On Affinity

Hello and welcome to How to Be a Robot. First off, minus five points if you don't have Daft Punk playing already.

Second off, there's loads of great How To articles out there already. I prefer Frank Karsten's articles because of his mathematic approach to everything, and his videos are great quality too. He's look at many varients of Affinity as well, including Ghostfire Blade, Chalice of the Void, Ensoul Artifact, basically whatever card shows up and makes waves.

I'm writing this article assuming you've seen a lot of that and know the deck already. I'm looking more at the fringe cards, the last few choices that constantly shift and change, as you play different decks, and get a different feel for Modern. At the time of writing the Eldrazi have just landed, but if you read last article you'll know I don't it too much. It's a great fun match, it really tests both players, and Affinity aren't much of an underdog. I play MTGO mostly, and I think I've won one time less then I've lost.

So what interactions am I looking at today? These are more like the 'flavours' of an Affinity deck, and changes for each person playing. Everybody knows that you bring along one Basic, thanks to Ghost Quarter and Path to Exile being real cards, but which one?

Island or Mountain?

My answer is both. I wouldn't fault someone for not knowing which one to play, and I wouldn't be surprised if you decided on one in the Main and the Sideboard. This way, you can build a very aggressive deck game 1, Galvanic Blast always castable, and then you can sideboard into a more controlling deck, with an Island to guarentee that blue mana for your Master of Etherium.

On MTGO I run one Mountain in the main deck constantly, but as I mostly play 2-mans I don't have the longer term in mind. If I did, I'd definitely pack an Island in the Sideboard. I've seen some lists run only 2 Glimmervoids and 2 Basics main, but I think this is too cute. Cutting yourself off BB when you've got a Cranial Plating swing-for-the-win is no fun, as cute as it might be to surprise your enemy with a second Basic off of their second Path to Exile. The Basics are far more solid than Glimmervoid, but the range of colours is great.

And if you are running two, it's obvious I think that Mountain/Island is better than Island/Island (unless you're using counterspells) and Mountain/Mountain is never a real thing (no one plays the Atog version anymore, right?).

How about Welding Jar?

Welding Jar, that cute little broken pile of life-saver. It's a zero cost artifact that saves your bacon against mana pieces of removal, although -x/-x will still work, as will exile, BUT don't let that ruin the little artifact that's could resume. He also turns on Mox Opal, powers up Cranial Plating, Master of Etherium, Galvanic Blast and Thoughtcast, so what's to not like about it?

Well, the numbers. I think starting 1 is fine, as it gives you some slight presideboard protection against more generic answers, but I wouldn't fault you if you ran 0. I think this is another card that you could Sideboard a second copy of, but what about those hands where you get 2 Welding Jars and no one to protect? It's a rough job, but in a long tournament you will face someone with Wrath effects, and that's where Welding Jar really shines.

I've considered a lot of different cards for sideboard builds, and while a second Welding Jar sounds great there's just so little space for it. In fact Jar often comes out against White/x/y decks, because they have Path. I think 1 in the main is perfect, with no second in the sideboard, unless you're exactly a very aggressive metagame with Lightning Bolts everywhere.

What's the PERFECT HAND?

OH, the perfect hand. Or the God hand, what evs. What 7 cards are you most hoping to see when you lay your upons your seven pieces of expensive cardboard? I never actually thought about this, until I had a few great hands online. Then it went something like this:

Mox Opal (100%), Darksteel Citadel (100%) Springleaf Drum (100%), Signal Pest/Vault Skirge (60%/40%), Thoughtcast (100%), Welding Jar (100%), Galvanic Blast/interaction (60%/40%).

The above hand has 3 mana, refills itself, and provides protection while allowing for interaction beyond the first turn, depending on your Interaction pieces. You may run Thoughtseize, in which case you don't want to see that in your opening hand in case it gets Thoughtseize'd/Inquisition'd away. This isn't the fastest hand, but prepares you for the best seat in the house, going forward. Thoughtcast is always good drawing 2 cards, Galvanic Blast deals with any 4 toughness monsters asap, and Welding Jar is as effective as Spellskite against removal. What's not to like?

If you want a different opening hand, built for speed, try this one:

Inkmoth Nexus, Arcbound Ravager, Signal Pest, Mox Opal, Welding Jar, Steel Overseer, Blinkmoth Nexus.

Turn 1 play an Inkmoth and make a Signal Pest. Untap, Blinkmoth Nexus, Mox Opal, Welding Jar, Ravager or Steel Overseer. You'll have an Infect flyer, with Blinkmoth to pump, Welding Jar protection and Ravager or Overseer to pump it up. It's not hard to eat up all those artifacts, then dump the load on to a sizeable Inkmoth, killing in just 2 hits.

How Cute is TOO CUTE?

Cute? Disgusting stuff. How happy were you when you boarding in those Nature's Claims, only to realise giving your opponent 4 life was a bad idea, as it's ususally an extra? Precisely. When it comes to building a sideboard that's not main stream, make sure you test your cards out. For the average Affinity player, you're certainly going to see Artifact wraths like Vandalblast, Fracturing Gust or Shatterstorm. And you'll defintely see Stony Silence, but what can you do about it?

Looking at cheap options, we've got Nature's Claim, Wear // Tear and the latest addition Natural State. Do note that Natural State (and all cards that read "3 or less") are basically custom built for Modern, I feel. Abrupt Decay, Lightning Bolt, Smother, you get my drift. Digression aside, I suggest we use the smaller targeting card, because it comes with exactly what we're after. Natural State kills artifacts or enchantments, without giving extra life to the opponent. Nature's Claim can blow up any enchantment or artifact, but what's there to target now that Pod and Splinter Twin are long since gone?

If you play Wear // Tear that's also a good answer, but the Enchantment destruction and Artifact destruction are two halves of the same coin, and you can't really play both. I can't think of many situations where an Artifact and Enchantment needed answering at the same time, so it feels more like you're playing an Erase that also catches the odd Artifact.

If you play either Wear // Tear or Natural State I think you'll be fine, but really don't use Nature's Claim. They made THAT one for Infect.dec, and we're only an Infect killer a small perception of the time. Not so much that we can give out free chunks of life willy-nilly.

Does thats cover what I mean by cute? For example; you're new to the deck and want to know what your opponent is doing, but can't read their tells very well. You jam 4 Gitaxian Probe into the deck, running 64, because you figure you can just pay 2 life and now their hand, and what best to play. Great, right? Affinity doesn't lose life over it lands, so we'll have oodles to spare...

Or will we? We've got to pay life for Vault Skirge, remember, what if your opener is Git Probe, double Vault Skirge? Do you want to start of 14 life? I think that's an example of "cute, perhaps workable". It needs testing, but I wouldn't fault someone for trying.

How about Ingot Chewer? There's a good idea, he deals with any artifact, regardless of cost, doesn't give life, and even dodges a Chalice of the Void set to 1 (believe me, it works. It's cmc is always 5, even if you only pay R to Evoke). It's a very good tech I've seen used in Vintage and Legacy, so Modern can certainly do with the same trickery. That doesn't sound 'cute', but rather tried and tested, but VERY metagame specific. What if no one is playing Void? Then he's a sorcery speed, no-enchantment-killing version of Wear // Tear. What a downgrade!

Anyway, that's a look into my thoughts behind the deck. Not tricky plays, but rather the trickiness of building the deck. Before you even see 7 cards, what are you hoping for and just what did you bring to the fight?

Thanks for reading,
Fox Murdoch.

Affinity, Eldrazi, Modern.

Hello all, welcome to this article. It's all about my love affair with Affinity.

First though, Eldrazi. They're everywhere, and trouble. Let's compare to Affinity, in every way. We'll be focusing specifically on PT OGW, which featured only 2 decks in the Top 8: Affinity (2 decks) and Eldrazi (the remaining 6).

Both are colorless, more or less. There is the blue/red Eldrazi deck, but by far and large the deck doesn't choke on it's mana very often. This is a huge benefit to both decks, as color screw is a smaller issue than it would be for something like Naya beatdown. Not that it's hard to fix colours in Naya beatdown, but having to pay 6 life for it leaves you at 14 by turn 2, is your aggro really worth that much self inflicted damage?

Both are aggressive as hell. Not that you build a 3/3 on the cheap then smash, but rather there's a huge presence all of a sudden, and we see monsters from nowhere. With Eldrazi this is more subtle, as it can spit out 2/2s and 2/1s for a few turns, then make a 4/4 that Better-than-Thoughtseize's you, but both do the same thing. Affinity can dump it's whole hand on turn 1 if it's really lucky, but that's just the speed of the format for you.

Both are like psuedo ramp decks. If they draw too much mana, but not enough "action cards" they flounder about the place. Every deck can do this, but there's nothing so upsetting as having 2 Springleaf Drums, a Mox Opal, another in hand, and a Darksteel Citadel supporting a lonesome Ornithopter. Ditto Eldrazi without an Eye of Ugin.

Both are resilient. Affinity can make a 5/5 Infect flier out of nowhere and suddenly you're on a one turn clock. Eldrazai have a 5/5 trample haste that's punishing to deal with.

One advantage Affinity has over Eldrazi is the lifegain from Vault Skirge. If Affinity can make a sizeable VS and give it a Cranial Plating they're in a better position to steady the board, and racing becomes a great idea.

Where Eldrazi have a hand over Affinity is the benefits the creatures come with. Haste is huge, Thought-Knot Seer is ridiculous (exile, no life loss, Thoughtsieze's range), a two mana "huge/huge" anyway. Eldrazi have their power up-front, while Affinity need to work at it.

I haven't played the Eldrazi deck myself, but I've played against it plenty online, and watched the coverage from PT OGW. Apart from being a great event (I love me some Magic coverage) it really show cased great plays. My favourite play was by Frank Karsten in a feature match, against Infect. Fearing a Viridian Corrupter (ETB kill your Artifact) he played a Blinkmoth and passed the turn. His other permanents were a Glimmervoid and Springleaf Drum.

It's subtle, but beautiful. If the Corrupter blows up the Springleaf Drum, there goes the Glimmervoid too, and the game. With an Inkmoth out (either manland would do) if the Corrupter play happens Karsten can tap either land to activate Nexus, keeping an Artifact around, then again next turn using the other land. It's risky, it gives up playing a load of Artifacts anyway, but the play was very aware of it's opponent's capabilities, respected them and played toward it. That's top level stuff and no what you'd expect to hear when people discuss their favourite plays from a Pro Tour.

Let's Ban It Already!

Now let's talk about the banning, because everyone knows there' something coming. If Eldrazi and Affinity seem so similar though, is it possible both could see a banning? I don't think so, but let's discuss it.

