GP Auckland side events!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Introducing Team "Constantly"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'll keep you posted.

Fox Murdoch.

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

Suggestions welcome!

New front page image! Constantly.

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

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

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

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

Blokey Stuff's event

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

M13, university and general chit-chat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers, Fox.

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

Maybe this post will make it easier? Ta da!