland: underway!!

The story, that is. The GP isn't until Saturday morning still.

Here's the deal. I'm writing another diary of the event, but it'll be saved onto my computer. When I get the chance, I WILL post what I've gotten so far up here, much the same as with GP Melbourne. It all depends on internet capabilities and whether the NZ technology hasn't fight with my AUSSIE tech, sweet!

I'm looking the most forward to the entirely new blanket of players, with new accents and groups of people they hang with and all that. It's funny that all the previous travelling I've done for Magic has been within Australia, so I'm used to "just a different part of Aus", not "actually a different country."

Keep yourselves posted!

Day 0 aka “We’re not even there!”

5:45am
The day begins at 5.45am when I wake up early for work. Fun times.

6:45am
We’re behind the counter for a few hours, til 1pm. Then we’ve got the mad fun job of running around, getting bags, and then public transport to Sydney’s International airport.

3:50 pm
Fail to meet up with gf for sad goodbyes, sad anyway.

4:40 pm
At the airport, but knocked back! Turns out our flight is the next one, and we’ve tried to board at 4pm instead of 6pm. There goes my ability to account for “local time difference” accurately.

4:44pm
Begin writing the above, and plan to continue it for the next few days, to create yet another Magic travel diary for GP Auckland. That makes a proper diary of both GP events in the Aus-Zealiand area this year. Don’t look that up in your Geography books, I just made it up.

Day plans? Arrive and hop a taxi to the sweet hotel to meet with fellow teammates Ammonium and JDNoice. Sleep a lot. Possibly. More likely will become “test a lot, until the wee hours of the morning. Do Grinders in a rat-faced mood all day.”

At the moment I have enough points for one bye, same for JDNoice. Ammonium kicked GPT Gosford in the jewels and has the proper compliment of three byes.

I have ,for light reading on my flight, “The crying of lot 49” and “Doctor Who Magazine; issue 451.” There’s a big dinosaur on the front, so who cares what’s actually inside? RRAWR!

Super quick list. Just written.

Looking at my original aggro list, I tried it some more. Without the "gotta play new stuff!" glow from Ravnica, the list looks as such.


6 Islands
5 Plains
4 Temple Garden
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Azorious Guildgate
1 Gavony Township
---
23 lands

4 Dryad Militant
4 War Falcon
4 New Prahv Guildmage
4 Knight of Glory
4 Lyev Skyknight
4 Dungeon Geists
3 Geist of St Traft
2 Restoration Angel
---
29 creatures

2 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Detention Sphere
2 Azorious Keyrune
2 Tamiyo the Moon Sage
1 Oblivion Ring
---
9 others



2 Civic Saber
2 Teleportal
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Incomplete sideboard, yes. Do I take this as well? Sigh-igh-igh!

Just a quickie

You like quickies, right?

I'm looking over the very first deck idea I scribbled onto my virtual notepad when Return to Ravnica was still in spoiler season, and it's amazing to see the direction I took from that starting point.

Do we wanna see the list again? OK here we go.



4 Judge's Familiar /// Delver for aggro build
4 New Prahv Guildmage // knight of glory (pro rakdos)
4 Lyev Skynight (great for 1 2 3 drops aggro)
Artic Aven in control
3 Dungeon Geists? good cap
3 Sleep in aggro build

4 ???? not Index
4 Azorious Charm    lifelink/draw/atkblk top of lib
4 Cyclonic Rift

4 Azorious Artifact tap for u/w, activate creature)
4 Terminus
1 Supreme Verdict (yeah, just 1)
3 Detention Sphere
2 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Rewind?
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Isperia, Supreme Judge
1 Fall of the Gavel
4 Azor's Elocutor? build around deck, obv. Hexproof, prevent all damage.
1 Stormtide Leviathan (just one)
1 Sudden Disappearance

sideboard
3 dispel?
3 Civic Saber (birdy beatdown?)
2 Misthollow Griffin [the mirror, o ring ME hey?)
2 Negate?
2 Outwit v Bonfire of the Damned

"Cute" other
4 Void Stalker
4 Index

That's right. Not fully spoiled, but filled with all the good juicy stuff, or cards I knew I did have. From this simple bashing of blue and white's finest aggros, I mutated away into blue white beaters with red, as is my usual way.

After the GP trial up in Gosford that got put aside in favour of looking elsewhere, and together with team I figured out that we liked to try Bant, or the potential powerhouse one-two punch of Slaughter Games/double Up Chandra.

I like the fact that I've kept up with those two decks and will piloting them at the GP. My grinder deck, as mentioned a few times, will be Slaughter Games. People are aware of it, but I don't think they'd expect such a gungho approach to it--it's perfect the grinders as well as an "oops, look at this aspect of the metagame you weren't expecting" type deck. That DOESN'T turn the game into solitaire for 15 minutes like Eggs does (don't get me wrong, it's a powerful deck. Just completely corrupting to the game, and metagame etc, but that's another topic and post entirely).

Day 1 I will be piloting, certainly most likely, my own variety of Bant. As I've said it's up to the user to win the day and their games/matches through skill rather than cards, seeing everyone worth their spit n polish will know decks are out there, what typical cards are in them and how to beat X with Y over Zs head. So it's skill based, how well you read EVERYTHING.

So I decided upon Bant because I love the simplicity of paying 6 mana for a 10/10 in two parts, which allows for racing but also doesn't mean you need to over commit at all, seeing they'll need to Wrath at that point, making wrath a bad one-for-one while you've still got cards aplenty.

I also opt for no Elves whatsoever, because the clever red mages will have some combination of Electrickery and Geistflame, that pings and later on pings once more or all of the opponent's team. Wrath x8, but I will sadly not have the 4x Pillar of Flame that I craved so very much. I imagine if Boros or Orzhov had've been in the first set of Ravnica it'd all be different, but oh wells.

So to that effect, I'm taking two powerful decks with me, worth quite a few monies (that I don't want to contemplate, oh how much have I spent?) and that'll be it. The temptation to trade wont be that high, and I have no 'pet cards I want from this. Just the decks to play, and nothing else. This means I'll need to consider how I'll have them with me on the day, but that's it.

Did I say quickie? Sorry there :S

New team member? (And new view in general)

So it's very close to take off time. Tomorrow, 66% of the base team of You Don't Say are taking off for NZ, to have a lovely coupley time before Fridays grinding. I'll follow them thursday after work.

New member, you say? Well yes I did. Not really anything new or big or exciting, but rather Matt, who playtests with DJNoice and Ammonium, and whom we all tested with together for GP Melbourne earlier in the year. His brother also joined us, Scott?, and he faired worse than I did, while James and Ammy both made day 2 and nary' a touch further.

I found this out last time we were testing, and by "we" my default will usually mean "james, ammy and Fox Murdoch" or some combination there of. They told me that Matt/Scott tested with them often, and was thought of as a member, which was cool! I told them that makes five and remembered them about Rony.

Then I realised that within the larger "group of all members" we had partial members who tested amongst us but not with the whole group. So it'll be great when I organise a triple Time Spiral sealed for everyone to play, to get to know each other better etc. That's just some house keeping -- I think it's funny the way the group has grown these extra limbs without anyone's real knowledge.

No no, the more exciting thing today is the latest I have on what is THE best deck. I mean the BEST. Play this, and you wont lose!

Whatever deck you like. It doesn't matter! The true ability to just win a lot comes from looking within, what you want to do and knowing you'll have the deck that can help you do that. I don't want to sound wishywash and "heart of the cards" too much, so I'll be brief as I can. Bottom line:

"It's based much more on the skill of the players, than the deck itself."

There. That explains why Matt Anderson is always so good at things. That explains why I've previously been so "middle of the pack". That explains why those awful players at FNMs remain awful players at FNMs, despite having certainly better decks, and even better board positions than I do.

Obviously showing up with 50 Forests and a Lost in the Woods will get you killed 100% of the games 2 and 3 you play, but assuming that everyone is smart, and brings any deck that is a tier 2 competitor (and that no 'bloody obvious' tier 1 exists, and it hasn't for a good while without that ONE hiccup (Jace I'm looking at you) then it largely becomes who has the better skill, the better ability to assess the situation, to know what's going to come up and even what to do in the assumed worst scenario.

