magic-junkie

MTGO Pauper decks 2013

2013-04-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Pauper is a cheap and effective way to enter the constructed ques of magic online and if played correctly make some extra tickets to buy those standard staples or just draft different sets. Here is a list of the most competitive tier 1 decks that can get you there and their average price.

Pauper 8 post

Pauper 8 post is a combo deck that exploits spells that will untap your post and thus produce tons of mana you can exploit for a huge Kaervek's torch or a stormy temporal fissure. It is a fun deck to play but will take a lot of time and practice to master it.
Most expensive card: Cloud of fairies ( 7 tickets )

Estimated value: 60 tickets

Pauper Affinity

Affinity in pauper exploits casting a lot of free spells while trying to beat down your opponent or you can go off with a huge atog swing and fling. This deck is fast and will not let your opponents stabilise alas it can be easily hated after sideboard.

Most expensive card: Gorilla shaman (5-6 tickets)

Estimated value: 30 tickets

Goblins

Good old cheap and fast goblins!

Most expensive card: Raze (1-2 tickets)

Estimated value: 8 tickets

Elves

Swarm the battlefield with a dozen creatures and make your opponent concede to the superiority of your huge army. Thats what this deck does and it does it well.

Most expensive card: Quirion Ranger (1-2 tickets)

Estimated value: 20 tickets

Monoblue Delver

If you love delver of secrets and tempo swings this is just the deck for you. It is one of the strongest pauper strategies and will provide answers for most decks via countermagic . Though it is one of the most expensive choices for battle in pauper.

Most expensive card: Daze (10 tickets)

Estimated value: 85 tickets

These are some of the most commonly used decks in pauper in the current field. I advise that you make your choice and do battle through such a huge variety of decks . It is a great format and it gives you a touch of the strength of the eternal formats.

Ral Zarek value in the current standard.

2013-04-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

So this is the planeswalker of the final part of Return to Ravnica. At first glance he looks spicy and those abilities are all we can wish from a planeswalker right? A +1 with some effect on the board, a -2 that can protect itself and an ultimate that will win you the game . Is this planeswalker good though?

My opinion is that this walker is average. And as far as the current standard is concerned ,he is mediocre. Lets look at his abilities and their use in a standard match.

+1 : This ability may look to come in handy and it will BUT in order for this ability to be relevant he have to be beating and not controlling the game. So unless there is a viable UR aggro strategy in standard all this ability will do is untap a land or a blocker that will offer nothing against incoming aristocrats or hellriders or pumped creatures via rampagers.

-2: A bolt ,thats all , and it costs four mana...

-7 : You win the game , probably , unless you are really bad at tossing coins but if you have managed to protect this walker till now you should be winning anyway...

Ral Zarek will have a high price range as all planeswalkers do at the launch of this set but after all is set he will plunge to a minimal value unless some strategy evolves that will make the most of this walker. Such a possibility seems distant and i dont expect Zarek to be seen in the top tables at least for the coming 3 months.

Preordering at the 30$ price range seems a bit bad expected value but if you cant wait to acquire a playset of the first UR walker that is outright worse than the older WR walker (ajani vengeant ) you can feel free to do so.After all take a glimpse of the only planeswalker that is similar to Zarek and make your own decisions.

All Zareks abilities seem just worse...

Dragon's Maze New Standard and Pauper Gems

2013-04-24T07:07:00.001-07:00

Dragon's Maze has been spoiled and we are off to the prerelease weekend. Which of those new cards will have an impact on constructed play?
Let's have a look at some of the most promising cards Dragon's Maze will bring to us.

Phytoburst

Phytoburst offers 2 mana for five damage. In the current standard it might see some play but this card will be unique in pauper as it can aid Infect and monogreen aggro strategies.

Skylasher

Skylasher will be an optimal sideboard choice if delver and generally blue aggro strategies become a tier one option in standard.

Deputy of Acquittals

The Deputy will certainly be a card of choice for UW and Bant strategies as it is an effective combat trick that can save ur restoration angel , snapcaster mage or even a thragtusk from supreme verdict or removal and still provide a 2/2 body on the battlefield.

Legions Initiative

Legion's Initiative will be a chase mythic if a boros strategy becomes viable in the new standard. It is excellent with Boros Reckoner and it provides protection from any wrath effects. It is still an anthem for red creatures but will not work well with your lingering souls tokens.Preordering a playset of those would be a good idea if they can be acquired at around 35-40$ for a playset.

Spike Jester

3/1 haste for 2 cmc in rakdos? Count me in. This card is exceptional for all in aggro strategies.He will be around for the next year or so giving the beats in standard.