Eldrazi's biggest cheat is having 2 lands that make 2 mana. Eye of Ugin is super cheap cheatiness early on, with free 2/1s who're often 4/4 ot 5/5, and free 2/2s or bigger via Endless One. Eldrazi Temple is the least offensive of the cards, seeing it only gives you CC once a turn, but Eye of Ugin does it once-per-card. Easily the bigger offender, right?

The issue with selecting Eye of Ugin over Eldrazi Temple is that it unfairly nerfs UrzaTron at the same time (and where was THAT at the PT?). If you go ahead and ban the card it stops the "dump your hand" aspect of Eldrazi as well as stopping turn 2 Thought-Knot. While it provides the same gritty opening turns as Thoughtseize it really doesn't feel fair when it comes with a 4/4 attached. Sure you get a card if you kill the 4/4, but you know what it does? Takes the removal in your hand when it shows up!

I feel as though Eldrazi would still be fine with Eldrazi Temple as it's only 4 mana card, seeing it can play multiples and still have the occasionally bonkers turn. Nothing wrong with the opponent getting a great hand, but not when it comes with the consistency of 8 such lands.

The advantage to banning Temple over Eye dodges around harming an innocent bystander, leaving UrzaTron with it's favourite Legendary Land, but I think in this case it's better for the entire format to not have such an obvious best deck, even if two decks get clipped from the one banning. So my vote would be to acknowledge the hit to UrzaTron (sorry!) but ban Eye of Ugin.

Looking at Affinity, who was the only deck that looked fight to really even stand up against Eldrazi, I don't see a need to ban anything. The great thing about the deck is that it's already got three huge angles to attack it.

First, the deck is full of creatures. They're easy to kill, with Bolt, Path to Exile, Dismember, etc. Second, it's full of Artifacts. I think there's an Artifact wrath for every colour, or close to, or even multiples. Second, plenty of the creatures start off with only 1 toughness. Ravager, Vault Skirge, Signal Pest, Steel Overseer, you get the point -- you're at no end of answers to the deck, and none of the creatures are rewarding the Affinity player with a Thoughtseize or better for simply playing it. You can see the explosive Ravager turns, where everyone gets eaten on to a unfair duo of attackers, with BB open so there isn't a safe block, but the Affinity player has to put so much more work into getting that keen edge on their game, it's easily far more work.

If I think the deck has enough angles of weakness then let's look at the mana, seeing that's where I identified Eldrazi's biggest issue. Mox Opal is the only real double mana for the deck, being an artifact, costing 0 and providing mana. Even that isn't gaurenteed because you need Metalcraft. The second fast mana I can think of is Springleaf Drum, providing a mana as soon as it shows up, but only if you have a creature you don't want to attack with. That's two cards as well, sure, and one of them Legendary while the other not, yes, but both of them need other cards to work. Mox Opal without two other Artifacts does nothing but buff your Metalcraft, and Springleaf Drum without a creature is a Darksteel Relic without indestructible. Both are spells, and give the opponent a chance to counter them. I don't feel like you could attack Affinity for it's mana, nor it's cards, when considering where to ban things.

So where does that leave things? To be honest, I don't think any immediate action is needed. The Eldrazi menace is real, and here, and EVERYONE knows about it. That means we can adopt, either building our decks toward beating the deck, or switching to the deck ourselves. Suddenly a "4/4" becomes to norm for turn 2 plays, and Lightning Bolt is out of a job (that's gotta be scary for WOTC). Given time, and a few GPs, we'll see how people build your decks that win around it. If the deck is just too strong and it's not possible to build a way to interact with it, then action is required, and some kind of banning. How long is long enough to determine Eldrazi are worse for the format then not? I think that's a gauge for Wizards to decide for themselves, but it obviously needs listening to the social media out there, as well as tournament results. If Wizards made changes because people complained about a card they'd never print another set again -- every card has been complained about at some point guaranteed.

If we saw an event with 8 Eldrazi's in the Top 8, or over 50% in the Top 16, that's when warning flags go flying up and Wizards needs to perhaps exercise an emergency banning. I don't think anyone would want that, but it's better than leaving the Modern format with it's first genuine Rav-inity Mirrodin Standard. Ditto goes for seeing perhaps a similar mix of nothing but aggro, or a lopsided Top 8 like Eldrazi v Affinity as we saw in PT OGW. Likewise, if there IS a range of decks but they're all very heavily geared toward Eldrazi hate, we see a warping of the format that no one likes.

Compare that to the format without Eldrazi, with Splinter Twin again. I'm not about to say the deck is a missing hero at the moment, I never played it much myself nor against it, but it certainly was slower, and a poster child for the "Turn 4 kill" that Modern is aiming towards. Eldrazi is threatening to knock Thoughtseize and Lightning Bolt out of a job, and the only deck that's Top 8'd alongside is known as the best Game 1 deck in the format.

I'm all for shake up, and PT OGW was plenty of that, but not without a very measured and reasonable response afterward. I have no doubt Wizards have their finger on the pulse, but each voice out there helps provide a point of view, or give more volume to all the others, so that's why I'm posting my point of view here.

Now then, to "eat all my Artifacts and dump them onto an unblockable Signal Pest" (or to summarise, what evs):

I wouldn't ban anything yet, I'd give the format a chance to react, absorb and respond to the Eldrazi menace. If problems persist, THEN we've got an issue that needs addressing. This "wait and see" approach may seem unfair, if people are going to spend money buying into Eldrazi, only to be told very quickly afterwards the deck's no longer so playable, but that's just peanuts to the whole format, and all the decks that people like to play. Imagine you really like Merfolk, but just knew how poorly the deck played? You're already a Tier 2 deck, but against Eldrazi? It's almost like they're got their own Tier, Tier E.

What's Next for Fox Murdoch?

Oh right, me. Well I'm flying down to Melbourne for GP Melbourne, and it's going to be great. I have the deck, am a dedicated Affinity fan, would probably get a tattoo if I was into that, and suggest nothing but Daft Punk while you practice. I wouldn't fault anyone for playing Eldrazi, but I really hope people get behind their decks and look for ways to deal with the Eldrazi, keeping the format from warping horribly.

See you there!
Fox Murdoch.

GP Melbourne excitement!

I've only a few minutes, so here's the hot stuff:

I'm going to GP Melbourne, which means I'm going to Melbourne for a weekend. LOVE the place, so this'll be sweet. Also likely visiting friends.

The Twin menace and the Bloom bastard are gone, only to be replaced instantly by the Eldrazi brothers (colorless and blue/red versions) as well as the best first line of defense, heartless robot Affinity! Whoever said Modern didn't have room to be discovered should be happy with that, right?

As for the Eldrazi menace, the biggest offender is having 2 double lands (Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin) and one of them needs banning--but not instantly. The format needs a chance to breath, for all the decks that exist to respond to the Eldrazi menace, and to see if it can't be contained by a severe warping of the format, meta, and sideboards everyone. Cards as simple as Trinisphere (buy all you can, it's worth $10 atm but that could shoot up) give other decks a chance to force them to play fair. Regardless there may be a banning if the deck is as easy to target hate against as Affinity.

I'm playing Affinity at GP Sydney, having the cards and the online version of the deck. I love me robots, Daft Punk, anything roboty.

I have written a novel about a robot, but that's pure brags, nothing to do with Magic.

It was interesting to see a Top 8 of purely aggressive decks. Modern being a turn 4 format has really push the speed, and there was 2 Affinity in the PT OGW top 8 and more Eldrazi. Control was nowhere, and UrzaTron was totally a blip on the radar.

I feel as if playing one deck and playing it well is the best way to get good at Modern, moreso now then ever. Twin players do need to find a new deck, so why not Eldrazi? I'm kidding, play Merfolk. I want an easy win if I ever play you at an event.

I will write more later, now I have to head off to work.

Fox Murdoch.

Standardised standard.

Well we've all seen MaRo's announcement about the changes coming to standard. If you haven't, here's the link:

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mm/metamorphosis

In short, no more Core Set, and instead we get two full sets a year, newly remade into a 1 Large, 1 Small expansion format. That's the same number of sets a year, but two stories, told quicker, more succinctly, with no Core Set. I don't know what will replace that, and they haven't said anything about it yet, but that's for another day I guess.

The Standard rotation also changes, meaning a new set will bump an older block out every 18 months. This used to happen once every 24 months, that is a new set would be around for two years. Yes, you get six months less time to play with your cards in Standard, but what Modern?

This decision was made to a fix a few things, the biggest two of which are the "third sets suck" stigma that has plagued Magic since forever, and the actual identity of the Core set. While MaRo put it best, I can offer my view on things for what it's worth.

The third set sucks stigma was true in a lot of ways, and I say it comes from my time spent writing and reading. A good idea is great, and then expanded upon, and then it's kind of time to RESOLVE the story, which is always a bore. Do you know what the most exciting Star Wars movie is? The Empire Strikes Back. It creates tension, Luke loses a hand as soon as he gains a father, everything goes crook for the good guys -- how are they going to fix it? Like wise which was the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie? If you said the first one I wont argue there, but my personal favourite was the second, because it did the same -- set up the worst situation for the heroes to content with. Jack is dead, whatever that means in a fantasy pirate Disney setting, Barbosa is revived but he's no Jack Sparrow, and the bad guys have the control of the Kraken, thanks to owning Bill Nighy! I mean, er, Davy Jones!

Likewise Magic and her own stories. Innistrad was great, horror theme! Monsters vs humans! Dark Ascension was sweet, the balance was REALLY thrown out, and elegantly (there's that word, MaRo!) threatened the planes eco system, killing first the humans (or food supply) and then the eaters (monsters eat what after humans? Each other/nothing!) Then Avacyn came along, and won the day. "Avacyn Restored" really blew the entire story out of the water, instantly. She returns, good wins. There isn't a story, that's a bottomline. That's how you SELL the story to your boss, not how you actually tell the story, or name it. "Fractured Sanctity" would've been a better name, and I came up with that on the spot. It gives an impression of something once sacred, but now returned. It's far less than it used to be, but we've still got a tool to use, and hopefully the good guys will win, right?

I should point out right now that I only really like stories where characters get killed in defense of their beliefs, and I really think the 'reward' for characters who save the entire universe (think Fry from Futurama, or Donna Noble from Doctor Who) should definitely be nothing at all, and an erasure of all memories involved. Surely being the only one to save the entirety of existence is prize enough, and to actually remember it destroys the ego of humble simpleton. Not only that, but it demands that characters should eventually go crazy, if they keep telling people "Hey, I saved existence" and no one believes them, etc.