It's very odd, but I'm beginning to feel as if I really rather know how the minds over at ChannelFireball work. I love those guys, and their work, videos and written articles (and PV, please never stop writing actual articles. Video doesn't provide the mental food the brain needs). It's a lot like Poker players saying that you play the opponent, not the hand. Just knowing what can happen, and adjusting accordingly is where the game works back and forth.

For example, a 1W costing 2/2. We're playing in a format where a three drop is usually a 2/2. That guys pretty quick. We're playing in a format where eventually, turn 7 comes and everybody has their own GODZILLA. That 2/2 guys pretty small and useless. We're playing in a bloodthirst abled format and our deck is full of 3-drop Bloodthirst critters. That 2/2 is looking awesome and threatening.

Just in that paragraph we can see how completely varied the simplest of "efficient" creatures can be -- it's always format dependent, time dependent, turn, location, job dependent! If that's true, then it rather removes the power from specific cards and decks, and rather puts it into the master of the skills as applied by the pilots, and who navigates the murky seas of a game better.

So having said all that, I don't see any reason why I couldn't be THE winner of GP Auckland. And I don't see why the winning deck couldn't be Slaughter Games. I'm not saying either of those are true, but rather that I'm not cutting myself off from the chance to do/be those things.

Did I mention I'm really enjoying a year of playing Magic, instead of judging or being a "good boy" and simply working?

Actually really bloody torn.

There you are, "bloody" in one of my post titles. Proves I'm an Aussie. Aside from that, I'm really bloody torn.

It's about Black. We've gotten along forever, ever since I first Terror'd a creature in Mirrodin, then later when Doran came out, and again we fell in love as I took hands with Walking-Terror aka Shriekmaw. Whenever I do tests it usually tells me I'm Rakdos or Dimir, so black or black, but lately... We've been having difficulties.

You know Slaughter Games? I wrote about it just last post, 'course you remember! I tried the deck again today, and got fed up, deciding I'd had enough. So removing all the black from my deck, I saw once again the "love pump" that makes each player build the decks they do. It's like imagining not being with your sweety (assuming you're on good terms), you'd just miss them too much.

Same here. There's only about half my lands gone, and Nicol Bolas and Slaughter Games itself, and Nephalia Drownyards and such. All good cards I want to have. And to replace them all, WHITE!

What does white offer? FIRST off, Terminus. I instantly loved it around preview time, and knew wrath for W was always going to be popular. It also does Angels but relying on the random topdeck for angels/win con is silly, even if heavily undercosted. It does allow for Angel of Serenity, Restoration Angel, Oblivion Ring and Detention Sphere, ALL cards I love just as much as the black side of my deck. So I want them all, and can't play them all, because there's no such thing Watery Grave x4 or Godless Shrine x4 in Standard at the moment.

So I must choose, and do not know what to do. I have an idea -- the Slaughter Games deck is powerful, when it works it's amazing, plus it's the most information rich deck out there. Turn 4, I get to see your everything unless you concede. You wont though, that's silly, so I can see all the cute little tech that people are playing and are thinking "Ha, no one else will be playing this!"

It's not long term though. It hasn't got much outright power, just really picks on tiny weenie decks once I stabilise. So I'm thinking that the sneaky clever deck would be best for, wait for it, GP Grinders. Yeah, Friday can be Slaughter Games all the way. That leaves Serious Deck of Choice #1 to be the Day 1, Day 2 part of my game, but what's that going to be?

My natural attraction was to blue/red/white, so I'm thinking at the moment that that's it, and I'm going to have to figure it out really soon. Next thursday I leave, so by then I'd better have my deck chosen. Do I go Bant though, with it's quick ramp, permissable control and giant boom-booms? (That 10/10 in two parts for six mana, Armada Wurm? YEAH!) Or does everyone expect it so they build the 8+ Terminus deck to eat me arse out?

I don't know. I do know playing Elves will get the elves killed because everyone kills elves. So there's no point. Wait for turn 2 naturally and cast Far Seek, ya know? It'd also allow for a clever splash of any colour I want, seeing there's a nonForest nonBasic of whatever colour you'd like, say W for the definate ability to Terminus?

Though Terminus and Armada Wurm in the same deck == the sillies.

The options are great, powerful and all look enticing. Nothing looks as good as just playing super control and nuking the board until I can drop my large slow lads that just glomp up the ground. This suggests some kind of 4-colour deck, though I REALLY don't think the decks can support it, and Far Seek would only half fix that.

So that's my position, and I'm torn. I've come full circle to love Slaughter Games again, and I know plenty of people wouldn't even consider it legitimate, so being suddenly pants'd in game 1 by this "horrible card" would do loads to tilt an unwary opponent.

But I can't shake the idea that there's something more consistent out there, that everyone else is playing. Is that the Rogue calling me, "Fooox... it's a good, clever, but above all legitimate idea...!"

I certainly hope not, will keep you posted.

Oh God we've been rude!

It's been a while (you don't say) but we've been busy! We are testing, a lot, and we'll have the story to tell longer and better once it settles down, I guess. The basics have been simple enough. Build what you think is good, play. Does it win? good, now find another angle, build and play that, and then battle against itself and each other. What's the weaknesses? Do we see any emerging "simply better" play styles or decks?

In the beginning, g/w lost to wrath. Still true, but it's quite savage when it's full tilt.
Blue white miracles is still and will always be a thing, but then again "randomly, off the top" will also be, and sometimes that fails to show up.
What have I done?

After my silly performance at the GPT in Gosford (I got a good article outta horrid player behaviour) I took it apart and we looked at the day. I fear I'm repeating myself, so I'll just summarise that I thought double up Chandra/Slaughter Games would be a great deck to try out.

And it was. I took it to FNM, lost round 1 against control (HOW!?) and then won the next three rounds against varying aggro/tribal decks. Fun, all round, but when you go Slaughter Games it's fun. When you drop Chandra, ping a dork and stabilise, then double Slaughter Games the next turn it's even more fun, but your opponent's quickly get the idea that your deck isn't sporting, well not really even though the card exists, and plays rather more of a "stop hitting yourself" kind of game.

One opponent, on Golgari 'fun stuff' (by fun stuff I mean cards the player just liked and enjoyed, so they played that), commented that it wasn't really fun to apart his own cards, seeing I used Mindclaw Shaman to cast his Jarad's Orders (failing to find the second creature, so I just fished out that nice 2/2 Goblin), then when he cast his Demon of 6/6 tap down I stole it with my topdecked Nicol Bolas. Anything left in the deck I stole away completely with Slaughter Games, so he felt rather like he didn't enjoy losing to his own stuff. He was an awful good sport though, not getting irate when going after Tamiyo and missing, when he used Death-Rite Shaman to "kill her off", only to be informed about the redirect damage rules not working for "life loss", only damage.

That was week 1. Week 2 went far worse, when match 1 I was against the very same opponent, and he'd listened to ALL my advice and had a much more formidable deck. I didn't get my awesome starts, he didn't get his demon at me too quickly, and we end up drawing the round.

I'm paired up and lose when my opponent simply rips me a new one with green white monsters, Angels and Ajani. Slaughter Games, thou art too slow!

Round 3 I'm against my mate who I offer to sign the slip before the match is started. He's playing a silly 1/1 attackers deck, with Lily as pump, only her pump occurs once before she needs to refill. Chandra against these "little creatures" deck is really good, especially as a PW hidden behind the Hover Barrier, she clicks up to her ultimate (and beyond, not point losing her) quite regularly, especially when you've had the chance to Slaughter Games and know exactly how to play around their hand contents/what they might play.

Round 4 I'm trounced by Spirits that aren't targetable, and Mizzium Mortars that are too slow. 7 mana to nuke the board? Didn't really happen, and turn 2 Invisible Stalker beats turn 3 Slaughter Games anyway.

So off that FNM I decided to retire the idea, figuring it was a better Modern deck. Not that decks aren't that quick, but I think of the deck fondly, but mostly as a "cute filler" that fills a space not considered by the more popular/winning decks.

Don't get me wrong -- being able to hit with Slaughter Games is such a gain on information I'm entertaining running it for games 1, but games 1 only. Games 2/3 sure they've sideboarded, but 45 cards at the least must remain the same, plus you'll recognise the deck, then know the match up. Who knows? The idea, while great and powerful, is still too inconsistent. When I had nothing in hand but the Slaughter Games, or when they had double removal for Hover Barriers #1 and #2 it was just curtains after some more "umming" and "ahhing" from me.