Unflinching Courage

And there will be a lot of bant auras for the months to come.... Enough said..It is just a better gift at a better colour combination.

Those are cards that are bound to see constructed play in the first weeks after the release of Dragon's Maze. Their power level is high and they have a lot to offer to the current metagame.

Mtgo Scammers.

2012-09-06T05:16:00.001-07:00

Mtgo Scammer list:

MTGO id : Repeal . He scams users by saying he will sell them tickets via pokerstars account , he receives money and sends back no tickets .

His pokerstars id is Tyrobz ( Canada )

This list will be updated regurarly to avoid scammers get their free dollars on mtgo .

The truth about the Modo shuffler...

2012-08-17T03:46:00.000-07:00

Avacyn, Angel of Hope spoiled!!

2012-04-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

Live mtgo streaming

2012-01-27T13:24:00.001-08:00

For those of you that like watching mtgo drafts , sealed or constructed events you can join my stream channel and have a nice time watching live events on mtgo! The channel's url is http://www.livestream.com/mtgo2012

So if you wish some live action check this out!

Dark Ascension first Spoiler. Faithless Looting.

2011-11-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

Well after a long time of inactivity i am back in the game . Presenting a very nice rare from the dark ascension , the second part of the Innistrad Block. Faithless Looting.

Jace the mind sculptor Banned in standard!!

2011-06-20T00:07:00.001-07:00

Effective Date: July 1, 2011
Magic Online Effective Date: June 29, 2011

Standard
Jace, the Mind Sculptor is banned.
Stoneforge Mystic is banned.

Exception: The deck list for the "War of Attrition" Event Deck will be legal in Standard if kept completely intact. That deck, which went on sale on June 10, contains two copies of Stoneforge Mystic.

On Magic Online, Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic will both be banned in Standard as of the June 29, 2011 downtime. There will be no exceptions made for the Event Deck containing Stoneforge Mystic, as that deck will not be sold online.

I hope magic doesnt evolve into yugioh soon....

Some new won drafts !! Analysis coming soon on Som block drafts!

2011-06-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ok this draft was unfair and too bomb dependent but it led to an easy 3-0!
Lets get with a mythicless 3-0 record!

Jor kadeen first pick is such a guarantee to a succesful 3-0 record , I strongly advise taking him over most removals and other bombs!It is the new age metalcraft overrun on legs and first strike!

Som 3-0 U/Binfect

2011-06-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sheoldred ,whispering one spoiled!

2011-04-14T07:48:00.000-07:00

5BB

6/6

Swampwalk

At the beginning of your upkeep,return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep,that player sacrifices a creature.

New phyrexia surgical extraction spoiler

2011-04-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here is another spoiler that will definately see some play in from the new phyrexia set!

Spending 200$ on a playset of karn the released is a bad idea!!

2011-04-06T14:02:00.000-07:00

I have come across people on ebay spending 200$ on a playset of the new karn on presale!!!That is one of the worst investments i have come across on magic cards lately!Dont do that ,the set hasnt had a lot of cards spoiled and you should also consider that Karn is a card with seven converted mana cost and its type is planeswalker!!!

First of all 7 as a converted mana cost is something hard to reach in standard format ESPECIALLY when zendikar mana ramp rotates out of standard.(harrow, explore,overgrown battlement).Primeval titan hits the floor at six mana and most times he wins the game the next turn if not the turn it hits the battlefield.Karn doesnt do that.More than that you are not going to use karn as a four of at its mana cost.Seven is a lot of mana!!

Karn decks will emerge thats for sure , but 50$ each is more than the price of chase mythic the past sets.Koth settled at 25$, vengevine at 30$.Karn doesnt seem to be more than that even if it sees so much play.Which i doubt as seven mana will only make him see standard play.Extended , legacy and vintage is out of the question especially when people in legacy kill on turn one!

If there are more good mythics which i am certain karn will certainly have an average price ,with 50$ dollars i predict that you will be able to buy 2 or more karn the released after summer.This one i can bet on!Even if you have the money to invest on magic you should wait till more cards get spoiled and karns price drops as a presale.50 a card wasnt viable on jace the mind sculptor....How can it be on a seven mana plainswalker???

Bolas had similar extreme abilities as a planeswalker and saw little play,how could karn have a much better fate?

So wait till you see more!Dont hit buy blindfoldedly on every kewl planeswalker that shows around until he sees some play potential!!

Apart from that we might see the green planeswalker we are missing on new phyrexia,will Melira make an appearance?