Having said that, Magic shouldn't be without resolving it's stories, but certainly not in such an obvious, drawn out matter.

Second, we can actually see the workings of this in Magic's design over the years. The biggest pre-footprint of the this is the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block design. It was Big Small Big Small, two blocks connected by being on the same plane, only the flip side of one another. Where Lorwyn was considered a block Shadowmoor was likewise connected, and we had the start of experiments. Second we saw the Big Small Big of Zendikar block, where we were given a Land theme for two sets, then the plane remained the same, but the mechanics were overthrown as the Eldrazi rose from their earthern cages, irrevocably changing the plane (and likewise it's feel for adventure).

Two small notes here. I thought Zendikar being an "adventure theme" block was really stupid -- surely ALL of Magic is adventure by default, so what WAS the real flavour here? You can't say Indiana Jones, because he's from a very definite pulp era of comics, even though he has a lot of the usual dungeoneering feats. Saying Magic was having an adventure themed set was like saying we're going to go back to Mirrodin, and this time with robots!

Second I recall an article where MaRo discusses why the Lands theme was only present for two sets, basically to keep the theme from growing old too quickly. It made sense as a defense but I didn't believe, non Basic Lands are one of the funnest things in Magic, and all players love the things! If this was true however, that MaRo thought we wouldn't really be entertained by Lands as a Thing for three full sets then WHY ON EARTH were we given Enchantments as a theme for three full sets? I don't mean to attack Theros block, but surely Enchantments are ok, Auras are cool when you stumble upon a Std/Mdn playable one, but Enchantments that also attack and are Gods and someone's pants until the pants fall off and then they're someone themselves and THEY can wear likewise Magic enchantment-pants...

You get the point. Theros was great fun, with the Gods and their Weapons, Born of the Gods really felt like the entire Magic world felt the gravel shift under their feet (especially when Brimaz was IT for the cards to chase, and even then you didn't really need to) and Journey into Nyx was a pure overload of "just bash, or play enchantments." That was saturation to be sure, and everyone had Enchantments everywhere.

Also final grumble here: Journey into Nyx was the perfect set to reprint Nix, from Time Spiral block, and if we had Scry returning why can't we give blue Preordain? I think has suffered for a while without it's 1 mana cantrip, and it was a perfect opportunity. It'd give players a chance to use their beloved card of old, seeing it's not been welcome in Modern for so long, and the ability to flavour it with Theros' divination themes would've made it a really sweet card.

Eitherway, those are my thoughts and reactions to the news about the removal of the third set. As a really good tie up, that speaks volumes about how early this concept should really have been gotten onto, Sonic the Hedgehog came out in 1991, and had 6 zones to play through, all with 3 separate stages. The following year in 1992 Sonic 2 came out, and each zone was reduced to only 2 stages apiece, with more zones. There was one zone that still had 3 stages, but it was the Air Ship zone, the level that was literally the big bad bosses spaceship that the player had to fly to (stage 1 is played on the back of a biplane). At the end of this you get taken up into space for the final battle, against two Legendary Artifact Creatures (- Hedgehog and - Robotnik respectively) before the greatest ending sequence on any gaming system ever. The point here is that the change occurred as soon as possible, and stuck for Sonic 3, "& Knuckles" and had a much greater impact on the game, even being 'used' as a tool when a particular zone felt immense enough to warrant 3 stages.

As for the Core Sets goodbye, I really don't know how that will feel. I've always enjoyed the palette cleanser that was the Core set, because if you like or hate or love the flavoured/big sets, you could always get down to business, bashing with simple creatures, and killing with typical spells. After Theros I was looking forward to M15 MORE than I've looked forward to any other Core set!

Thanks for reading, Fox Murdoch.

Further testing.

I don't remember precisely what I wrote this morning, it bears going over and being worked into something more sensible. Further efforts:

After phantom #3, our opponent didn't show up for round one. Our round 2 opponent exampled a very typical deck of the higher up tables, featuring Soul of Zendikar, Soul of Shandalar and Phytotitan. Phytotitan is the most annoying of the three, because it creates a minigame, can you outblock/chump 7 damage a turn? In games 1 and 3 his Wall of Fire was actually super critical to keeping my smaller, 3 or less power creatures from attacking profitably, and his six drops were so plentiful and powerful that even drawing two Flesh to Dusts didn't help. Game 2 I did win, off the back of a Goblin Rabblerouser who got there all of his own.

Round 3 is a bye which I auto win, so the only match I actually played I lost to a very nifty deck. My own deck was black, red and fast, which was good, but I kept a 5 land 2 spell hand that got close, but I could've mulliganed that. My tricks weren't enough for his steady stream of big green guys. I told him I liked his deck, and he said mine too.

Again!

M15 testing.

Well I'm using the new MODO client, and not noticing a great many bugs. I have to point out that this is likely because of my new computer though.

I won the first phantom M15x6 sealed, and didn't realise it was only 3 rounds. It was quite casual considering, and it's easy to notice how much better I played when I didn't think it was for all the marbles, yet. Of course this leads any player to realise that a lot of what makes for a bad play session is simply feeling like it's a big, important game.

So the value of any game is zero, regardless of what's riding on it. Practicing at FNM, play more games, and quicker. Only stop when a really interesting situation comes up, and not flavour matches/mismatches (Yes, how CAN a Bird of Paradise wield a Sword of Body and Mind?).

When I'm at FNM or playing at a kitchen table I wonder what choice I would make if it was the finals match of a GP, and go with that decision. Do I like this 1 lander? What if $6,000 was riding on the result? Well certainly not, I'd prefer an "ok, playable 6" to a "don't draw a land and you're dead 7". Right?

I dd a second flight and went 2-1, but my first round opponent had a greater deck than I did, round 2 was a normal fight, and round 3 my opponent took ten minutes to show up, I killed them for exactsies after that attacked me DOWN to 1, but whilst trading off all their creations, and then I drew Lava Axe, Lightning Strike, and remembered that Sign in Blood targets ANYONE and ah ha ha, got them.

I do notice the small, bad plays, however. I had the sweet combo of Xathrid Slyblade with the lifelink/when a critter dies, +1/+1 counter enchantment, and my first two opponents in the first flight were green/white. I joked at the end of the last article (read it, I interviewed Sasha Markovic!) that Triplicate Spirits is a crap card when your opponent is playing Festergloom. Well I had two copies of Festergloom and my opponent had 3 creatures that were green/white and had 1 toughness, so I had a 4/4 lifelink hexproof monster!

There was plays where I killed a creature, THEN put the enchantment on, which was obviously sloppy. I catch it now, sure, but what other mistakes am I missing that will occur at the GP? I think the attitude is better to attain now, to take into it, moreso than situational mistakes.

The other mistake was when I cast Lava Axe, Sign in Blood and Lightning Strike to win. It was my second main phase, and I cast them in that order. My opponent had mana untapped, and I was at 1 life, so if I had've drawn him into any burn he could've used it against me when I let off the final Lightning Strike. Bad play, absolutely would cost you the game in certain situations, but luckily not this one.

That's the other interesting "map of play" that seems to develop as I play more. Playing U/W at GP Melbourne earlier in the year, I had a design for how I wanted my turns to go.

"Draw first." That meant if you had Jace, use his -2. Then, scry if you had a scry land. Then after that, did we need to cast any PWs before combat? Maybe Elspeth could clear the way, blocked by fatties? If we've drawn, and didn't have Jace, do we cast him now and then draw?

All of these lines of thought get vague once you're inside a deck/game/match, but they seem to stay basically true, as follows:

Draw all your cards. This doesn't include your draw for the turn, you can't avoid that one. Maybe you've got Sign in Blood, or Miss 2/2 four Green Blossom of Card Drawness. Whatever. Draw that card before you even play your land for the turn.
Next, spells to better your position. Usually board position, so you can clear a blocker for your monsters to mash face.
Next, ready to attack? What spells really wreck you, should the opponent have it?
OK, snapshot that image, and ponder how we can rebuild IF that is the case. Do we still like how it looks? We're not going to trade off all our creatures to leave our opponent on a minscule-but-still-alive 1, are we?
After attackers and all the smoke is cleared, do we need to redeploy anyone? Haven't we got some PW we didn't activate yet?
Then finally, pass. Get ready for end of turn, kill your guy shinanigans.

Do also note the time, it is 5:09am as I write this. It's sloppier, and unedited, but I think that's another key point I'd like to make. As the day goes on, you'll get sloppier if you don't rest. Just read through this! Disgusting!!

Fox Murdoch.

GP Sydney primer, featuring Sasha Markovic!

Today readers we have two treats for you! First a conversation with an Australian great, Marko Victory, and then a quick word on how to prepare for the mental game that is Magic, da Big Eventz! For starters though:

HI MARK, THANKS FOR JOINING US.
My pleasure, cheers for having me. Let’s get this started.

WHAT'S YOUR MAGIC CAREER LIKE? AND DO YOU RECKON YOU'D BE DOING BETTER OR ABOUT THE SAME IF YOU MAGIC IN AMERICAN?
My career’s included a few PT attendances, one good finish missing top 25 on breakers. I’ve represented Australia in the WMC in 2013. I’ve also got some crazy statistic of something along the lines of 80%+ on cashing a GP, having played around ten. I first started playing competitive MTG in 2010, but a majority of my success has been in the past two years.
I would definitely hope to have a better resume if I lived in the States. They get a much larger piece of the pie when it comes to GP’s, especially compared to the insanely low amount of events we get down here. I also believe that the American skill level is much lower on average than here in Australia.

I KNEW I WASN'T THAT BAD! TRUE, IT'D BE GREAT TO GET MORE AUSSIE EVENTS. TODAY WE'RE LOOKING AT HOW YOU APPROACH SEALED, RELEVANT WITH GP SYDNEY LOOMING IN JUST A WEEK.
A loaded topic. As I’m answering this I’ve played around a hundred matches of M15 limited, most of which has been draft, with maybe 20-25% being sealed. So I feel slightly confident talking about the format. One thing that I have to make clear is that sealed and draft are two pretty different animals in this limited format.
Ok, first things first; when you sit down with the sealed pool that you’ve got to work with I would organise each colour into sub categories, being B.R.E.A.D: Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Abilities, Dudes. This is a pretty generic rule of thumb when it comes to sealed deck play, with order of importance going from left to right.
Ultimately though I am going to try and maximise the amount of powerful spells and pieces of interaction that I can play. I find the sealed format much slower and more midrange than draft. All I’m really hoping for is a bunch of dorky 2/3s to hold the ground in the early game and then trade haymakers later on. It isn’t the most skill intensive limited format of all time, classic MTG in a sense. Being familiar with certain synergies and interactions can be very fruitful though, you don’t want to be taken off guard by anything that's considered common knowledge.
With the nature of the sealed format being this midrange bomb-fest and filler cards to stay alive long enough to cast them you need to value your removal correctly for the appropriate bomb.
I would also advocate playing one Artifact/Enchantment removal spell in the main deck. Almost every deck will have a decent target, be it Juggernaught, Marked by Honor, etc. I will also always play at least one Bronze Sable main if I have the option, even over a “better” two drop. It is very easy to lose to Krenko’s Inforcer or Accursed Spirit, which pack a punch when the board is so clogged and when you’d rather not spend removal on them.
Have a plan for enemy Soul of Xs. They are crazy efficient and powerful. You will lose to them at one point or another and Pillar of Light can see main deck play for this reason.

WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU GET A REALLY BAD POOL? I MEAN ONE WHERE YOU'RE FORCED INTO THREE COLOURS, AND THEN CREATURES COST 2 THEN 7?
In a normal event I would probably accept the 0-2 Scotch as a consolation prize, but I’ll be taking the GP a lot more seriously. I guess I would still aim for the same idea of dorky defensive cheap creatures, then any pieces of fat/bomb I can play. I might opt for a higher density of bigger threats to help offset the power level difference with better decks. It is MTG though, and sometimes you will open these pools, not much else you can do but move forward and make the best of the situation.

ALRIGHT AND HOW DO YOU THINK YOU'LL DO WITH GP SYDNEY? WE'VE HAD A LOT OF GPS GROW MASSIVELY IN SIZE LATELY, DO YOU THINK WE'LL BREAK THE RECORD FOR AN AUSTRALIAN GP YET AGAIN?
Hopefully I just do my best, not much else I can really ask for. I would be stoked to make it to day two though, I feel that I have a large edge in the draft portion.
I honestly think that attendance will dip a bit. The timing is kind of weird with students, a big portion of the target market, but it will be reasonably sized none the less. Sealed events tend to attract a lot more people. I honestly wouldn’t be too surprised if it cracked a thousand though, but I haven’t put too much thought into it.

WHAT ABOUT THE CHANGES TO PTQS AND GPS? THEY SEEM GREAT FOR THE U.S. MOST OF ALL, AND NO SO GOOD FOR OUR BELOVED APAC REGION.
As a grinder I rather enjoy the changes even for us. I like to see the preliminary qualifiers as the first few rounds of the current larger PTQ’s. Sure, I have to win the thing, but I get multiple chances to do so. What I’m trying to say is that winning one of these preliminaries is similar to starting off 4-0/5-0 at a current PTQ. Realistically though a lot of people do not have the same view as I have and makes competitive MTG much more daunting to a newer/unexperienced player.

WHAT ABOUT NEXT YEARS GPS? BOTH SEALED, ONE IN AUCKLAND (MARCH) AND THE OTHER IN SYDNEY (NOT TIL OCTOBER)!? DO YOU PREFER WHEN GPS ARE IN SYDNEY, OR DO YOU THINK IT SHOULD BE SPREAD AROUND MORE AMONGST THE CAPITAL CITIES? HOW ABOUT JUST THE ACT AND SYDNEY ONE YEAR, YEAH?
Personally I’m not fussed. I’m trying to exit the game anyway so more reasons not to grind are a plus. Both formats being sealed isn’t a huge issue, a lot of the better players will prefer constructed formats but they will still show up. Any of the three major cities is fine, I don’t have any qualms with it being in Sydney again, but I always do enjoy a trip down to Melbourne.

(I WAS JOKING, OH DEAR ANGRY NON-SYDNEY READERS! I LOVE TRAVELLING TO QLD/VIC)
SURE, I SECRETLY LOVE MELBOURNE AND WOULD MOVE DOWN THERE IF WORK EVER PERMITTED IT. OK, LAST QUESTION: WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO OPEN AT THE GP? LIKE IMAGINE A POOL WITH ONLY TWO COLOURS, AND 2-3 BOMBS BETWEEN 'EM. WHAT COLOUR COMBO?
The dream would be mono white with multiple Soul of Theros’. Triplicate Spirits is not a very fair card.

ALRIGHT MARK, THANKS FOR YOUR TIME! DO YOU HAVE A FACEBOOK OR TWITTER FOR PEOPLE TO FOLLOW YOU?
Sure do, you can find me on Facebook, just search for Markovictory, or hit me up on twitter via @markovictory.

ALRIGHT CHEERS. THANKS AGAIN MATE!
No worries, catch you at the GP. Hopefully in a feature match!


NOW for something completely expected.

This next section I want to talk about the mindset I take to a Magic tournament. I read a lot of articles (channelfireball.com is great for it, as well as the paid content on starcitygames.com, and blackborder.com, and of course yours truly isn't that bad at it, if somewhat sporadic) and that's good knowing the theory of the game, and what's correct in many different situations. The main problem I know people face is not playing enough. Knowing how to drive a car and actually driving it are totally different. You get to feel the acceleration of the peddle, how it takes a corner, how smooth it runs along the M4, whether it's a good time of day to even take it out (3pm is horrid, everyone's picking up their kids!) etc.

Likewise knowing Magic, or a match up, is good but unless you actually play it you wont have a good feel for it. So the best article advice that all the Pros definitely agree on is practice. Nothing's better than prepping yourself for the kind of deck you want to play, and that means everything is viable (there is a playable deck for all 10 colour combinations), and being able to identify and build your own pool from the choices provided is good, but you've also got to realise the opening of your cards is a real lottery.

I love blue/white skies with a red splash, but what if I open nothing playable beyond black/green? Brilliant, I love heavy ground hitters with spot removal to clear the opponent's utility creatures. Wait, Golgari are pissed at the Core set and I opened some Izzet contraption? Even better, counter-burn is always a viable deck that plenty of players will be tripped up by. Do they play their creature into your counterspell, if you even have one? What if they cast a good one, and you can burn it end of turn, untap, draw, and pass it straight back, still with a counter in hand? Adaptability to your card pool is key to not seeing your cards and tilting on the spot.

My next best advice is to keep costs down. If a card costs 1 mana, does it at least have 2 power, or an ability worth a card? Forge Devil, for example, looks incredibly weak and durdly, but there are 31 creatures with 1 toughness in M15, and they're all going to get in the way (Sunblade Elf and Xathrid Slyblade both have measures against 1 damage, mind). Not only that, but a 1/1 body can trade with a lot of creatures for the exact same reason. Is Mark's Bronze Sable holding off your Krenko's Enforcer? Forge Devil says YES! to killing it. Or probably "ICKGKRGH", I dunno, I can't speak Infernal. Another worthwhile 1 drop is Sunblade Elf. A 2/2 for G, assuming you've got a Plains, and the ability to +1/+1 your entire team will help all the weenie decks get their last few attacks through. Even better is the natural nature of "tricks in plain sight". A lot of people are aware of them and will factor them into your attack, respecting the ability without you ever having to activate it. Or they don't see the trick, and make a play that you can blow out, without spending a card!

Your two drops should be able to kill other two drops, and sometimes trade up. Red and white both have 3 power 2-drops (Borderland Marauder and Oresko Swiftclaw) which allows for some decks to really punish slower decks that haven't brought any early solutions. Both have 2 or less toughness though, so any body in the way must help you survive these attempts at early beaters.

3 drops become more varied, and really help the game take shape. Geist of the Moors is an Uncommon but will definitely be played for it's evasion and because it's power is oncurve with it's cost. Does that mean we'll wait until turn 3/4 to use our Forge Devil in game 2, anticipating a Geist of the Moors and allowing the Oresko Swiftclaw to hit us for one turn?

Four mana is where the game really hots up. People will cast their best spells asap, assuming you're showing no obvious signs of counters, and on four mana we have 3 Planeswalkers (Ajani, Chandra, Jace) as well Perilous Vault, plenty of chunky normal dudes and all the Paragons! This is the best turn to keep your mana open, either for killing or countering, and if you don't heed this advice then be prepared for some pain.
From five mana and above you get some slower to cast cards, but that just means they should really knock the game sideways for everyone. Garruk costs 7 but do not play him if you can't drag the game out, without milling yourself. G/B is the colour of self-mill, and there's a few cards that support the archetype, Satyr Wayfinder and Undergrowth Scavenger being enabler and abuser #1. You might feel good as the game goes long but if you've milled your deck into your bin just as Garruk comes out how much longer will your deck last?

Here's some cards that are worth paying extra mana for, because they genuinely alter how the game runs: Aegis Angel, AEtherspouts, Burning Anger, Cone of Flame, Constripting Sliver, Covenant of Blood, Feral Incarnation, Flesh to Dust, Hornet Queen, Indulgent Tormentor, Jace's Ingenuity, Master of Predicaments, Nightfire Giant, Nissa Worldwaker, Ob Nixilus, Unshackled, Overwhelm, Resolute Archangel, Sanctified Charge, Scuttling Doom Engine, Siege Wurm (who will show up before turn 7, natch'), Stormtide Leviathan, Triplicate Spirits (also cast before turn 6) and all 6 Souls of X.

The above cards all share certain characteristics in common. When cast, they either rip wholes in the current game state (Cone of Flame, Hornet Queen, Triplicate Spirits) which are pretty much my definition of Bombs. Other cards will have a hugely felt presence, even if it takes a few turns to actually utilise their full power (Master of Predicaments, Nightfire Giant, Burning Anger) which are close to game winning on their own, but simply showing up wont achieve that. There's usually a turn for your opponent to kill the creature, or remove the Enchantment, etc etc. Then there's other cards which are so versatile it's up to the opponent to have to correct response to the mode of use you've choosen for a card, like Nissa Worldwaker. Do you want +4 mana a turn, or to make creatures that your control opponent can't counter? How many 4/4s can they deal with? Do they have any way to remove an 8/8 Islandwalker when everyone else suddenly can't attack? Should your opponent now keep a hold of their Pillar of Light next game in anticipation of Stormtide Leviathan, or use it as soon as they get an opportunity, in hopes of closing out the game BEFORE that point?

A few cards I haven't listed which might seem like bombs, so I'll speak briefly about them too.
Avacyn, Endless Obedience, Hoarding Dragon, In Garruk's Wake, Kalonian Twingrove, Kapsho Kitefins, Meteorite, Miner's Bane, and Obelisk of Urd.