So I conversed with James and Ammy, and decided that the team would all play different decks. Rather than an agreed upon "best deck" we'd all play our own brand of deck, allowing our prefered play style to offer up extra skill, allowing us to perform our best, rather than to let the deck's do the main load of work.

So considering that I'm returning to the blue/white/red build from the GPT. Yes, that means two weeks of "wasted" testing, on Slaughter Games and not "Murdoch Control", but that's OK by me. It meant I tried something, got out there, and saw that it worked and then didn't. It also doesn't change what I'm taking with me to NZ, which is all the Standard cards that I own. All together we'll have the meat of the cards that we all need, allowing us to build on the spot whatever's desired. Maybe not perfectly, but James/Ammy are arriving a few days before me, so getting the cards we need (1 Tamiyo, please!) won't prove too hard.

In the mean time, I'm going to write an article about all the current mechanics in Standard, how they work and how to fight them. Hopefully food for thought for all the people attending, or to help with deck building ideas.

Who knows, I may end up running Slaughter Games at the GP anyway!
Fox out.

Open all writers!

Just a quick note. I've changed the account settings, so you'll see posts from Fox Murdoch, as well as JDNoice, Ammonium and iRony now, not just Fox. This is great, because I don't know when you'll see updates! Who knows, maybe some crackers deck that I'm not privy too, which we battle in the Top 2 and I lose to a fellow teammate. Hilarious.

In the latest news, tonight is FNM again, which is about the 3rd last before GP Auckland itself. I'm counting down the FNMs obviously as a kind of testing ground, but also as a good way to just get that whiff of the metagame that I'm expecting. The problem is I'm using a smallish sample from the western suburbs of Sydney, surely that's going to be different from the Auckland of New Zealand?

I don't think it matters too much. When everyone comes together, there's an accepted "right" and "not so right" way to do things, that is competitive or casually. Lots of players show up at a GP for the fun, so their decks aren't honed and they don't mind coming where they come. Others are built for violence and winning, and will likely go winwinwinwinwinwinwinwiwniwniwiwn day 2 top 8. It's the day 2 people that will matter more, I think, so simply see what the CARDS themselves are spawning (in terms of deck ideas that work, as well as colour combinations that are being championed) and to then respond to that. For example I don't expect to fight ANY Orzhov. If someone does show up with a clever black/white deck, it'll have inferior lands seeing they tap for a turn and don't abuse the ridiculous easy three-colour mana bases available to us.

I'd like to test Grixis tonight, but depending on numbers I make take another Travis Woo build to the red zone. It's Dirt Cheap Dirty Red, and you can find it here: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/woo-brews-dirt-cheap-dirty-red/

After tonight there is only two FNMs left, though Blacktown does run a thursday night's worth of Magic, so that's another potential testing ground.

Expect more always!

You don't say? We do.

So in the latest news, the GPT for Gosford has been and gone and we have success! Well that is, Ammy has success. She won the thing, got the byes, so well done to her. That means the team atleast has a first round bye, and there's a chance James will make the top of this weeks event at Mega Games, Penrith, which is sealed.

Sunday is another event, which I'll have the joy of attending thanks to not working.

The write up of the GPT is going up on Good Games once I finish writing it tonight, so for you dedicated and long haired giant co-players, I'm going to quickly put up a pick and rumourise about what's good.

My blue red white was fun and cute but never sculpted enough. James' white/green really packed a punch, but died after he saw any kind of wrath. Ammy's deck was controlly, slow and really packed a punch with it's angels, whenever they randomly showed up, and Ammy just had the ability to take each round and win.

Discussing her win afterwards we came to the idea that the deck itself wasn't super great, but the meta was just well positioned for it. There was no control that wasn't either worse (mine) or just easy to play around (who isn't holding a Syncopate when they pass with two up?) and some lucky Angels for, say, 9!

I don't think that matters as much, the meta, compared to how well Ammy just seems to play all the time. For such a young player (young in years of playing, not age) shes consistently good, also winning a grinder at Melbourne GPT earlier this year.

We also talked about what we like. I like the stupidly powerful creatures there are when uncontested, so green white. I like white and blues ability to mess with everyone, and just save creatures. We must take into account that Terminus is a Wrath for W, seeing you can ramp up, bump your hand and be comPLETEly undone for a teeny tiny W. One card, one mana, no creature pressure. Although that must lead to "kept pressure" of Thragtusk, but a 3/3 is obviously preferable to a board of bash. The biggest "creature" is the Wurm that's a 10/10 for 6. In two bodies, withOUT the same name so Detention Sphere only half answers it. Sweepers answer it, or another "bigger" threatening thing. More on that later.

The Zombie threat is no longer really relevant I think, because the Pillar of Flame/Terminus 8-suite really deters anyone from playing, and if they do, they're immediately met with proper irriversible counters. So ha, right?

Ditto control, anything they'd like to keep has to deal with spells that say "I can't be countered, actually," so that must be taken into account.

That's my experience and I'm sticking to it. So seeing all of the above, I've got two ideas. What is proactive, expects a catastrophic turn, then rebuilds and hopes for no repeat show. That's BANT, which isn't new at all, and well supported, and allows the flex and muscle of green and white to be upheld, and not simply fall apart without the support of blue.

The second deck is completely the opposite, hoping to abuse the mother-lovin' SHIT out of Slaughter Games. You want my opinion of it? Wait for my report on the GPT, round 2. It made me lame and mute for the first time in Magic playing. Not a "wow, that's huge and great!" kind of way, but more "there is no response for this."

It's Grixis Control, and it uses a lot of things to make the board really complicated and sticky. Rather than Terminus/Pillar of Flame to deal with creatures permanently, we're just going to cast about 8 Slaughter Games, off of Snapcaster Mage for 5-8, and after the first Slaugher Games in game 1 we'll know exactly what to play, forever. There's a picture, and it's got the cards I want to include, but we haven't a list yet.

The obvious test is to build the two decks and fight them against each other, and they pit both against lesser versions of themselves, Angels, and Zombies, Golgari and other random junk that wont do anything.

Stormtide Leviathan. The card deserves a mention as an unsung hero, seeing it can rip apart an offensive nonflying team, as you'll find in the Selesnya decks. What can they do about it apart from Oblivion Ring? And we'll have ways to bounce it to allow the dealing with that.

Now how do I attach pictures?

GPT Gosford (3 decklists)

OK so today, team You Don't Say are seated at GPT Gosford, waiting to start. We've got the armada wurm deck (JNoice as pilot) the blue white red anti-zombies (yours truly) and Ammiracles (miracles, Ammy), while iRony judges an event miles away.

Here's the decklists, I'll try and write a report after each round. At the moment, 8 have shown up so yay!

"Non-bies" is meant to play 8 main answers to Zombies, and board into quick beaters against the mirror/control. I don't assume they'll leave their removal in for the match up, so yay. Originally have Supersonic Dragon in, but changed them for Hellkite when you realise the stats are obv better.

4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Steam Vents
2 Glacial Fortress
1 Clifftop Retreats
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Cavern of Souls
5 Island
5 Plains
2 Mountain
---
25 lands

4 Lyev Skyknight
2 Geist of St Traft
2 New Prahv Guildmage
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Angel of Serenity
---
11 creatures

4 Terminus
4 Pillar of Flame
3 Jace Architect of Thought
3 Detention Sphere
3 Izzet Charm
2 Thoughtflare
2 Azorious Keyrune
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Amass the Components
---
24 other

3 Knight of Glory
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Rest in Peace
2 Outwit
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Vandalblast
1 Detention Sphere
1 Fall of the Gavel
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Mizzium Mortars
---
15 others

The next deck is James', that we tested last night that I couldn't deal with unless I have WRATH x8!! So that's why Terminus danced a lot between main and sideboard for me. James ramps, gets out 5/5 Wurms that you can't deal with save wraths, then wins. It's cute and strong, and I like it. Even Jace/Tamiyo are useless against it because they don't deal with both halves. Here it is, "Value Town." (Gavony Township is nicknamed Super Town after I couldn't remember the name.)