If so will she be a four mana playable planeswalker and potentially the chase mythic of the set?So just dont spend half a jace on everything they throw at you!!!

New phyrexia spoilers! (with english translation)

2011-04-04T16:47:00.000-07:00

Phyrexian Canceller
Mythic

Creature - Horror
5/5
Trample
Whenever a source deals damage to Phyrexian Canceller, that source's controller sacrifices that many permanents.
"It is blessed compleatness." --Sheoldred, Whispering One

Puresteel Paladin
Rare

2/2
Creature - Human Knight
Whenever an Equipment enters the battlefield under your control, you may draw a card.
Metalcraft - As long as you control 3 or more artifacts, equipments you control have equip 0.

Norn's Annex
Rare
{PW}{PW}
Artifact
({PW} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
Creatures can't attack you or Planeswalkers you control unless their controller pays P for each attacking creature.

Caged Sun
Rare

When Caged Sun enters the battlefield, choose a color.
Creatures you control of the chosen color have +1/+1.
Whenever you tap a land for one or more mana of the chosen color, add one mana of the chosen color to your mana pool.

Phyrexian Unlife
Rare

Enchantment
You do not lose the game for having 0 or less life.
While you are at 0 or less life, all sources of damage to you gains Infect.

Psychological Surgery
Rare

Enchantment
Whenever an opponent shuffles his library, you may look at the top 2 cards of that library. You may exile one of them, then put them back on top of that library in any order.

Spellsplitter
Rare

0/4
Artifact Creature
{PU}: Target spell or ability that targets a single creature targets Spellsplitter instead.
({PU} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
"I'll show Vorinclex that for progress you require more than just teeth and nails." - Malcator, Unifier

Screamwhip
Rare

Artifact - Equipment
Living Weapon
Equip {PB}{PB} ({PB} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
Equipped creature has +1/+1 for each Swamp you control.

Hex Parasite
Rare

Artifact Creature - Insect(?)
1/1
{PB}: Target a permanent. Remove up to X counters from that permanent. Hex Parasite gains +1/+0 until end of turn for each counter removed this way.
({PB} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)

Fresh Meat
Rare

Instant
Put a 3/3 green Beast creature token onto the battlefield for each creature that was put into your graveyard from the battlefield this turn.
"Death is a scavenger's favorite appetizer."

Spawning Shell
Rare
{PG}
Artifact
({PG} may be paid for with either or 2 life.)
{PG}, T, sacrifice a creature: Search your library for a creature with CMC equal to or less than the sacrificed creature's plus one. Put that creature into play, then shuffle your library. Play this ability only when you can play a Sorcery.

Invasion Parasite
Rare

3/2
Creature - Insect
Imprint - When Invasion Parasite enters the battlefield, exile target land.
Whenever a land with the same name as the exiled card enters the battlefield under an opponents control, Invasion Parasite deals 2 damage to him or her.

Scrapmetal Fiend
Rare

*/*
Creature - Construct
Scrapmetal Fiend's power and toughness are each equal to the number of artifact cards in all graveyards.

Chancellor of the Furnace
Rare

5/5
Creature - (Giant)
At the beginning of the game, if ~ is in your hand, you may reveal it. If you do, at the beginning of your first turn's upkeep, you may put a 1/1 red goblin creature with Haste on the battlefield.
When this enters the battlefield, put X 1/1 red goblin creatures with Haste onto the battlefield, where X is the number of creatures you control.

Chancellor of the Dross
Rare

6/6
Creature - (Vampire)
Flying, Lifelink
At the beginning of the game, if ~ is in your hand, you may reveal it. If you do, at the beginning of your first upkeep,each opponent loses 3 life. Gain life equal to the life lost this way.

Praetor's Grip
Rare

Sorcery
Search target player's library for a card and exile it facedown.That player shuffles his or her library.As long as that card is exiled, you may look at it and play it as though it were in your hand.

Urabrask, the Hidden
Mythic
Legendary Creature - Praetor

4/4
Creatures you control have Haste.
Creatures your opponents control enter the battlefield tapped.

Glistening oil

Rare
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has Infect.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a -1/-1 counter on enchanted creature.
When enchanted creature goes to the graveyard from the battlefield, return glistening oil to its owner's hand.

Species Transplantation
Rare

Enchantment
When ~ enters the battlefield, choose a creature type.
Creatures you control are the chosen type in addition to their other creature types.
"There is no word more worthless than "evolution" from the mouth of Vorinclex. The only one who knows true Progress is me." -Jin-Gitaxis, Core Augur.

Karn the Released spoiled!!