Avacyn is on this list purely for her low toughness, there is a lot of 4 damage spells running around (black, red and technically white have one) and she can't protect herself from anything, so she isn't a trap but is far less secure then people will give her credit for. Others like Endless Obedience and Hoarding Dragon look good, but they NEED a worthwhile card to fetch up, or they wont do anything amazing. Worse yet is the "slow draw" of Hoarding Dragon, because your opponent might just neglect to kill it, via exile or Encrust. Then where's your bomb Artifact? Kalonian Twingrove loses consistency for needing Forests, and Kapsho Kitefins cost 6, so after that point how many creatures can you have left in hand? Not a great amount, unless you're playing blue/white skies and Triplicate Spirits in hand. Miner's Bane is another bad card, because 3 toughness is simple enough to trade for. Normally paying 6 for a 6/X is where red wants it's dinosaurs, but even a 6/4 would be better. A 6/3 trades for only two mana and Lightning Strike, costing you an entire turn for no real advancement. It's also only good for one trample activation typically, because your opponent will jam 3 power in it's way. Meteorite is actually at the bottom of the good list, and the top of the bad list. It gets you from 5 to 7 mana in one turn, and can kill a 2 toughness thing, but it does cost 5. If your opponent has a 5-drop bomb, and your 5-drop is simply going to smooth out your mana and colour a little, then you are lacking in the oomph department.

So expect a lot of durdling back and forth in the early game, until serious cards begin to come online. Just make sure that you don't get trapped by what seems like a good card which is only an okay-if-nothing-else-is-happening card, and don't forget to reevaluate cards that don't-do-anything-except-against-card-X. Triplicate Spirits is a horrid card if your opponent has Festerglooms, right?

THANKS FOR READING!, and hopefully I wont take so long to write the next one,
Fox Murdoch.

New Magic Online?

In an effort to actually produce something, I have downloaded the new Magic Online client, and am about to enter an M15 draft. I love draft, and I love Core set, but I am only 2% familiar with the new client, and I have only heard bad things about it, so expect swearing. Unless it gets too bad, I wont cut or edit whatsoever, so consider this a crash course for the random player out there.

Random incidents may also be caused by my new cat.

8:52pm.

So far I have played one round, after the drafting process. Drafting itself went fine, and the first round was OK, but the relayout is a tad odd, getting used to it wont be a problem though. The new sounds are far worse however, seeing there's one for every swipe of the mouse, even button click, every UNclick...

Well it's not THAT bad. Still, I'm waiting to see how much worse it gets. It's taken about half an hour so far, so by the time it's one full hour I'm expecting difficulties.

I am currently done with my first match (the blue/white skies deck is chewing up my red/green dinosaurs, though I am playing the person who was passing to me) and the game doesn't done anything. It used to close the game you were in, but I'm still in it, with nothing to really say "You're done!" apart from the boxes around the top that let you draw another card or reveal your hand. It hasn't updated it for the rest of the draft pod to see, which is irritating.

A nice note was that I found the Drop button, it's a big X in the top right of the screen. And when I clicked it, said "You're about to drop, do you want to? Write DROP in the space provided" so at least the chance of quitting the game accidentally is well reduced.

9:25pm.

Round 2 has finished, I win against another red/green that didn't draw its dudes so much as it's utility. There's a rare enchantment that turns any creature into a pinger, only instead of 1 it's X, the critters power. That's good on 4/Xs, but you get that.

The game still ran fine, but there was a moment when my mouse was telling me to wait, with a small blue circle around it. That doesn't happen normally, gasp!

10.25pm.

Finished round 3, going 2-1 with Ajani, and that nice blue/green land, and Chandra avatar, and 2 boosters. Quite nice, fun, and so far no slowness. I'm liking not seeing things, and a series of vids for youtube. GREAT!

Magic, and it's roundabouts.

Playing Magic in Australia is TOUGH. Capital T, tough. You don't have a PTQ everywhere, you don't have an unswimable amount of players, and you don't have infinite chances to get there.

You get a few groups around the place, and top players who do very well amongst themselves, and the same small circle of rotating greats. They all have their own personalitiy, and you love them or you hate them. For the most part I love them, because they're hilarious, there's always a case where you wish the person never played Magic. It makes players from your area look bad, simply by association. HE'S repping Australian Magic right now? For shame, why not X?

Regardless, having the chance to play regular Magic (weekly FNM is as close as I've gotten to regular playing) and then having that taken away (work puts me on friday and saturday) I find I can't really play this game I love. So it's hard to obtain particular cards, build the decks, test a lot and play FNM to crush. I find I gravitate towards a deck that speaks to my style of play, which is Wrathing then bashing with tons of guys anyway. Good times, right?

So to say I'm happy with Magic at the moment isn't correct, nor is it Magic's fault. I just haven't had the time. Plus Return to Ravnica has been a big disappointment. I thought we'd get the guilds we fell in love with, but we've more or less gotten their immature younger cousin, who's too excited and all they want to do is bash. Seriously, all the mechanics of all the guilds just want you to bash, it seems.

Battalion, bloodrush, DEFINITELY Cyper, scavange wants to you trade in combat for +1/+1 counter fun, Evolve wants you to play more creatures (usually to bash, some to draw cards), detain allows you to easily dawdle across the red zone, and Unleash? Did anyone need that one explained?

Compare the mechanics (I'm sure I forgot one) to the first lot we were given. They definitely had "hit and miss" to them as well. Forecast? How the hell is that Azorious at all? But then again, Dredge was such a huge mechanic, it's spawned it's own deck and no has a name amongst all the decks in any format that use the graveyard. Sure, nurf it, but not this much!

Also the colour fixing was very different this time around. Any artifact or land will give you EITHER colour, not both. Last time we had Signets, which we were cheaper, and Bouncelands, which we stronger. So they've slowed down the colour fixing while ramping up the creatures. So don't worry about colour fixing, just player creatures, that all want to bash, and kill your opponent before they establish anything.

What if your opponent is on the same plan? Just be the more aggressive guilds. To whit: Orzhoz, Boros, Gruul.

It also feels like it's missing a lot of flavour, too. Maybe it's because the world of Ravnica only allows for one real story: ten guilds having a fight. You couldn't make it that only "six of Ravnica's guilds are pissed off," that's just stupid. Or if they teamed up, you've already got Shards of Alara, which was also another cool set (giving friend triangle colours a proper name, but enemy wedges are left wanting) but straight after another multi colour set (Shadowmoor and friends).

I'm thinking in particular cards that stood on their own, and just happened to be a guilds colours. Things like Tin Street Hooligan (a naughty red Goblin who'd run along the sales stalls and knock things over, breaking them!) or Rumbling Slum (the Gruul were so damn angry their magic made the very buildings and ground itself rise up amongst them, an ally!)

I think that's missing, and we're simply expected to "buy into" all that stuff again, without it really being here. Everybody knew how good Mirrodin was (every time it's been in Standard, cards have been banned. It's also got the most entries on Moderns Banned list) but it was much easier to communicate "a plane filled with Artifacts." Half of every booster pack was Artifacts, and there was oodles are Common! This compares favourably to reproducing Ravnica, because you can just make every booster pack shares colours, because there is TEN minute worlds to describe within the bigger ultra-megopolis that is Ravnica. You've got 11 things to tell the audience there, as opposed to 1 Major thing.

So I don't blame them, but I do feel like we haven't really been given Ravnica 2. It was a bit like the 3D revolution in video games. Some games transfered very well (Mario64, Zelda Ocarina of Time) while others just didn't do anything like they used to (Sonic on the Sega Dreamcast).

It's all just left me without much inspiration to play Magic lately, although I do read the odd article. Not being able to play, and seeing an old friend who was best unvisited.

Ironically we're about to be treated to ANOTHER friend, we're all VERY FAMILIAR with: The Core set! There is nothing like a nip of coffee between drinks, because it's a most wonderful thing. A palette cleanser. Didn't like Avacyn? No worries! Upset with Ravnica 2? Boo hoo, go play the core set!!

I'm especially happy that Slivers are returning. The last time I had a chance was Time Spiral block, when EVERY mechanic was something you could take or leave as you desired. This time? They're something to address, oh my.

Sphinx's Deprecation

Well I haven't been inspired lately to do much with Magic. There was always a glimmer, some hope for the future of being a really good player, doing great at tournaments and earning the esteem and ear of my fellow Magicians, but it's just shambles atm.

James/Ammy are doing great, living with one another and hammering the MTGO. That sounds like fun. iRony and myself live together too, but we're both far too poor/time constrained to make that jump into the pool, especially one that looks so deep (read: expensive). If it's hard to do in RL, why would MTGO be a better alternative? Surely Magic Workstation or else would provide better.

My own plan was to spend the year only playing Magic when I'd made money from selling old cards -- so far I've maintained that. Though I moved Murdoch Monthly to the local store Mega Games, from the old crew at Good Games, who I'm not sure have even noticed my absence. But first, Petr's blog:

He's a great and hilarious writer, but only Magic players will appreciate the humour:

http://nyxathidgoestotown.com/

He's been doing great, getting links all over the place, so kudos to him!

Plugs aside, I am the only person from the team planning to go to the GP up in Canberra later in the year, but it looks like right this second I'm not interested. If PV and our own Australian pro Dan Unwin both say Modern isn't that interesting a format, I'm glad to breath a sigh of relief and agree aloud with them. It just seems TOO undefined. Nothing is strong unless it's nerfed, at which points it's obviously too strong and time to look for another deck.

It also doesn't help that selling $X00 worth of cards might not cut it. There's still plenty of time to get a better job that pays many more hours and throw away the "only pay with money made from Magic sales" idea, but what-evs. If I was really serious, it'd take way more than I'm doing now.

This is only March and I have until November, so plenty of time to change. I'll likely miss the WMQC too, seeing everybody seems to be everywhere that I'd like to be, such as "free" and "able to attend Magic" while I'm actually 'Stuck at work.' Them's the breaks!

The recent good news is that (hinted above) I've moved out. So now there's no crazy household full of ppl, just myself, iRony and his crazy cats. One's skitzophrenic and the other adorable. Plus I'm sure I've spelt that wrong.

Stay tuned, there was a recent sharp spike in people visiting my page from this random Russian blog: http://lepak.my/blog/page/5/, I really don't know why.

A thought beyond.

If I was ever fortunate enough to write a series for a proper big money-paying website, I'd call my column "a thought beyond". It would be all about the stella decks that really smack a format for 2, and end up with all the Top 8 players.

Sealed formats are quickly "understood" because the Commons that really rock show up in winning decks, or sometimes the 'problem' cards like Madcap Skills. It's a problem that you can be so dead so quick, either taking damage or trading for more mana and perhaps the same cards.

That's not the case for constructed though, seeing the top decks show up, and present themselves very well and then are WIDE-LY spread around. What's the key thing? What's the thought beyond all the other decks, that lead to great players having the greatest deck to make day 2, top 8, win?