James’ Value Town

8 Forest
2 Plains
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Gavony Township
2 Cavern of Souls
---
24 lands

4 Arbor Elf
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Restoration Angel
4 Thragtusk
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Borderland Ranger
2 Armada Wurm
2 Trostani, Selesyna’s Voice
2 Sigarda Super Awesome blocker

---
26 creatures

4 Farseek
2 Selesnya Charm
2 Oblivion Ring
---
8 other

3 Garruk, Primal Hunter
3 Centaur Healers
2 Wolfir Silverheart
2 Rest in Peace
2 Sigarda
1 Acidic Slime
1 Mikaeus, thte Lunarch
1 Selesnya Charm

-- 15 SB

Ammonium's deck is blue white planeswalkers.

4 Glacial Fortress

4 Hallowed Fountain

3 Azorious Guildgate

8 Island

3 Plains

3 Seraph Sanctum

1 Ghost Quarter

---

26 lands

2 Snapcaster Mage

1 Drogskol Reaver

---

3 creatures

4 Jace, Architect of Thought

3 Terminus

3 Entreat the Angels

3 Supreme Pizza

3 Think Twice

2 Cyclonic Rift

2 Azorious Keyrune

2 Sphinx's Revelation

2 Dissipate

2 Negate

2 Thoughtscour

2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

1 Detention Sphere

---

31 others

SIDEBOARD

3 Geist of St Traft

3 Feeling of Dread

2 Erase

2 Tormod's Crypt

2 Jace Memory Adept

1 Dissipate

1 Angel of Glory's Rise

1 Purify the Grave

At the moment we're waiting to start, and I'm trying to convince Ammonium to take out the Seraph's Sanctums for 2 Ghost Quarter and 1 Azorious Guildgate.

Tested, kinda.

After a very quick goldfish test, I've taken out the Terminus. Just two, but there was never a good time to cast it without having my own team swept along too, if they weren't the Azorious Keyrunes. The Runes are great, allowing for a lot of 'safe' power to hide in plain site. With the cards I have, I substituted a few cards, and Azorious Charm in place of Izzet Charm wasn't good. Without other monsters to use all three abilities against, I always cycled it.

The lands weren't bad but a few times I was hungry for red mana  (maybe 2 Izzet Keyrunes? NAAAH) but having an army, then adding four to it with Supersonic Dragon was great. Though seeing I've only got 2 Dragons/Goblin Rally it didn't really go off and my aerial attack was always the quickest route. If I proxied the full playsets would it be different? Who cares, the "sudden Goblins" at about as much impact as the "hidden in plain sight until needed" Azorious Keyrunes, which really are great. Did I mention that? I think I'm in love!

Also the draw four, discard two is bonkers. Just nuts. That's great. If you don't need to, hold out on your Izzet Charms loot mode, and just use the above. I think two is right (of the draw four) with still four of the Izzet. This is exciting!

ON ANOTHER NOTE

I organised my cards and realised that the sets make a complete circle of colours (as opposed to last time, 4 3 and 3 didn't allow it) but it's also based solely around the good brainy colours (white blue red) and the evil savage colours (green black red). Of course it makes for a good story, and shows both sides of the same evil!

Then I thought, wait I'm being biased and only seeing the colours I wanna see. It was true! You could say red was the evilest colour, using ruthless black and cold, calculating blue. Black's allies, but reds in the middle. And on the other side? White gets it's buddies, green and blue! This really speaks to an opposites theme, seeing red is chaos and white is order. With buddies both to back them up in their aims!

Just wanted to point that out as a great bonus of the set. Even the way the guilds are represented tell an awesome story.

Ravnica upon us

Hallo readers. What's hip?

Return to Ravnica is here. That's pretty big. I enjoyed two flights at Mega Games, penrith, as Izzet then Azorious. The most of that was written in my good games article, which can be read here: http://community.goodgames.com.au/

And now testing has begun! JDNoice and Ammonium are already testing, but I had to skip it on account of today's public holiday status. Public transport for two hours on a normal day turns into a life sentence when it's public holiday timing.

We cracked some good cards between us all, but I feel the strongest pull towards blue/white with a sub theme blue/red. Not surprising. The main punch of the deck will the aggressive version of the blue/white creatures from the deck I rumourised about previously, also including Supersonic Dragon for fast punches outta nowhere and Goblin Rally. At instant speed, that card is great fun.

Terminus, I love it too much to leave out, so that's staying in, as well as 4 of the Azorious Keyrune because Wrath/animate/bash is always so good. Especially when you sweep zombies under the rub, taking no extra damage. A list:

4 Steam Vents
4 Hallowed Fountain
6 Islands
6 Plains
2 Izzet Guildgate
2 Azorious Guildgate
---
24 lands

4 Judge's Familiar
4 Knight of Glory (I figured the pro black, in an early aggressive meta would be free wins)
4 Lyev Skyknight (this over Arctic Aven because it really allows the first two beats to continue, adding while applying pressure.
4 Supersonic Dragon
---
16 creatures

4 Goblin Rally
4 Terminus
4 Azorious Keyrune
4 Detention Sphere.
4 Izzet Charm
---
20 other


Gone is the "cutesy poo" combo of Voidstalker and Index. While Index is occasionally useful, it's no good when you see awful, and still don't have a Voidstalker ready. Stalker itself is good as proper removal, seeing the offending creature is actually removed from the battlefield. Sure they might come back, but just play another one!

I imagine a sideboard would get down to really ridiculous beatdown, featuring the colour based artifact to give us a 3/3 flyer on turn 2. It sounds great to me.

It is possible that New Prahv Guildmage is the better two drop, but I can't shake the idea that everyone's favourite multi colour bashers will be everywhere, so Rakdos and Golgari, you don't say.

sideboard:
4 Civic Saber (do note, does not pump toughness)
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Essence Backlash
3 Annihilating Fire
3 Izzet Staticaster

Maybe that. Yes this list specifically ignores a lot of the actual Standard environment, but seeing so much of it dissappeared over night, there's not really a Standard to build against. I'm going to start attending more FNM now too, seeing the evolution of the Standard environment is going to be super critical, and watching it's every move will be reported here.

At the moment, code fun.

Thanks for reading.

M13 M13 M13 draft is up

Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV-isCOeiFSyjHekh682xN8GT9yEJH4ua

And I recorded it just now, tonight, to help celebrate the new logo. It's relevant and everything, I swear! I hope that worked. I just copied the HTML to see if it wouldn't work.

Return to Ravnica, hope and fun in hand.

New Standard Eruptus.

This is exciting. With all but 8 cards spoiled from Return to Ravnica, we at Team "You don't say?" have gotten into brewing mode. Here's a decklist, complete with notes that lead to other decklists, and cute ideas so a general mishmash of everything, based soley on Ravnica's new offerings. This ignores the current standard metagame, and the "top dog" Delver deck which is set to be torn asunder anyway.

It's fully possible that the last 8 cards really open up new things, seeing we don't have the Azorious artifact yet (a cycle that produces mana and then activates for bashing) but it'll be sweet regardless, and you can always Terminus, Wrath and then activate afterwards. No more Gideon, but we get these guys instead.

The positioning for Standard looks like Jund will come back in force, Rakdos and Golgari ripping new faces apart with glee. The much simpler Naya will continue to try and play a gentlemens game of competition, and possibly do so well enough that it'll dip into blue for sideways answers, things like Uncounterable Wrath for the Jund mirror, followed by the Rakdos bin clearing Charm, why not?

The main excitement at the moment is how open all mana bases are. With Gatecrash (not for another 3 months tho) we'll have the ability to play 12 mana sources for whatever colour combo you want, so it'll be exciting to see what the cooking pot of Standard produces.

Regardless, I have my eye on cards now, so I know what I expect my 3 boxes to crack. Mostly blue/white, because I love that colour. Anyway, my random scribbling, to aid you in your launchpad as well as to act as a snapshot of the excitement that new sets (Avacyn Restored excepting) create!!