2011-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here is the new planeswalker Karn as it has been spoiled earlier today, he will be present in the new phyrexia set!

Presaling the new planeswalker has already started on ebay, some vendors are asking 70$ as a presale price!!!I would advice against spending more than 30$ for a presale card anyway!

Zendikar draft queues on magic online!They pay so....why dont play?

2011-03-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

Here are two drafts i played recently,they all ended with me winning the whole thing so why not have a look to play on some queues and win those well paying booster packs!
DRAFT No1

DRAFT No2

Zendikar holds great value on magic online and it has a great amount of pay rares apart from its mythic rares!Also you get a chance to pull a jace the mind sculptor and who doesnt want that card anyway?!

Good luck and see you at the modo queues!

Action announced as New Phyrexia!

2011-03-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

So we will be seeing a lot more infect and as expected the 5 praetors of phyrexia!

Drafting on mbs!!3-0 with dinosaurs!!

2011-03-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

One of the easiest drafts i won, those bodies proved to be way to much for any of my opponents to withstand a game against it!

Jumanji,aka beating caw blade!

2011-03-09T00:37:00.000-08:00

You KNOW 80% of people are playing caw blade and you wanna get them?Here is the deck for you!Jumanji!
All you have to do is go an explosive start of your first rounds bring some guys down and stampede them!This strategy has a target on caw blade and is sure to bring your caw blade foes down!
Exploiting fauna shaman and vengevine will let you leave with day of judgement and lead the stampede will let you dig for more and more guys that jace and hawks cant beat unless they draw the nuts!
This list is a creature tool box constructed to make a caw blade match up a bye!
Here is the original list presented at the last SCG open!

Jumanji Featured by Lewis Laskin on 2011-03-06 (Standard)
Maindeck: Artifact Creatures 1 Molten-Tail Masticore 1 Phyrexian Revoker Creatures 1 Acidic Slime 1 Baneslayer Angel 4 Birds of Paradise 4 Fauna Shaman 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Lotus Cobra 1 Soul's Attendant 4 Squadron Hawk 4 Vengevine Legendary Creatures 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence Sorceries 4 Lead the Stampede 2 Overwhelming Stampede Basic Lands 4 Forest 2 Plains Lands 2 Marsh Flats 4 Misty Rainforest 4 Razorverge Thicket 3 Stirring Wildwood 3 Sunpetal Grove 2 Tectonic Edge Sideboard: 1 Glimmerpoint Stag 1 Kor Hookmaster 1 Kor Skyfisher 2 Leatherback Baloth 1 Obstinate Baloth 1 Viridian Corrupter 3 Journey to Nowhere 3 Nature's Claim 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence 1 Gideon Jura This deck will ramp on its first rounds to fill the board with creatures and go all in at caw blade match up.It also has some plan b options like masticore to inflict that last dmg where vengevines will have fuel from lead the stampede to be around on every turn! Linvala shuts down sparkmages and stoneforge mystic cheating swords into play! The deck also offers many synergies on the sideboard plan as the stag-skyfisher endless recycling that will also help making sure you cast a creature spell on EACH of your turns.Hook master will shut down a titan for some time and there is a lot of artifact hate to break swords when they make an appearance. This list apart from a rogue plan against caw blade gives us the basis we need on stopping caw blade.Stopping their day of judgement plan will almost certainly give us all the advantage we need to win caw blade.Apart from that being milled with sword of the body and mind or discarding a vengevine due to sword of feast and famine is an asset to our strategy! Possible additions to the list A greater number of acidic slime mainboard is certain to be of use either breaking swords or some lands and screwing our opponents out of mana if their mana base is a demanding one. We will be seeing more and more artifacts so this guy is certain to be of good use!Be it caw blade or boros they all use swords.Even that U/B tezzeret list will give us a lot to target with our slimes. Kor firewalkers in our sideboard plan will also do a lot against boros or mono red match up as they will stay on the board and keep our life total out of lethal reach.Apart from that sneaking them in with shaman is always an option! Green Sun's zenith is very good if we consider the versatility of the deck and bringing in just what we need in a certain match up will add a great value to this card hitting our mainboard.We will need creatures to make lead the stampede worth it but green sun zenith will give us exaclty what we need from our deck at a given point of the game, so it will be a good addition!Lotus Cobra mana can make even the most mana heavy creatures come into play with our zenith. Sun titan is certain to bring a lot of guys back each turn and can also see play in this list.Also bringing a phyrexia revoker back its turn is certain to stall many boards! Garruk wildspeaker is always usefull to lists like this .He can threat overrun on our opponents and will get us some guys wich will be very use full to stampede our foes life total! This list is in need of a lot of tuning i guess before it can get to tier one ,as the versatility of creatures it uses as a one of make it random more or less.Other than that i am sure it has what it takes to appear in some top 8 in standard any time soon!