I'd like to bring up the magical number, after the obvious "bargain" cards. Sphinx's Revelation is the best thing you can do in Standard at the moment. Melisa DeTora and Ben Stark both played decks that took great advantage of this, using different key cards to really punish the opponent.

Ben Stark played a very clever set up, with no permanents that 3 or less and very few creatures that weren't brilliant value on their own. Augur of Bolas: draw a card. The 1/3 is what's extra. Resto Angel? Reloads on Augur or Snapcaster, the 3/4 is just a bonus, or and instant creature-based lightning bolt in the air. Snapcaster Mage? The 2/1 is highly forgetable, as instead you can rebuy ANY SPELL you want, or even bait out that counter spell from the opponent (I'll Snapcaster and possibly replay that Sphinx's Revelation. Counter it?).

The exciting card here, that was only a 2-of, was Planar Cleansing. It clears away all the problem cards, anything not indestructible, and most importantly any Garruks and Lilys hanging around. Included is the deck's own built-in self resilience, winning with nonBasic Nephalia Drownyards. No problem. Got more spells? Here's another 4 wraths and a Cleansing. Still alive? 2 Snapcasters make it 8 total.

The exciting thing about Melisa's deck is that it plays the same 2-of, being drawn very easily off bigger and bigger Sphinx's Revelations and allowing the deck to transform. It goes from being basic Bant, which plays against itself all the time, and turn into a trampling madhouse, where all your lands get to attack for +1! Trampling Thragtusk's change the game and play against expectation.

So my point was that the magical number is 2, if you're playing with Sphinx's Revelation. It's allowed these two decks to play single, out-of-the-ordinary cards to gain a really good advantage.

Just a thought.

Bloodhall Snooze?

Hello. The latest new involves a round hole, and a square. Peg "what to play instead of Bloodbraid Elf." Not really, I'm interested in Modern but never had a feeling that I should play Jund. I have the colours, bringing Seismic Loam wherever I go, but never wanted to play the Jund.

I did see one small red drop, Bloodhall Ooze. I like these tiny creatures that unimpressive at very first, or entirely on their own, but with a simple deck constructing premise, say, being black green and red, they're utter monsters. Wild Nacatl no longer legal? Bloodhall Ooze is a 1/1 upon entry, and then after very quickly a 2/2 and then 4/4, permanently. And if they spend cards and mana to deal with it they can only ever match it, or spend more than it, so that's awfully nice. And on a developed board that +2/+2 is rather gaurenteed.

It's these clever small cards that I find, and imagine I'd play myself if I were piloting those decks. I'm sure lots of people have had the thought, but opted for the "common sense" or consensus better choice, but the truth is both work. Not only that, but whatever is better has differing characteristics from #2, and who's to say that fighting option 1 fights number 2 just as easily?

Nacatl was a 3/3 attacking on turn 2, while Bloodhall Ooze can't get that quick. On the other hand though, it just keeps growing. Pay R, once, for an eventual 5/5 monster. And if dealt with your whole turn wasn't spent on just one card! I could see this being adapted moreso everywhere, but I also feel a tiny sting of pride.

Because I thought so, CPal90. I thought so too! It's a bit like being a cheerleader for a certain card, and when it shows up Woo you cheer. You knew it was potentially good, and that everyone would know that -- it's not like you're the first person to ever do anything. But to see it played, to a 4-0 finish, you're happy inside.

My little red drop that could.

Reworkin', y'all?

So in the latest few articles I've been reading, the best one is usually a PV article, because that man is just so damned good at thinking completely outside of Magic. He's not a good player, he's a good thinker, and Magic just happens to be what he's doing when he beats you.

The article in question is this one: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/pvs-playhouse-the-core-resources/http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/pvs-playhouse-the-core-resources/

It talks a good deal about time, life and cards, and which resource is more important in which types of match ups, the three mains being Combo, Control and Aggro. I wont bore you with my bastardisation of the article, go and read it for yourself. He puts it better than anyone else could have.

Having read it though, I remembered another age-old article about how a burn deck burns. If they can play enough 3 damage, R costed spells, they only need 7 spells to win. The problem is so many cards can get around it, such as Control's plethora of counters, card draw, etc, or Combo simply not caring and waiting until the last chance to go off.

This lead me to the idea of counting cards for damage. Char and Psychic Blast deal 4 apiece, and that means you'd only need 5 to kill an opponent. Not only that, but the 3 cost 4 damage spell enjoys the Flames of the Bloodhand type spell, which is really 4 damage plus life, or in some cases Flame Javalin, though at RRR it'll be hardest to cast.

I'm also a big fan of blue red white, because it seems to be my natural go-to. If you give me a sealed pool, I'll try and build blue white flyers with red sweepers. I wont always get it, but I'm happiest playing it. So to that end, we're thinking of a Modern deck, WUR, and something different from those that have gone before.

I'm sure I'm not the first, but it's the first I've seen of it. So here's the list, I imagine.

4 Steam Vents
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Arid Mesa
2 Mountains
1 Island
1 Plains
X xxx
---
22+ lands

4 Goblin Guide
---
4 creatures

4 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
4 Char
4 Psychic Blast
3 Pulse of the Forge
4 Terminus
4 Supreme Verdict
2 Planar Cleansing
2-3 Demon's Play
X Chandra, the Firebrand
---
34+ others

I don't believe the deck would have mana base problems, and it responds well to every kind of threat. Planar Cleansing deals with trouble PWs, while Mana Leak plays permission and Bolt/Path both control the creature world. We're not worried about accelerating their lands for a creature, because it means they've paid 1GW for a Land, not a Knight of the Reliquary, etc.

All the sweepers simply eat up aggro decks, while against Control... we simply race them with Chandra doubling up on Devil's Play, which also acts double as creature removal and then finisher (double X damage with a Chandra's -2).

The sideboard has the right colours to allow us some real fun, by which I mean cards that nail archetypes. We've got Rest in Peace for any graveyard, and blue tricks for the combo dance, namely Commandeer to steal their key permanent. We're not worried about giving up three cards if we steal their only piece needed to complete a Combo, we're trading cards for time enough to kill them.

Gather Specimens and Volition Reins allows us to steal very good PWs or late game giant monsters, like a topdecked Broodmate Dragon/Armada Wurm against the aggro decks.

Against aggro, we'll assume Naya Zoo, we pack in the Terminus and sweep.

It's true Psychic Blast and Char hurts us as well, but it's the flexibility of colours that make us play it over a straight red burn deck, and we also don't fold to a turn 0 Leyline. That's key to this deck---we are burn, but not "stupid" burn. But to my point, where does the damage leave us? Probably weaker against the opponent, so that Pulse of the Forge can come back! We may experiment with other cards that want our life for tricks, but maybe not. If we're playing key creatures Spellskite is always an option, as we can save our repeatable damage source Goblin Guide with the additional safety of Spellskite's ability, plus we throw away our life in 2 point chunks until we're able to burn twice end of turn and again in our main. Is 12 outta nowhere OK with you?

The deck needs testing, but this is the main ideas so far. I'd love to point out that France, Australia, New Zealand and England all have red white and blue EXCLUSIVELY in their flags, so I'm gonna call it Australian Revolution.

PS, I fixed the land!

Here's a list, lately. It's edited from the GP New Zealand deck run by Walker MacMurdo with minor tweaks, to suit my meta and to accomodate my lack of a fourth Angel. What do you think, and be honest.



Main Deck
60 cards

4  Blood Crypt
3  Clifftop Retreat
4  Overgrown Tomb
2  Rootbound Crag
1  Slayers' Stronghold
3  Sunpetal Grove
4  Temple Garden
2  Woodland Cemetery
23 lands

1  Acidic Slime
3  Angel of Serenity
1 Gisella, Blade of Goldnight
2 Deathrite Shaman
1  Centaur Healer
1  Craterhoof Behemoth
1  Griselbrand
4  Thragtusk
14 creatures

2  Dreadbore
4  Faithless Looting
4  Grisly Salvage
3  Lingering Souls
4  Mulch
2 Terminus
4  Unburial Rites
23 other spells

Sideboard
1  Abrupt Decay
3  Centaur Healer
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Sever the Bloodlime
2 Terminus
1  Mizzium Mortars
2  Rolling Temblor
1  Sever the Bloodline
2  Slaughter Games
1  Zealous Conscripts

The lands are exactly the same, though Godless Shrine and Sacred Foundry are now Standard. I figure we don't want 8 more lands they pain us to come into play, and considering how quick this deck can (wants to?) win the more lands that come into play untapped the better... Having said that, the previous few will almost always come into play untapped, assuming I'm at 3+, but we don't need that much hurt while we're setting up super revival combo.

There is certainly space for monsters fresh from Gatecrash, in particular the Sepulchral Primordial looks delish for the MIRROR. My god, revive my hulk AND your Craterhoof? Geniusness. For the moment though I'm just trying to iron out numbers.

2 Terminus main/SB. This is because monsters are everywhere, and having no chance game 1 is trite, and I want the full four when the S hits the F.
2 Deathrite Shaman main. These started in the board, but seeing how many lands I put into the bin via Faithless Looting/Grisly Salvage they're practically birds that survive 1 damage pokes. Plus the colour fixing. With a perfect turn 1 Faithless Looting we dump fatty and and Unburial Rites, turn 2 we have a Shaman and some land enter the big, then flashback turn 3. That is QUICK. The Centaur Healers went to the sideboard for the Deathrites. They're good critters in general, but "in general" is not how Standard seems to be at the moment. Against the decks that'll obviously have graveyard hate they make good drops, especially if spat out turn 2 by an active Shaman from turn 1.
O Ring and 1 Sever moved to sideboard because they're still useful against some creature decks, but Terminus deals with all creatures for just W. I lose my creatures yes, but I'm assuming until I go off that's not really an issue.
The 4th Angel of Serenity could have been many things, but I opted for the Gisella. There's plenty of signs drawn from an opponent's mouth when she shows up, as they realise 1 damage is halved to 0, and they're going to take lots of damage if they can't deal with her. Doubled with Slayers Stronghold we can revive via flashback'd Unburial Rites, then haste and Vigilance Gisella in the same turn. Fancy 12 damage and a 10 power first striking blocker?

Apart from those differences, the deck remains the same. Dump fatty into bin, revive and beat. We only have the one Craterhoof, but we can dig like mad with 12 spells and a variety of creatures.

I'll let you know how it goes friday.

Changing of the Guard!!

Something kind of big, yet still micro in terms of the wider world of Magic. I'm writing my last article for Good Games, and after that, will be writing exclusively for Mega Games! They're my local (no JD or Ammonium or Matt's) and I'm well known at the store, and sure to get better coverage. So that in itself is a bonus. Plus at the same rate, what's not to love?