4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Azorious Guildgate
5 Islands
5 Plains
---
22 lands



4 Judge's Familiar /// Delver for aggro build
4 New Prahv Guildmage // knight of glory (pro rakdos)
4 Lyev Skynight (great for 1 2 3 drops aggro)
Artic Aven in control
3 Dungeon Geists? good cap
3 Sleep in aggro build

4 ???? not Index
4 Azorious Charm    lifelink/draw/atkblk top of lib
4 Cyclonic Rift

4 Azorious Artifact tap for u/w, activate creature)
4 Terminus
1 Supreme Verdict (yeah, just 1)
3 Detention Sphere
2 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Rewind?
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Isperia, Supreme Judge
1 Fall of the Gavel
4 Azor's Elocutor? build around deck, obv. Hexproof, prevent all damage.
1 Stormtide Leviathan (just one)
1 Sudden Disappearance

sideboard
3 dispel?
3 Civic Saber (birdy beatdown?)
2 Misthollow Griffin [the mirror, o ring ME hey?)
2 Negate?
2 Outwit v Bonfire of the Damned

"Cute" other
4 Void Stalker
4 Index

Allows for the aggro into control plays, while Index can be played. If

shite, shuffle with Void Stalker.

No, it isn't a solid 60, and that sideboard is totally guessing at things. I know people say that Aggro reigns at the start of a season, but why wait? Just think of the aggro you'd play, and build to beat that. Who isn't going to enjoy eating up the field then Scavanging? The good cards only, of course.

My biggest dream for those remaining unspoiled 8 cards from Return to Ravnica?

Ancestral Recall. Totally.

Team name decided!!

Oh this is exciting. After some more playtesting and general discussion of the new Standard once Ravnica rotates in, we got together and discussed the all important team name. It had to be something we all liked, and I wanted to keep the idea of "yeah constantly."

If you remember, "yeah, constantly" was my first idea because it's your response to someone when they tell you their bad beats story.

"I was going to kill him next turn, but he had the Wrath."
You nod, sagely. "Yeah. Constantly."

So in respect to all that, we have come together and found the modern-est equivalent. Introducing...

*drum roll please*

Team "You don't say."

You don't say? We DO say. Every time they had the Murder for your Nefarox, you tilt your head and invoke it, 'You don't say?' Every time you have 5 power on the board, but +1 with Ajani instead of just swinging for 10 and the win*, to yourself you invoke, 'You don't say?' Whenever you try to max out on the Ravager beats, and they have the Smelt in response to the final attacker with all the counters, 'You don't say.'

I could bore you further with news of what we spoke about, re Return to ravnica, but it's obvious. "Seems good." Instead I think it's more interesting to discuss buying and selling cards, on places like eBay, sure, and trends.

When Return to Rav was announced, everybody hushed together to discuss the Shocks coming back, as though secret covens may just be enough to tempt the gods-that-be to do it. Or, discussing with shop keeps, and knowingly pointing out Mutiliate and Liliana of the Dark Realms, you choose to simply "know" that the Shocks are surely returning.

At the point in time, the cost of lands was morphing. Some stayed high, at around 20/25 each. Then the set began to leak, and they stayed constant, some dipped in hopes of quick sales, or just sales at all. This was when we did most of our buying, and luckily so. A playset of dual shocks will go for different amounts, and Ravnica: City of Guilds will definately fetch a higher price and return a great percentage of their value. The new Return to Ravnica lands wont gain anything amazing, be EVERYWHERE and people wont treat them as well. Still very good, becoz functionality is that key, but compared to the older lands?

Regardless, the old cards shot straight back up to their full price, knowing the rich greedy or stupid would still pay full price for proper Rav lands (see? Writers are already refering to the old lands as "proper") and that's where they'll stay.

I'm just going to say that we managed to slaughter the arena, and to good reason to. If the lands came out, it makes the older one's premium, so we make money on resells, or just "awesomeness". And if the lands weren't reprinted? They'd maintain their rare value and being a key cycle of lands in Modern we would have made money anyway.

So that's my two bits on buying and selling cards at the moment. Watch eBay to see the fluctuations, and strike when something obvious it happening. Obviously the lands are a BIG DEAL and were more obvious than, say, Stoneforge Mystic. But the sharp eye can spy these things and move like shadows, snatching cards for peanuts.

Whatever the way you do get your cards, always be on the lookout for the rip off.

* This actually happened, only it was against me that it occured. I know how to bash for the win.

Pauper is online!

Just a quick note, Channel Fox Murdoch has finally gotten it's pauper together. Even though round 5 is a recorded replay, we have five rounds of Pauper.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV-isCOeiFSwmptJ94Qvyt42yHVGwZMY5

And what can I say other than I think I HATE how completely stupid and ridiculous some "playlist" setting up can be. Seriously. You should have a folder that every thing goes into, and remains seperate from everything else. YouTube has zero ability to guide a completely random guest, to my channel, toward what they want. DIRECT LINK is the best I can do for them.

It doesn't help having three accounts with them, but oh well. You want "TheFoxMurdoch" which will be our video hall for the moment. Once we settle on a proper team name, we may open a new one.

Channel Yeah, Constantly.

Updating, making vids, constantly.

Quick post tonight. I started work on a new article (still have about 3 that could just be pushed out the door, but I like the write when inspiration strikes). This one is about position, integration and something else. Can't tell you the whole thing, you'll have to wait for it. The main bread of it though is to help give aim when building a deck for a new environment. You know, like when standard rotates.

I've also got four matches recorded for the Pauper zombie deck, but I'm not going to post it yet. It'll go on my youtube account, which is youtube.com/thefoxmurdoch, but why not yet? I want to do another round. Round 4 was rather brief, and I also using all my gf's gear.

When I record at home, I lock myself into the dining room and mostly remain undisturbed, with a headphone/microphone onepiece that works quite well. It's not uncomfortable but inbetween games I certainly feel a need to take it off my ears, and it's only real annoying trait is the way it can pick up all the sounds of my swallowing, at times.

So, used to those, I put my gf's friend on and find out that it plays back whatever I say. Hey, it's a gimmick, cool! Until I finish my first game recording and find out that it's not cool, but recording the echo! I try to fix it between games of a single round, but it's no good and so round 4 I have an echo the entire time. The things we learn.

After the game (versus poison), I had enough time to find the solution. So next time I make vids at Amys the sound will work, and we wont have an echo. I just have to worry about the 10 cats running around.

-Fox

GP Auckland side events!

The side events for GP Auckland are up! Click here. https://sites.google.com/a/cantripgames.co.nz/cantrip-games/home Or there <<-----

Hello again, and welcome! Things are heating up. Times are exciting. We've got an in-progress Return to Ravnica spoiler over at mtgsalvation.com (http://mtgsalvation.com/return-to-ravnica-spoiler.html) and the dual lands are confirmed! Thank God.

What has team "Yeah, Constantly" been up to? I can't speak too much for the others, but we've been buying up duals in general, as well as figuring out new ways to get boxes on the cheap. Normally a store will want $160 for a box, which is great, but I'm not too interested in paying a lot for what turns out to be a mostly common/uncommon collection, you know?

So to that end, I've done some judging recently which got me a box, as well as my articles for Good Games (that you should go and read, they're all good too!) give me credit to get a cheaper box, plus a new story about to open up in West Ryde (the Cardboard Bunker) are doing a VERY cheeky deal, so I can say pretty easily that I'm about 3 boxes in. That'll help, surely?

Rony has been having the occasional weekly trials at mine. We play Standard, but have been favouring Modern lately. We've got three decks that we gauntlet quite often, which at the moment is Seismic Loam, Sceptre of Secrets and r/w aggro bash (not Brozek wins).

I suppose it'd make sense to detail the decks and minute changes we've made here. I don't imagine too many ppl will read this and be able to get all HULK CRUSH! on me next time I play in the city, for example, and it gives you awesome readers something to do. So expect that soon, both on Seismic Loam and Sceptre, I'll hit up Rony and see if he doesn't wanna do red.

At the VERY moment, I am enjoying Travis Woo's take on pauper, with monoblack Stinkweed Zombies. It's fun, and I've made some videos thus far. Expect them soon!

Ammy and James have been fronting the Standard efforts, James piloting a very cool Naya build.

Introducing Team "Constantly"

I figure it's time to introduce my team. I call it mine, because I know the fun and importance of having a proper outfit, and of all the Australian team of magic players I know, none are distinct enough to remember. I can only recall something, once, about pirates.

My testing team consists of my friends who consider themselves good yet ever improving players, who're also fantastic collectors and sellers. If we need a specific something fixed, one of us can do it.

For rules, that's me. Lvl 1 who all the judges say should really be level 2. Plus article writer afficionado, for the past 3 years and 1 year previous to that to (though year 1 of Murdoch Monthly is hardly worth the recollection).