Is red deck wins back?

2011-03-08T23:56:00.000-08:00

The last SCG open has ended and more or less it showed the power of the new "jund" Caw blade deck!

This deck has been dominating the top 8 of the tourney taking 6 out of 8 of the top.Havent people been trying to break this archetype?Of cource they have but to no avail...

But in the end what happened?Red deck won the whole thing...How?NONE was expecting this deck to make a come back anytime soon and there was certainly few hate against red spells..The pilot was an excellent red sorcerer of old time that evenly tried to have a double koth some time in the quarter finals forgeting that rules about legend cards have changed.Other than that he did few mistakes and did the best to send all his red spells on the face of his opponents.

Lets take a look at the list he used.

Red Deck Wins
A Standard Magic deck, by Patrick Sullivan
1st place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Edison, New Jersey, United States on 2011-03-06

Maindeck:

Creatures
4 Ember Hauler
4 Goblin Guide
4 Plated Geopede
4 Spikeshot Elder

Instants
4 Burst Lightning
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze
4 Staggershock

Planeswalkers
4 Koth of the Hammer

Basic Lands
12 Mountain

Lands
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Teetering Peaks

Sideboard:
4 Ratchet Bomb
4 Manic Vandal
4 Arc Trail
3 Mark of Mutiny

The list isnt anything new,it isnt anything people havent seen before or something unformentioned.It is good old red deck wins!
The reason it did so well is basicly that new archtypes have just to adjust to win one another so there is little room in the sideboard for old decks that are there but noone cares to take them to an event and start beating people with them.
We should remember that people used to beat jund with red deck wins back a year or so?But can red deck wins beat the Caw Blade power house?Chances are it is capable to do so!
This deck came to show us one thing,decks unexpected are easy to make it happen and people in big tourneys will be netdecking with just a little of tuning or not.Most decks are there winning and stable.But anyone trying to go rogue or in this current situation go "old" is likely to be awarded for doing so.Caw blade is deploying much faster than ANY older version of U/W control in the last years but red deck is by far faster than any type of red deck.
Another lesson we should learn from this is that people should go in tourneys with some sideboard plan about decks that existed some time in the current type 2 were they good for some time or not.If leyline of sanctity was in the sideboard of some caw blade versions,no red deck would stand chances against them.But it was not,caw blade players just have to beat the mirror and thats all theyll care about.
Will this make room for other archetypes to breath,valakut to make its come back?Some shape anew breed appear bringing blightsteel colossus in the game?Time will tell.

Ending this i would like to post another red deck i saw in the same tourney and is certainly a lot of fun to play!

Goblins A Standard Magic deck, by Douglas Scheinberg 11th place at a StarCityGames.com Standard Open tournament in Edison, New Jersey, United States on 2011-03-06
Maindeck: Creatures 4 Ember Hauler 4 Goblin Chieftain 4 Goblin Guide 4 Goblin Wardriver 4 Spikeshot Elder 4 Warren Instigator Instants 4 Burst Lightning 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Staggershock Sorceries 1 Arc Trail Basic Lands 17 Mountain Lands 2 Tectonic Edge 4 Teetering Peaks Sideboard: 3 Sword of Feast and Famine 4 Molten-Tail Masticore 4 Manic Vandal 4 Mark of Mutiny I believe this list will be great to run around (and fast too) at some modo daily queue taking some quick games!Or of cource your local fnm!

Learning from the pros:An interview with Christian Calcano.

2011-02-28T16:29:00.000-08:00

Most people of the magic community certainly have heard a lot of Christian Calcano lately.His finishes have made him a known player and he keeps scoring better and better results as time passes by!I managed to get in touch with Christian and asked him a few questions that let the casual player get a grasp of the thoughts of a pro!

How you started playing magic?
I was 14 when I started. I played a different game (yugioh) and a friend who played both taught me how to play magic, i was instantly hooked.

Achievements so far?
PT Amsterdam 33rd
Worlds 2010 15th
GP Portland 12th
GP Denver 10th
SCG Open Richmond 1st

How difficult it is after all, 'getting pro' ?
It's definitely hard, you have to really want it. Be willing to travel for ptqs and such. It took me over 80 PTQs and 20 GPs to finally q for my 1st PT.