I imagine the title will stay the same, simply "Murdoch Monthly", but be on the Mega Games website, http://www.megagames.com.au, and posted all over their Facebook page, as well as my own and that Magic the Gathering: Untapped group. So that's good.

I've been writing for the past three years for GG, and they've been good with the payment and I'm relatively well known amongst the peoples, but the lack of response I got usually doesn't help write better, or even let me know how my articles were received. I usually asked people myself, and that was it.

I imagine too that I'll add a regular answers section at the bottom of each article, because Mega Games has a very casual/relaxed scene, and plenty of questions, so that'll be fun. I've always wanted my own rules Q article!

In other news, we're split on the GPs coming up in the year. It seems like the team will split on GP Hongkong and GP Brisbane, with the other three going overseas, and me going interstate. Wee! More later.

Thoughts n other trappings

Hello readers! Good news on the GP front, our own JDNoice went 7-0-1 on day 1 of GP Sydney, coming 5th at the end of the day! That is TREMENDOUS considering his humble deck, with consistent numbers of power-commons, as opposed to ANY outrageous obvious bombs (Rat Pack, we hate you).

Though I'm here to post a look into my thoughts when digging through cards. It started as a way to simply look over creatures from standard, to see what decks didn't present themselves. It basically involved going through Gatherer (great resource) and writing down all the cards that stood out, that WEREN'T obvious (so don't bother listing Snapcaster, we know he's good) and including a small note on the deck or idea that jumps out at you. So I'll give you the list, skim over it, and see what I mean. Then I'll highlight a silly card that's actually bloody strong.


12 mana dorks (deathrite needs a land
4 denial mans (judge's familiar)

Ash Zealot gets in there
Augur draws you a spell (info revealed)
Blood artist wrath-bombs (soft to Terminus)
Dawntreader as slow bad rampart growth
Deadly Recluse (GREAT answer to dragons)
Deranged assistant (milling and biger mana dork == potential for blue Rites)
Flinthoof Boar (gets in there, green gruul version
Fog Bank holds the fort but no against ETB dragons
Goblin Electromancer saves 1mana a turn (5 turns, 5 mana) check out spells
Mayor of Avabruck (turn 2 aggro play, esp for junk Rites with Grsly Salvage for

instant OPs EOT casting
Mindshriker (cast Azoriouis Charm on their Wurm, then activate)
New prahv guildmage eats a long game (detain until team fly for win)
Precinct captain ( set up 2 drop, allows 2/1 griffin to attak, then turn 3

Goblin with THREE ATATCKERS ability
vhitu-ghazi guildmage (team up Bant mages)

arctic aven (forgotten good racing threew drop u/w
armored skaab (blue/white rites)
axebane guardian (standard guardians)
Fiend Hunter ('target creature, soft to removal)
guttersnipe (u/r goblin spells deck)
harbor bandit (u/b finisher)
hover barrier
Immerwolf (+Magehunter hardish lock)
loxodon smiter (turn 2 4/4, with mana dorks)
lyev skynight (get there until bant takes over)
mwonvuli beast tracker
thraben doomsayer (drop after successful terminus, hurts hey?)

krenko? no goblinds deck in standard
yeva

acidic slime
azors elocutors
bitterheart witch (mwonvuli onto deck, grisly/mulch, block kill curse of deaths

hold
bloodgift demon
Fiend of the Shadows (mirror breaker, play THEIR deck for YOU
geist-honored monk
hypersonic dragon
rakdos ragemutt (break mirror for win, otherwise great)
silklash spider (in mirror v junk reanimator)
voidwielder
vorapede (too Green)

Bruna? deck
captain of the watch (geist-honored monk fuel)
goldnight redeemer (token deck keepaliver
isperia
markov warlord (finisher in any deck, red splash easy)
mikaus the unhallowed
necropolis regent (better in Modern off of scout's warning passage blockers
sphinx of chimes

eldarscale wurm
gisella, blade of goldnight

stormtide in u/w reanimator as finisher n giggles

So that's it order of cost. No mention on the only 11 drop Worldspine Wurm, because there's no Instant speed ressurection in standard (though Modern enjoys some Makeshift Mannequin).

Two cards popped out, and one newish deck idea. Mwonvuli Beast Tracker was always an interesting card, and very forboding. Get a huge range of creatures, but put them on top of your deck. Well, that's not normally very good, because I'm sure most ppl want their creatures now. I assume the waiting a turn is what made the card unplayable in the first place, but when you put MBT into the already popular (and mostly fun) Junk Reanimator it becomes quite palatable.

For starters, we can suddenly play a bunch of one-of's that are really good in certain situations. Silk Lash Spider is great at eating the sky and holding off 5/6 Angel beats, then nuking the skies. Acidic Slime is good at dealing with problem permanents. Etc etc, just click on this link: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&type=+[%22Creature%22]&format=|[%22Standard%22]&text=|[reach]|[deathtouch]|[trample]+![soulbond]|[hexproof]&name=+![%22mwonvuli%20beast%20tracker%22] or copy and paste if that doesn't work.

Once you've got the critter you want, you need to Mulch or Grisly Salvage it into the bin. That's quite easy enough, because both allow you to miss, unless you flip no creatures BUT your target. Then reanimate as usual.

This gives the deck an amount of consistency QUICKER than all the rest. Sure, you can play varying versions. There are 8 milling spells as default, being the playset each of Mulch (look at 4, keep the lands) and Grisly Salvage (revealed 5, keep 1 land/critter). Those splashing for red also get Faithless Looting, which I agree with entirely. It only looks 2 deep when you cast the first half, but the ability to keep "Fatty hands" really improves the deck, and it's very easy to turn 1 Faithless Looting and set up an Unburial Rites and FATTY OF CHOICE on the first time! Do they have the Rest in Peace now, or not? The second casting gets you another two, but seeing there's four Faithless Looting that's PLENTY of secondary casting during each turn of the game that you can't reanimate for the win.

So you've got the normal 8, the red splashed 12, or the Mwonvuli Beast Tracker Exactsies. This can act as searches 13-16 in the right build (hell, the mana cost is NOT a problem) and with the right set up you can get your turn 5 into turn 6 Rites win pretty nice. It can even play mini-Brainstorm, allowing you to safely hide your most desired fatty on top on your deck, while your clever opponent Rakdos Charms your graveyard away (not knowing your plans to EOT Grisly Salvage, dumping in Critter X, and casting Rites from hand next turn.

Sweet. Potentially strong, and DIRECT. That thing we like in Magic, yeah?

Peace all, happy new years.

GP Sydney WORK UP

Work up, work out. Same thing! Today I have posted another article to Good Games Sydney, but that takes too long! Here is my break down of how to build for Sealed, and in particular a run down of the Commons for Ravnica.

Team You Don't Say will definately be there, and we will rip a new arse into the fabric of Magic/space/time in Sydney. Aside from that, my mate Petr (hilarious writer and only artist over at http://nyxathidgoestotown.com/) plans on ambushing the ChannelFireball.com crew and asking for a writing post. Good luck to him!

Aside from that, have at you!

This IS just a preview, the full article will only be on Good Games site.

Aerial Predation will stop everyone’s plans, if they’re after a flying attack. If you see any big slow flyers bring it in, considering Isperia, Desecration Demon, etc etc, are all game finishers if left unchecked. As for whether you could maindeck it, I’d say “definitely” but still with some caution. If you had Thoughtflare and a flightless opponent, you could gain some value of a AP with no target by having it ready to discard.

Annihilating Fire exiles a creature, so bring it in against scavenge opponents or someone playing recursion ala Treasured Find. Although “bring it in” sounds kind of stupid, don’t forget it’s a hard splash because of the RR in its cost. If it’s not in your main colours try another piece of removal that’s not so tight.

Augur Spree kills a lot of things, considering it deals with 4 toughness. Be clever and smart, and do NOT cast on your opponent’s turn. I’ve seen entire games swing hugely in one players favour after they attacked with a mere Daggerdrome Imp. A 2/2 from scavenge, the Imp attacked and was killed with Augur Spree. Well, nearly. Giant Growth made the Imp a 9 power lifelink, and that was game. Cast it on your turn, and do note it kills regenerators/indestructible critters dead.

Avenging Arrow has a “cute” damage dealt application. Izzet Staticaster can be killed after it’s dealt damage. Niv-Mizzet shooting you pre-combat can be killed by it. On the other hand, Rix Maadi Guildmage isn’t a target after using it’s -1/-1 ability. Exercise caution and read cards you’re hoping to kill with it. Does it actually say “damage”?

Axebane Guardian is an archetype all its own. It blocks. They might have more Defenders. It provides a LOT of mana in multiples and fixes mana too. A turn 3 Axebane Guardian can mean a turn 4 Armada Wurm. The potential here is incredible, so I’d suggest killing one on-sight games 2/3 if you’re seen anything scary, and in game 1? Do you think their plays thus far mean they have ‘that bomb’ in hand, or is it simply a blocker to help them survive?

Axebane Stag is huge, and easy to splash, and if games go long you can expect one. Ideal for Ultimate Price or Stab Wound, perhaps.

Catacomb Slug is brilliant, and wonderful, and no one knows about it. It’s just our secret tech, OK? For five mana you get 6 toughness, which HOLDS OFF half an Armada Wurm all day. And 2 power to boot, that kills a lot of would-be attackers. The SECOND this guy hits the field your opponent is going to need prompt removal, or consider shuffling.

Centaur Healer will be played all day by all manner of players. It’s a good on-curve 3/3, and gaining three life can undo the first two turns beatings.

Chorus of Might might just win the game. +X/+X and trample is always huge, and if you suspect it from the opponent, trade where possible. If your opponent has creatures that look good for beating but they aren’t attacking, also be concerned. They might just be scared of your removal, but there’s also a chance they’re saving body-count for a big ‘Might or Collective Blessing.

Common Bond is a great card, because it ticks a lot of the above. It’s a spell that kills a creature (surprise, mine is bigger!) while also advancing your clock (+2 power should do that in many cases). It’s cheap, but it’s also so good that it’s obvious. If you suspect it, keep a trick handy.

Cremate is a cute answer to graveyard shinanigans. If you saw HORRIBLE GIANT SCAVENGE CREATURE game 1, or Treasured Find, bring this in. Even if you never need to use it, it cycles for B.

Daggerdrome Imp can come down turn 2 and keep going all game. With any pump he’s ridiculous, without he can level the very earliest turns of a game before blocking to save you alota pain and gain a final point of life.