Next we have Rony, who's been my faithful bestest mate since ages and ages ago. We're the closest together, and we've travelled to ACT before for Magic, though more for the side event fun. I tend to think of Rony as the rogue deck player of the group. It doesn't matter who built it or found it, but Rony will test it. If he needs money, I just buy up all his Goyfs and Steam Vents and hopefully one day his bobs.

The next member is a members, plural. Ammy and James. Ammy first. One trip to the ACT Rony and I met Ammy. Female Magic players aren't very common, certainly less so good players who improve dramatically fast, catching up to me in about one year. I started playing 1999 and still make mistakes like walking right into That Obvious Mana LeakTM. She's fantastically good at player, probably a better pilot then I am while in the seat, and yet still capable of missing something like having lethal on the board whilst playing white weenie against a Primeval Titan. Pro green + sword equals win, but like EVERYBODY the right creature on the opposite side of the board throws you into reverse. I tend to think of Ammy as our best player, which is, I guess, odd to say considering her brief amount of time playing, but I include all aspects of her as a gamer, Magic player, intellectual and female.

The next member is James, who is an awesome fella and introduced me to ginger beer when I wanted something that wasn't coke. He's a fantastic sharp mind and only as cool as a cucumber. As in "cool as a". In play level I'm not sure where I place James in our group, possibly at the same level as Amy, but he comes from Poker and simply being great at talking with people, dealing with them and otherwise handling "the situation" moreso than playing a game. And all without being a jerk, pushy, or forth-right about it. Always a gentlemen. He's also the best at trading selling and buying cards, because he just understands a fantastic quantity about cards, and nonmoney value, such as trading cards to people who need them now for cards later on. I tend to think of James as the managerial brains of things, and if we had a collective Magic website we all wrote on, he'd run it. ChannelFoxball, you know?

The last member is myself. I played Magic because it was fun at school, took up writing and judging it because I thought I was a crap player, and proved myself right up until this year. I took Magic and made it the main focus, over work and other things, and it's proved both my writing and my playing, so I can only say I'm happy about that. I have the best knowledge of any player I know personally (that means players I know and would want to have a drink at the bar with, completely unrelated to some Magic event on the day) and I'm always trying to figure out the best way to maintain control, and therefore composure, even without any mana or any way to interact. Think of a blue player without any Islands untapped whatsoever, and the fact that they can still Pact of Negation your anything, or Commandeer any noncreature you cast. That's me, waiting in the wings, with the rules and sharp timing as my glinting knife in the moonlight.

I tend to think of myself as the best "would be" player of the group, seeing I would be better if I paid more attention and practiced a lot more, but my location compared to people I like as people AND as players makes it hard to practice together, or often. So I keep myself busy and my rules knowledge sharp. I'm also the community heart of the group, seeing I organised GP Melbourne and contacted all my mates on things like flights and accomodation. This group of "mates" refers to other players than those listed above. None of them made it saves Gibbers, who I'd love to have on the team, but the effort of organising everything into a simple "yes" or "no" for the others is what I do, and it's because I know having a micro community whenever you go to an event makes it more fun, etc.

There is also that group of Lismore players I'm totally down with, run by Liam. They're team Lismore. They exist in Lismore.

SO what's brought on this pouring out of the mind? GP Auckland isn't that far away. AND we now which cards our new Standard wont have, but we have scant few ideas of what Ravnica's return will bring -- so it's time to get ready. As far as I know, the Team will be myself, Ammy and James for GP Auckland, plus Liam from Lismore may be playing or judging, depends. But that's the Team. There's the study, and training, and deck building/testing/fixing.

I'll keep you posted.

Fox Murdoch.

ps.
The topic of team name constantly comes up, and I always like grand things. Think like "The Fox Murdoch experience, featuring Ammy +2, Introducing JDNoice." The number changes as you get and lose numbers, depending on the event and ability of players to come along with the team. GP Sydney next year (2013!) for example could be +7, considering we all live in Sydney Australia. Travel is cheap, and no accomodation! Though GP Auckland? Planeflights and accomodation ain't cheap, so +0 in this case =(

Suggestions welcome!

New front page image! Constantly.

Hey guys, I need to update that user picture. It was way back when? Around the time I was building red/white aggro in Scar Scars Scars draft, just before Besieged came out (man that was a great format). I made the artwork myself, for anyone wondering. I'm quite a hand at Adobe, having used some of it before.

The latest article actually uses some, Goblin Piker and Coral Merfolk slaggin' each other off and a resume for Angel of Flight Alabaster. REGARDLESS, I did the artwork for here and need some more. It's sad to see Mirrodin/New Phrexia rotate, but then again it'll be nice to PLAY a creature safely again.

So that's where you come into it. SUGGEST A PICTURE FOR ME. It can be your favourite creature, or enchantment, or whatever. Just keep it relevant, so either "really hot in format X right now" or Standard/Sealed/Draft relevant.

Points for cuteness, something like Birds of Paradise rockin' a Rancor is really cool.

Blokey Stuff's event

Tonight’s deck was very slow and janky, by which I mean it played control, and played it well. My arse was big, having about eigth 5+ drops, but they were all worth it. Nefarox makes everyone wet their pants. Hamletback Goliath is always the biggest creature on the field. Switcharoo is just about always great (except when on the back foot with one creature only). Public Execution doesn’t just change a race in your favour but de-tooths the opponent, and Gem of Becoming, when it fetches the full three Lands, is VERY becoming indeed.

I played with the swell chaps and ladies at Blokey Stuff, a cool store in Parramatta. Half bookstore, half “blokey stuff” they run one event a month – 6 booster sealed on the last Thursday. For $30, there is a plenty of worse ways to spend your Thursday. Rony and his mate Josh originally joined me, but parted ways to meet with females of some sort. Pffft!

Chatting with the regulars it was apparent that this was a nice and casual affair, so I opened my six boosters and saw the following. Kind of. The “simple stupid” build was green/white. Green had good creatures all up the curve, but nothing special or amazing. If I creatured, and they controlled, even a little, I’d lose it.

My red wasn’t crash hot but the splashes were there, but blue was even worse being too “wait and see” for my tastes. Rony did stick around while people were building, and he was right in pointing out Talrund’s Invocation as the best blue card. Problem was, that was it. A Switcheroo was also there, so I took that aside for splashing.

Looking at black, we had Nefarox, Ravenous Rats (early disruption against sketchy hands wins games), the Crimson Muckwader, Harbor Bandit, and Bladetusk Boar (or Intimidate Pig). They formed the basis of my attackers while everyone played tackle/block duty. Atleast I imagined so. Looking at it all, my red was aggressive while black could be supportive, and a single Island with Gem of Becoming would be brilliant.

Actually playing the games, you learn so much more than just looking at cards. Harbor Bandit, for example, looks great as a 3/3 unblockable. But without that Island? He is an appaling 2/2 for three mana, kinda worse than a morph. Considering two situations where I wanted two blue sources (Switcheroo and unblockable in the one turn, ALSO having a 2/2 for three do-nothing) I think a second Island would’ve been justified in this build, probably in place of the Hellion Crater. Hellion Crater is a card, but it’s more “insurance.” And most often, you pay for insurance you never need. As a straight creature it’s slow and costly, 6 mana for only a 4/4 haste they see coming a million away. But if you know they have Wrath? Mutilate and Planar Cleansing are both dick-balls against it, so there is that.

Mindclaw Shaman was brilliant to amazing. Even when I cast him and saw nothing useable (a Prey Upon when all my creatures wouldn’t even trade with my opponent’s) it was still valuable to know the opponent’s hand, plan accordingly and have a bum blocker. When he was brilliant, he did the followings:

+cast my opponent’s Divination, which he had just returned with Archaemancer.
+Suspecting more than 1 Fogs against the green/white player, I attack into Fog 1 and then snatched my opponent’s Safe Passage.
+Raise dead my own creature that I had to discard, having drawn too many cards with Sign in Bloods.

In short, it’s great and don’t ever don’t play it. When you suspect your opponent has something, go for it. He only wont work against counter spell players, and even then he ate a counterspell. If it a killspell (Murder, yes) they cast it in response, so you either empty their hand of useable spells or get their second best spell and have a 2/2 to compensate for the killed creature.