You scg richmond standard open showed you could pilot a valaramp with great results,do you believe this deck can reappear in the top places of tourneys before it rotates out of standard?
It definitely can. The deck is really powerful and it place 3 copies in the t8 of SCG Open Indy (the week before paris). The metagame did drastically change since then, but the deck is powerful and I'm sure will see make a big finish at either an SCG Open, or one of the standard grand prix.

We are seeing you in alot of tourneys around the world,how do you keep up with all this travelling,is it worth it?
It's definitely been worth it for me. The friends and memories you make are the biggest part of traveling to these tournaments for me. I've gotten to meet some amazing people and see some places that people dream of all from this card game.

Your tourney results are getting better and better this last months,is it skill or practice that helps you do so?What would you advice a player who would like to go competitive in order to improve their results?
It's probably fair to say it's more practice then anything. My biggest finishes were all in limited and i draft and play a lot of sealed to prepare for limited. If i had to give advice it'd be to practice a lot for the tournament you're planning on going to. Also a big thing for me towards the end of this past year was not going on tilt. If you make a mistake or get unlucky just forget about it and move on. If you dwell on it or think about it too much it'll affect the way you play and cause you to lose.

Sealed deck,it defines the day one of many grand prix nowadays,How much is luck a factor as far as pool is concerned?
It definitely matters to a certain extent, but not as much as people think. I'll be honest, there have been times where i've gotten a pool that was amazing and didnt make day 2. So I think it mostly depends on building your deck correctly to give you the best chance to win. When I build my sealed pool, i go find other players who I know are better than me and ask them how they would build it. This helps me know what i couldve/shouldve done differently and how to sideboard for the day.

Mirrodin besieged is now the active draft format ,How do you believe things have changed?
The first pack dictates the entire draft now. I feel that infect got better and metalcraft got worse. because in the first pack there arent many good artifacts that you want to play. After pack 1 you should have a good idea of what colors you're going to be.

At pro tour paris you brought your own build,was it worth it?Is building your own list and testing it worth the time when most tourneys are ful of pretty much specific power houses of type 2?
It was definitely worth it. We played and tested the deck specifically to beat the t2 decks that were the power houses at that time like valakut, UB control, uw control (without mystic). A good example would be Gerry T winning the SCG Open DC this past weekend. His deck was by far the best choice for the tournament. CawBlade splashing red for lightning bolt and cunning sparkmage. He knew going into that tournament that CawBlade and Boros would be the two most played decks and his innovation of adding red to the best deck to beat both of those decks was a good example.

Magic online,how much time you spend online?Can magic online help the new player get better?
I spend about 10-20 hours a week on Magic Online. It can definitely help the new player get better. On mtgo there are tournaments at all times so you can play whenever you have freetime. It's where i play most of my limited games and the main reason why I had all those finishes in the past few months.

At grand prix denver you lost the last match and didnt make top8, what's it like doing so well in a tourney all day and losing the game that would get you to top 8?
It's the second time i've been in that position and it's definitely not fun. I felt mostly unstoppable the whole weekend having only lost twice up to that point (to the eventual champion). But afterward my friends were there to console me and remind me that a top 16 is still an amazing finish which it is.

Have you ever played versus a greek magic player?What's your opinion about greek magic players?
I played against one greek player at a side event at paris. He was a good guy and played well. One of the things i like to do is follow event coverage and one of the things I noticed is that greek players do very well on the european GP circuit. I've seen many t8 GPs and not too long ago one t8d PT Austin.

Anything you would like to add?
If you're a PTQ grinder like I was who still hasnt qd yet, dont give up. Just keep trying, whether it'd be at a real ptq or on magic online, play your best and eventually you'll get there.

Thanks a lot Christian!That info has been very helpful and i hope you get the best results at your future tourneys!

New Archetypes rising!Scg DC

2011-02-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

Starcity games tourney in DC standard open is having its final day one games by this time and a lot new decks and ideas have sprung to give us food for thought.And playtesting!
The main target deck for most people has been the current powerhouse of standard Caw!blade.Most people seem to have targeted the specific match up as they expected a lot of people to show up with the current list,which indeed has shown up quite a LOT.
We have seen a lot of variances of the caw blade deck too, their target was also the mirror and of cource boros.A dominant list appeared piloted by the well known american mtg grinder and pro Gerry Thompson.
His list?