Dead Reveler is your standard Rakdos bash deck frontliner, seeing he’s common and a 3/4 at just three mana. As with all Unleash creatures, you can force them into “can’t block” mode if you’re able to put a +1/+1 counter on them somehow (scavenge, Common Bond). That’ll be relevant at some point, believe me.

Deviant Glee is good because it’s quick, but great because it grants trample. So Rakdos has the best time with this Aura of dangerousness! Having said that, it isn’t another creature, so you can kill the creature it is on and ride to card advantage victory! Beware of Deviant Glee on Daggerdrome Imp for early lifelink beatdowns.

Dispel is worthy of noting, because there is a great chance you spent more on your Instant then Dispel. Unless you Dispel Dispel, but whatever. Make sure you read your cards type line when killing your opponent’s stuff. Rites of Reaping is a Sorcery, right? Launch Party is an Instant, right? Also beware the untapped Transguild Promenade.

Doorkeeper might be just a blocker and very slow plan Z for winning, or a sign that the opponent is Defenders.dec. That might indicate more Axebane Guardians and Lobber Crews.

Dramatic Rescue kills a token, bounces a huge monster that took until turn 7 (and a turn’s worth of mana) to show up, and otherwise saves your guys. It’s good, but not a reason itself to play blue/white.

Druid’s Deliverance is shocking when you don’t expect it. Especially when it’ll populate another 8/8 into play. You can apply pressure forcing the opponent to fog early, or simply have a killspell for their biggest token when it comes about. Do note – 8/8 vigilance tokens aren’t mono coloured.

Dynacharge is another small version of the “keep your creature count high” type cards, like Collective Blessing. You can lose outta nowhere if you don’t count the possibility of another +2 per attacker.

Electrickery is the only common that kills a turn 2 Rat Pack. 1 damage can do massive things against the blue/white flyers deck, or the white/green aggro ground pounders deck, so it’s worth maindeck inclusion. Also if you’re lucky enough to open Rat Pack wait til turn 5 when you can drop and activate in the one turn. No reason to give your opponent the chance to Electrickery it, right?

Essence Backlash. The only note here is that it’s based on POWER, not casting cost. Hilarious against the Worldspine Wurm player.

Explosive Impact has an explosive impact in any game. Every one of your opponents can go Mountain, Impact for the win. Or deal five damage wherever they like! The card is easily splashable, will always do something good for you and shouldn’t be in your sideboard, ever. Unless you got zero red sources in your mana pool, and even then simply adding two Mountains to your land base could be worth it.

Eyes in the Skies is another reason why breakneck aggro isn’t great. By breakneck I mean any and all creatures that have power = casting cost, meaning a lot of 1 toughness guys. Eyes in the Skies reads “populate”, not “get two Birds”, which is something to note. Centaurs outta nowhere are scarier than 1/1 Birds.

Frostburn Weird is everyone’s nightmare. It blocks super well early, it wears a Deviant Glee very well, it bashes aggressively late game, can even kill itself if enchanted with a Stab Wound and dodges an Ultimate Price pretty easily. He’s great.

Gatecreeper Vine isn’t necessarily a sign of the Defender deck, because it’s flexible fixing no matter your deck. Might just be getting your Gate so your Ogre Jailbreaker can attack, for example.

Giant Growth is pretty scary. It saves a creature while it kills theirs, or simply pumps them to death. Works great with Wild Beastmaster.

Goblin Electromancer will save you a mana or two before it might die, but Explosive Impact for only five mana is really nuts, and Mizzium Mortars becomes Flame Slash with overload. Or it’s just a 2/2 to block for one turn while you see if you don’t draw that wrath you need.

Golgari Longlegs should show up everywhere he can. Seeing he’s hybrid he’s practically colorless in Golgari decks, so a 5/4 anytime is great.

Gorehouse Chainwalker is scary. Allows for racing.

Horncaller’s Chant I’m actually against. I liked it when I first saw it, but 8 mana is CRAZY to pay. Granted, this is the format where a stalled board is bound to occur, and having 8 trampling power can deal with that, but drawing it any time before you reach 8 mana is really bad beats.

Hussar Patrol, expect it every turn 4.

Inaction Injunction can be great against the early Rakdos beats, but against other decks that aren’t ready to go to town that early, it can be just a cycler.

Inspiration you know I love. Play it if you’re blue.

Keening Apparition is quite funny, because it’s the first time I’ve thought this ability was an auto include in Sealed. Stab Wound, Knightly Valor at common, Detention Sphere and Collective Blessing at rare, there is plenty of Enchantments to beware. Otherwise it’s a turn two 2/2 that beats!

Knightly Valor is an apex predator. When it comes down, if it sticks, it’s really bad for whoever didn’t play it. It makes an attacker into a lethal attacker, and comes with an extra 2 power that can attack and defend. What’s not to love? It’s splashable, though it seems quite out of sorts if it suddenly pops up in a Rakdos build. Think of any typical Rakdos opening hand, then add this. Still strong though, but imagine a Thrill-Kill Assassin, unleashed with this on? 4/5 vigilance deathtouch with buddy? I think the main point is, this makes anything into a proper threat, BUT beware all the usual rules for playing Auras. If they kill the target, you don’t get even a 2/2 and spent all your mana!

Korozda Monitor is a fine 3/3 trample for 4. And if it dies, the scavenge is totally relevant, at some point in the future. As with Daggerdrome Imp any kind of pump will make it ever scarier, but towards late game he can play blocker than pump next turn and really swing things around. You Lizard fans should be proud.

Launch Party kills everything, even one of your guys. The two life can be relevant, and maybe you want someone to die, maybe someone your opponent has targeted with Stab Wound when you’re on very low life? It loses plenty of potential when you don’t have any creatures that play nice with the graveyard.

Lobbercrew should kill you at some point during an entire GP. One damage a turn with 4 blocking toughness, as well as a free ping for every multi-coloured spell! Beware the sloppy playing opponent, if they say “Do you mind?” you do mind! Don’t let them have damage triggers they missed.

Mind Rot is something to be aware of against the black players. Keep extra lands in hand, or if you’re both in topdeck mode it’s worth playing the first land you draw, then keeping the second one to bait out a suspected Mind Rot. Seeing you play the first one your opponent will think you’re playing them all out, until you keep a card back, which clearly isn’t a Land. Right?

Mizzium Skin may counter spells, watch out. Also +0/+1 toughness is quite underrated as a combat trick.

Pursuit of Flight is pretty much the same as Deviant Glee. Flight over trample closes more games out, but blue/red seems to be a wonky combination in most cases anyway.

Rakdos Shred-Freak. You’d need a lot of guys like this to make the aggro deck and make it well, but if you can then you’re at a real advantage because it’s certainly not expected. Just imagine how you’ll feel when the board is stalled, and you need to break through, drawing this :/.

Rootborn Defenses is the same as Druid’s Deliverance. Win a combat, get a 3/3 or 8/8 or 4/4 trample. Indestructible is relevant, it usually means your own tricks will only save your guys, not kill theirs.

Rubbleback Rhino should not be underestimated. Much like the days of Hexproof Magic 2012 this guy is where you plant your Auras that you need to resolve. Not only that, he’s a gaurenteed blocker. As a 3/4 for five he’s power and toughness ain’t the brilliantest, but that’s not what you’re playing him for.

Runewing is great for block n trade. You’re not down a card, and probably killed an X/2 on the way.

Seller of Songbirds is irritating for sure. Do you know how many bird token populates this card has been responsible for? We asked MODO to calculate the number and it rebooted the system.

Sewer Shambler’s benefit of having Swampwalk comes at the cost of playing Swamps yourself! It’s possible to splash without a single Swamp, but those deck building acrobatics are up to you.

Skull Rend is good as long as the opponent has cards in hand. Not great against Mr Graveyard. Two damage can be redirected to Planeswalkers, but hitting two pieces of removal and leaving the opponent with Land, Land in hand is a bit like a four for one. Of course you won’t know that’s what happened, unless your opponent’s face looks like this:

[image: you don’t say]

Sluiceway Scorpion blocks anyone, like an 8/8, then pumps someone else. Great!

Stab Wound. Splash it. Enchants anything, kills the opponent a bit, kills off quite a few creatures.

Stealer of Secrets really wants a Rogue’s Passage to dominate a game, but occasionally an opponent just won’t have a turn 3 blocker.

Sundering Growth is good all-round removal for troublesome cards, but feels more for the combo populate player. With a Detention Sphere, you can drop the Sphere, target their anything, but before that resolves cast Sundering Growth on it! You get another 8/8 token, then Sphere is destroyed, returning NOTHING to play (nothing’s been exiled yet). Then the original target of Detention Sphere is gone forever. Nice, hey?

Swift Justice is just as potentially devastating, and therefore just as obvious, as Giant Growth. The lifelink will throw a spanner in many a beatdown players plans, but not if they plan for it accordingly.

Syncopate means play your Lands before you cast your spells, OR have your own Dispel ready. It can target any spell however, so that’s good.

“David Tenement” Crasher here means you can’t be resting easy against the red opponents. You may just have to leave back TWO blockers.

Towering Indrik is quite a good blocker, and stops flyers too, but if you’re looking at a hand full of creatures and can’t choose which one, drop this one first. Your other “flavoured” animals can do better work later in the game, as TI simply makes it hard for their early attack to get there.

Trained Caracal says no. Probably a teensy bit less than Bellows Lizard, who you’ll notice never even got a mention. Friends don’t let friends play Trained Caracal/Bellows Lizard.

Traitorous Instinct is bound to be in the decks that do get aggro, and have red. There’s nothing better than a solid 5/5 blocker on the opponents side, so you can turn it into a 7/5 attacker for you. Swing them down to Just About Dead with Explosive Impact to finish the game. This is another reason why Rubbleback Rhino isn’t a bad card.

Transguild Promenade is better in Sealed than Draft, because as we said earlier it’s not so fast a format. If you need fixing, play it. It’s “keep guessing” value should also be pretty good. With just one of any mana available, you can Giant Growth, Dispel, Swift Justice or Electrickery. What do?

Trestle Troll will stop a lot of attacks, and regenerates, so while he’s a good indicator you’re against the Defenders deck, he’s not a lock. He’s always a good blocker, but certainly horrible as a splash because you need to save your mana for regenerating every turn.

Trostani’s Judgment is probably the most powerful removal spell in the set, seeing nothing can really dodge it save hexproof, and populate once again allows you to really swing the game in your favour. Especially at instant. It’s well worth the six mana.

Voidwielder kills a token and blocks whoever’s left, so he’ll show up in blue defensive decks, and I don’t imagine he’d be a bad splash in nonblue decks against tokens, for example. He has an immediate impact when he shows up, and can continue to block for many good turns thereafter.