The one game I lost was also due, in part, to Gem of Becoming. I had a six card opener with Gem in the opener, so I figured without a quick start from my opponent I could spend turns 3 and 4 casting and using Gem. Only I never did. Turn 4 I cast a monster, who was biggest on the field until they dropped 5/6 Wurm. That thing is HUGE! For the next few turns I couldn’t manage my mana. I wanted to keep mana open to regenerate as I blocked with my 3/2 Crimson Muckwader, but I also wanted 3 to use the Gem. But I also wanted to cast another creature to block with…!

In the end, I succumbed to way too much punishment (that Tormented Spirit really can deliver… eventually) and my Hamletback Goliath showed up too late. My Switcheroo showed up at this point in things, but on 4 life and facing down 4 attackers, with a Deadly Recluse playing full-back for the opposition I couldn’t kill my opponent, even with an 8/8 Goliath, and a lethal Fireball in hand. Le sigh.

After the games (I won three of three rounds, came second outta 10) we got to trading. There was a chance to do some casual, no store-checking trading but I opted for it anyway. It helped to keep trades fair, so I wouldn’t rip anyone off. Mutilate for Increasing Devotion is almost fair, right? Just something else to sweeten the deal, like a Gem of Becoming. Check prices. $4 on Mutilate, $1.50 on Increasing D, $1 on random other card? OK, take something else outta my folder.

It was a good night and I’m certainly going to make it a regular event. Especially seeing it’s only monthly, there is plenty of time to enjoy my games and think about my plays in between. And did I mention the guys n gals were all cool? Yeah, games were quite fun and never all that hair-pulling. This was good times for sure.

Props to Blokey Stuff for running the event, and Paul who traded me 3 boosters for Thragtusk. Opening two Lands (one foil) Krenko and Diabolic Tutor is quite worth it, methinks.

M13, university and general chit-chat

So right now, M13 has been released and MAAAN was it fun! Fun aside, man is it GOOD. They've changed the basic cards, while keeping the same basic elements there. I'm impressed.

Not only that, but MAAAN I'm good. No really, for an article writer, judge and aspiring "great player" I'm certainly seeing a pay off for all my hard work, study, play and otherwise. I went in two flights and came 2nd and 1st.

Burwood Good Games was my place of contention, where the small pocket of 4-5 great players play. The first PR event was your basic thing. Build, play duels. I get to the final pretty alright, and wonder HOW my round 3 opponent got as far as he did, seeing his deck had enough auras and Glorious Charges' to assemble five seperate Voltrons. I tweaked his deck afterwards, and he wins his last round and I same good on 'im.

I get paired again Prads in the 3-0 slot, for top place. Pretty great game, I've written more of an article about it, which I don't think I'll preview here.

James showed up at this point, and sans Ammy, so I nab him for 2HG he didn't plan to go in. There's a few people looking for teammates, and I tell James if he plays, I'll sponsor the entire team. He gets my expertise and the chance to try out a new format, sans money. He resisted, oh yes, but seeing his other mate was playing (he couldn't leave him high and dry, being the only lift) he agreed.

We crushed opposition and won the 2HG. It's thanks to 2HG being a format that's the same set after set. I don't think certain rules will ever be changed, simply because of the format, seeing it's so largely changed from normal duels.

Turtle. Evasion. Kill spells. Nukes. That's about it. And for the love of God, wai...t.

Tonight I think I'll run another M12 4 pack sealed on Magic Online. I'll try and record it, but no promises and if it's just a string of loses does anybody really want to see that? "Don't play like this. Also, here's a format that's about to go bunk." May be not.

Winning, however, you can always gleam winning attributes from.

And in other dream-like news, I have passed uni COMPLETELY and will be a certified writer, now. "Penniless" just didn't want me anymore. Add to this a group of Magic players who want to move closer to the usual scene, and me joining them, and you've got a recipe for some very good everythings.

For me atleast. I hope you're having a good time too.

Hallo hallo! M12 is about to leave us, and M13 will replace. Don't you love new cards?

To celebrate M12, I've done a Last Kick's M12 Sealed, 4 pack. 4 pack is a fun quick format, that really makes Magic light and fun. If you want that, then here it certainly is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRHz4wySljU&feature=youtu.be

The video is one giant thing, but I've given you time indications of when the next Round/Game starts, so you can watch some, skip ahead, or come back to it later.

Having one video IS easier, but it's also messy, especially if you don't want to load an entire video in go. However, this is a trial so SPEAK UP, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THOUGHT!

Also, hilarious fun. Expect some M13 and some Izzet Spike videos very soon as well.

Cheers, Fox.

ps. Even with capped internet, I'm able to play, record and upload Magic videos. Who knew?

Maybe this post will make it easier? Ta da!

Future Standard, and Modern.

Hello scrubbers. I'm thinking. About the new coming M13, and the shape of Standard as it'll be once we've gotten around to GP Auckland. I'm going. I'm getting revved up proper. I hope it all comes together.

So first off, current Standard:

If you ask me, zombies are winning. The worse thing is how easy it rebuilds from killing it's creatures, so things like DoJ do nothing. Thankfully we have Terminus. And Pillar of Flame, because that just eats Gravecrawler forever, right?

The problem with building "the answer" deck is that you then have to WIN as well. Does the red/deck exist that can do that, though? Control the early game, exiling threats instead of just killing them?

Not only that, but Zombies has some natural answers to any "exile" removal, in the cute form of Falkenrath Aristocrat, who can simply "wrath off" an Terminus style fun. When mentioning exiling a creature you naturally think of Fiend Hunter first, who has a cute interaction WITH Terminus, come to think of it.

"When Fiend Hunter DIES...return foo."

"Put all creatures on the bottom of their owner's library."

I don't see the word "destroy" anywhere there, so our humble hunter has a hidden permanet exile clause (when mixed with Terminus buddy).

The problem is that the above mostly makes for a cute bunch of interactions, which all need the right cards to come at the right time. True, both cards don't "kill" other cards in the traditional sense, so even on their own they're giving YOU value by denying it to the Zombie-board, but again does the red/white deck even have a realistic face?

It would immediately seem to be Aggro oriented, and a faster, more resilient aggro deck is, you guessed it, ZOMBIES!

So with those few thoughts in mind, I'm aiming to test out a red/white verison of an Anti-Zombie deck, then I'll see whether it's worth persuing an actual "hey, this could work" kind of deck.

4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Terminus (possibly 3, starting with one in-hand is like a mulligan)
4 Fiend Hunter

True that's only a starting fragment, but we have to wait for M13 to be fully revealed, AND Ravnica Return to will be upon us and NO Mirrodin, so we will have a very different Standard by the time November and GP Auckland are upon us.

And who knows how to flight cheap? Because MAN I've flown 4 times already this year (3 times for Magic) and it ain't cheap.

NEXT ONTO MODERN

This is more of a "secrets I shouldn't tell you" but, because it's decktech. And not decktech. Probably old, boring, and forgotten. The perfect kind of thing to really come back outta nowhere, and take the world by storm.

I'll just say "Izzet Guildmage" and "Kamigawa" and we'll see what lightbulbs went on in your head.

...

Any?

If you can remember a few specific cards, Izzet Guildmage and a Lava Spike with Desperate Ritual spliced on is an instant win. This can be done as early as turn 2 (1 if you wanna get technical and run every possible mana accelerant in the format) but it basically works really cute. And in a way I can't demonstrate without some kind of cute graphics. Seeing my current graphics monkey is dead, just read this:

With Izzet Guildmage and 5 mana.
Cast Lava Spike, splicing on Desperate Ritual.
While that's still on the cast, cast the Desperate Ritual (you keep a spliced card) and add RRR to your pool.
Copy the Lava Spike/Desperate Ritual spell. Opponent takes 3, you get another RRR.
Repeat ad nauseum.

Now I don't know how exciting the deck was when it was first around, despite being a player at the time. I do recall this trick showing up, and it being "cute" then. I just think now it's got much better countermeasures to everything that'll be trying to kill it, and an easier time finding it's own pieces.

There is the natural danger of combo-hate that already exists for the Splinter/Exarch Twin deck overlapping as duplicate-sideboard material against "Izzet Spike" (my term for the deck) but there are different things at play. You do have to protect a non-Flash creature for a turn, but there are tricks around it. Get creative!