W/U/R Caw-Blade Featured by Gerry Thompson on 2011-02-27 (Standard) Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Sword of Body and Mind 1 Sword of Feast and Famine Creatures 4 Squadron Hawk 4 Stoneforge Mystic Instants 3 Lightning Bolt 2 Mana Leak 3 Spell Pierce	Planeswalkers 3 Gideon Jura 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Sorceries 4 Day of Judgment 4 Preordain Basic Lands 3 Island 3 Mountain 4 Plains Lands 4 Arid Mesa 3 Celestial Colonnade 2 Evolving Wilds 2 Glacial Fortress 3 Scalding Tarn 3 Seachrome Coast	Sideboard: 1 Basilisk Collar 4 Cunning Sparkmage 1 Inferno Titan 1 Sun Titan 1 Dispel 3 Divine Offering 4 Flashfreeze

He has added red for lightning bolt (i kill your boros hero) , a stable (as it appeared so far ) option in the spot removal section of the deck.
His sideboard contains basilisk collar and of Cunning sparkmage which i am sure stopped a lot of hawks,guides,heros or even fatties (via basilisk collar deathtouch) tonight.
Inferno titan has also made an appearance in the deck, this was a surprise i believe as the red titan makes the deck a bit more mana dependent on red mana.I do wish to see GerryT's analysis on this one and how this titan helped him or not..
The white titan is bringing almost everything back, swords creatures and lands.A very clear selection for this list.

Another list tha appeared in the tourney and is certain to be taking a spot in the current metagame and deck discussion is this one.

Monoblue Architect Featured by Ali Aintrazi on 2011-02-27 (Standard) Print this deck!
Maindeck: Artifacts 1 Contagion Engine 4 Everflowing Chalice 2 Ratchet Bomb 3 Tumble Magnet Artifact Creatures 1 Steel Hellkite 2 Wurmcoil Engine Creatures 4 Enclave Cryptologist 4 Grand Architect 4 Thrummingbird 3 Treasure Mage Instants 1 Stoic Rebuttal	Legendary Artifacts 2 Mindslaver Planeswalkers 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Sorceries 4 Preordain Basic Lands 17 Island Lands 4 Inkmoth Nexus 2 Mystifying Maze	Sideboard: 2 Ratchet Bomb 1 Tumble Magnet 1 Blightsteel Colossus 4 Perilous Myr 1 Platinum Emperion 4 Flashfreeze 2 Negate

The games i saw played by this list were dominated by a creature that is played a little even in limited, Thumming bird!!!

It was an amazing synergy thummingbird proliferating chalices , magnets,cryptologists, ratchet bombs ,jace and best of all POISON counters!
All Ali had to do was a mere swing with his nexus for one(some times 2 due to grand architect effect) and then proliferating via means of thumming bird and Contagion engine!This deck was giving caw blade a hard time on the board mindslaving them games away or after sb Blightsteel colossus making them poisoned in no time!
Treasure mage was a sweat tutor effect,cryptologist a huge card advantage and mystifying maze a silent force nullifying sword swings all night ,and could do so all the time!
As far as for aggro?Platinum emperion can come down in no time thanks to grand architect!
Great archetype, a cheap one and there is sure a lot discussion going around this one in the near future.

Those two lists made a great impact in the tourney along with bonehoard getting main or side in many caw blade decks as predicted by almost everyone!

While watching games i even came across a furnace celebration - awakening zone list that seemed to simple but really abusing sylvok lifestaff and celebration synergy.
I will publish that list tommorow as it seemed quite intriguing!Taking 3 life and dealing 2 damage by sacrificing a token and paying two mana is indeed something valuable!
Till then good luck at the modo queues for mirrodin besieged release events!!!

Blue Black vampires.Budget and effective!

2011-02-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Is primeval titan something you got bored of?Caw blade's Jace worth too much?Fauna quest's vengevines a card you are not willing to spend on?Br vampires sounds so easy to stop with day?Here we go with another deck braught by christian calcano at the pro tour paris!B/U vampires!Let's check the original list:

Christian Calcano's Blue-Black Vampires

Standard - Pro Tour Paris 2011

Main Deck 60 cards
4 Creeping Tar Pit 4 Darkslick Shores 4 Drowned Catacomb 2 Marsh Flats 7 Swamp 2 Verdant Catacombs 23 lands 4 Bloodghast 4 Gatekeeper of Malakir 4 Nantuko Shade 3 Phyrexian Revoker 4 Pulse Tracker 4 Vampire Lacerator 23 creatures	3 Duress 3 Go for the Throat 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 4 Unified Will 14 other spells Sideboard 2 Dark Tutelage 2 Disfigure 2 Flashfreeze 1 Go for the Throat 2 Marsh Casualties 2 Skinrender 2 Tectonic Edge 2 Wurmcoil Engine 15 sideboard cards