For example, you can cast Guildmage with Pact of Negation back up. If you get around to your next upkeep and had to use it, then in response (before you pay/don't pay) you can always go Quick, then begin your combo. This means you'll need 6 mana, sure, but it's alternate path, and one so far completely unseen. Unlike the Exarch Twin combo, this doesn't rely on the combat step, nor having a positive power, so Elesh will still wreck this combo, but an Ensnaring Bridge from the opponent's sideboard wont, for example.

No real decklist, just a bunch of the essentials really:

4 Izzet Guildmage
4 Izzet Signet
4 Remand
4 Boomerang
4 Eye of Nowhere
4 Temporal Mastery
4 Lava Spike
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Glacial Ray (more Splicing fun!)

That's 36 right there, so I'd probably build that and play it against the Modern Gauntlet to see how it did, how well it flopped on it's face, etc. Obviously the Glacial Rays are TOO greedy, after all where's the cantrips, hey?

THATS ITS FOR TODAY.
FOX.

PS. I will endevour to have a video up for you tomorrow.

Avacyn so far?

I remember when I heard that Scars was coming out, I was 100% over Rise of the Eldrazi before it even came out. The desire leapt to SCARS SCARS SCARS! Then I played Rise of the Eldrazi, and I was great to feel that "godzillas versus King kongs" feeling, so I was glad, in the end, that we didn't live a theoretical universe where you could skip ahead sets.

I'm getting a similar feeling with Avacyn Restored. I know, it's the third set before we begin the next set, but this is quite "meh" at the moment. Sure, Avacyn's back, SO THE STORIES DONE. The baddies get nurfed, equilibrium is returned. Angels and Demons, rather much. Sure it's a fun set, but it's a theme that shows itself every set that it can, so to me it's a bit like Zendikar. The flavour of that set was ridiculous, "adventure!" You know what Magic? A fantastic adventure game. Ever read ANY of the storyline, background or character text they give you with a fat back? Or read a novel? Making a set just "adventure" doesn't work, seeing that's every set. That's not to say playing like Indiana Jones wasn't cool, but for an entire set's theme? C'mon.

So Avacyn will hopefully be another Rise of the Eldrazi for me. One set I THINK I want to skip, but when I'm playing it good God I'm happy I didn't. And having said that, a return to Ravnica is certainly something to want to skip a set for! Ravnica, along with Mirrodin and Lorwyn, are my favourite of sets, for flavours and mechanics and just great memories of brilliant gameplay. It makes me feel a bit sad for my main play group, who got into things just around Time Spiral.

Eitherway, I am now the State Champion of VIEWPOINT, a great card game you should go here and check out: It's about $16 for the deck, then you have everything you need to play with everyone. That's cheap for so much play value.
http://www.93madegames.com.au/

New decks, constantly.

Here's a quick list, based off the ... 12 cards spoiled so far from Avacyn Restored.

8 Islands
7 Plains
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Glacial Fortress
2 Ghost Quarter
---
25 lands

4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Geist of St Traft
2 Consecrated Sphinx
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Phantasmal Image
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
---
13 creatures

4 Oblivion Ring
4 Mana Leak
4 Ponder
4 Banishing Stroke
4 Think Twice
1 Gideon Joura
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Cloudshift
---
22 other

It's a rip on my old blue/white concoction from previous FNM fun. I liked the deck, played to my style, and had the control with the simple "one card army" beat down I like.

This version plays to the mechanic of Miracle, using Think Twice to draw cards in my opponents turn, hopefully a Banishing Stroke to remove their creature from the game in midcombat. It also dances around "upkeep before I draw, kill your Consecrated Sphinx" but casting Cloudshift in time to save it.

Obviously once Elesh Norn rotates we'll need another bloody big whitey to beat away and smeer hopelessness in the opponent's face, and I daresay Avacyn herself does put her hand up, but for 8 mana? More than Elesh by one mana, yeah she gives quite the reverse. Rather than a bigger team against a "dead" opponent's army, she simply bolsters your team so much it's blockers or attackers every turn however you like.

St Traft beats every turn, indestructible. Mind you, a single Tragic Slip (-13/-13 gets very well around indestructible) or Vapor Snag (no Avacyn, no abilities) will kill anyone, so no counting on that, without your own combat timed tricks, ala Cloudshift, right?

Though that means save up 8 mana, then another 1 for the Avacyn + protection spell play. I'm sure there'll be many cheaper spells.

Swapsies YET AGAIN.

I know, this is nuts to do so often, but this is going to continue being my Magic weblog, and the other one is going to continue being my Time 100 Novels blog. It didn't make sense to start two blogs and swap them both. If that doesn't make any sense to you, ignore it all.

Now how am I magically lately? I have a lot of notes from my trip to Victoria for GP Melbourne, which I must organise and send off to good games so they can have another article out of me, and me another lot of store credit off of them.

Lately I get asked questions about how much they tell me what to write, and what I get for my efforts. When I tell the imput received is 'nothing' and the amount gained is 20 credit my friends are usually unimpressed but figure hey, it's better than nothing. Not only that, but I'm growingly the most consistently writer for Good Games seeing no one else writes any form of regular article for the place. In fact I'd imagine that very few people read it, but I still like magic, and writing, so I'm not about to stop and it's still going to appear for whoever wants to read it.

Having said that, Avacyn Restored previews have just started, and I can't believe how happy I am to not be judging this year. A quick review of the mechanics:

Miracle
NO. When are there going to be problems with this mechanic? Constantly. I draw it, yay! but keep it for later. Or forget to reveal straight away, drawing it into my hand before revealing it. What's to keep you from saying there's no proof?

The precident for this was the top card of your library causing life loss, thanks to Dark Confidant. PLENTY of players drew the card, drew for the turn and then went Hang on, and called a judge. We had to pick a card to reveal and make them lose that much life, and it was quite clear what counted as a drawn card. If it met your hand, it was drawn. Even if you drew all your cards to the left side of your grip, it was still possible for the truly card-shark skilled amongst us to slide cards around. If that's the case you could keep a land in hand, draw a card and Ooops, I reveal this [Land] and suffer no life loss, while you really drew that Cruel Ultimatum.

The same applies here. This is just headaches. Plus there'll be plenty of people doing this wrong, at the wrong time, and just never ever well. I hate what Wizards have decided to do here. I understand the coolness of the idea, but it's too much headache to play with, no one has to agree to an "honour system" when they sit down to a game of magic.

Online however this will never cause a real problem. Also, instant drawing a card in your opponents turn will still allow Miracle to apply.

UNDYING

Same as last time, I just expect more creatures with more tricky abilities. So far we've seen a Wolf who can't be blocked by creatures who don't match it's power. That's great, because it can trade and then smash face for plenty. That's just one card though, I imagine plenty of fun here.

PAIRING*

This scared me initially, because I was expecting an updated keyword mechanic of Banding. This is NOT the case. You just choose another target creature and both of them get a bonus. A bit like the creatures of old who could attack and give someone else flying, only this bonus is constant and is always tracked.

It's also not that difficult to track, seeing most people will just pile their normal creature with their PAIRED creature. This sounds like it'll be fun, because paying U for the flying/pairing guy is good and cheap for a big fat flying fatty, but better than that is the instant speeding "falling outta the sky" that can happen when you plink their little 1/1. This will allow for some very unfortunate combat steps, which is GREAT.

* No, it's actually called "Soulbound." Which sounds a little too "Super friends" for my liking. Imagine super man. "Paired creature gets flying and indestructible."

"Loner"

This is just a load of creatures who're better alone. Go ahead, build a deck of them. This seems like it'll be mostly undercosted aggressive creatures who eat or otherwise hurt you for having more than one creature.

I like the flavour here, seeing evil is having a harder time and as evil is totally without morals there's no longer any "easy kills", so it's kill or be killed from every direction -- so naturally the evil creatures are keeping their distance from everyone.

"Blinking"

This is exiling a creature and then returning it to play instantly. This does a LOT rules wise, but basically it "refreshes" a creature of yours. No counters, no enchantments, no damage, not attacking or blocking, no damage marked on it, nothing. If it had a leaves the battlefield or enters the battlefield ability then they will trigger (so brush off your Sundering Titans).

This next point deserves it's own paragraph.
A creature remains blocked even if it's b