This deck exploits the speed of vampires as far as damage is concerned with the addition of nantuko shade and a lot of discard and a way to protect your board,unified will.
Phyrexian revoker also promises to do a lot in stopping enemy gideon and fauna shamans from doing what they usually do, give their controller's a win once past their first untap step...
Along with our 23 creatures that dont go any further than the 2 (3 for gatekeeper of malakir ) range come 3 go for the throat to eliminate any creature that would give our enemies board advantage.
This deck poses severe difficulty being controlled and gives us the opportunity to deal early damage and protect our creature advantage.
Duress and inquisition of kozilek will give us info on our oponnents hand and will take away incoming stoneforge mystics before they bring the devastating sword of feast and famine.
Creeping tar pit will also get rid of those jaces as it will certainly creep under hawks to send enemy jaces to the bin or provide damage that can give as the win.
Another positive fact for this build is its low price range that makes it easy to build for the next local FNM.

Sideboard options
Dark tutelage:The bane of every control match up.It provides card advantage control decks cant cope with.If this one hits the board on time it will make things difficult for every control player to keep incoming threats back.
Disfigure:This card is our bullet for lotus cobra and other low power creatures that we will want out of the board on our early turns,kills goblin guide steppe lynxes and that annoying new hero boros has been using lately.It also is good for enemy tar pits and lavaclaw reaches .
Flashfreeze:Yes people are still using titans to fetch those valakuts..
Marsh Casualties:Stops hawks from going down as a team of potential blockers, stops boros and kuldotha red from explosive starts,it is a must sideboard plan for aggro matchups.
Skinrender:It is good for taking down enemy creatures and will give as another 3/3 body.Something we will need against heavy creature decks as a 2 for 1 solution.
Tectonic Edge:Celestial colonade and valakuts always make awesome targets for this one!
Wyrmcoil Engine:It is good against aggro decks and it has evasion against go for the throat.Once it hits the board it will make an excellent blocker or attacker if needed and will do great things to augment our life total.

This deck is not the power house caw-blade and boros level but it can pose decent matches against them.It is a deck most people wont be expecting to see once creeping tar pit appears and will give most of our opponents the impression we are playing blue white control.It also is able to stop day of judgement ,a card control is hoping to resolve most of the time in order to stabilize.Revoker is shutting down planeswalkers and nantuko shade can certainly get huge in order to resolve some devastating blows.

Possible innovations!
As the current metagame is sure getting a lot of hawks and blades or some boros attackers we will have to adopt to this environment in order to make this build more effective against those matchups.I believe that the addition of mana leak to the main board in the place of go for the throat would be a great addition in order to stop stone forge mystic and hawks from landing, it is also a great way to stop early ramp spells from valakut builds or people from bringing down artifacts and tezzeret.As long as go for the throat has been around people have been tending to build around it and this will possible make it impossible for us to remove enemy forgemaster stuff like engine or battlesphere.
If aggro deck is popular in our local tourneys duress is something that we should seriously consider replacing by the means of disfigure in the main board.
Steel sabotage might also come in handy as it is something most people wont be expecting and if played correctly it might give us a 5 mana tempo lead that can be crucial in a match against caw blade.Another use for steel sabotage is taking down ratchet bombs and really will help against tezzy decks that are bound to show up more and more...
Doom blade is a card that could also appear in this decklist as tezzeret decks will have no problem against go for the throat and who wants a dead three card package in their deck against a certain matchup?U/B is certainly down for "maintenance" due to sword of feast and famine so we arent fighting grave titans any time soon.
Jace beleren could also be an addition to this deck.Apart from hating the big jace card advantage it offers can be crucial against certain match ups.
Kalastria highborn is as mana dependent as nantuko shade so i wouldnt resist playtesting this build with her along especially against aggro decks that wont let us rely on unified will to leave mana open and where life gain will be a major factor on who will eventually win.

Those are some addition one might make depending on what he can be expecting to face on the tourneys he will attempt, there certainly a lot more tuning that can be done to this deck and its colours certainly offer many cards to be tested.This decklist certainly offers some goodies that can be exploited and be winning conditions.
In the end it is a deck WITH blue but WITHOUT Jace that calcano took to 7-3 on pro tour paris so why wouldnt it make a good option of a deck to run at a local tourney and expect to go well with?
Good luck sleeving this deck up and good luck!

Caw blade! Searching in our current toolbox deck strategy.

2011-02-20T06:54:00.000-08:00

The new deck archetype that appeared at the pro tour paris is soon dominating type 2 matches around the globe.It is certain that we will be seeing a lot of blade bearing hawks flying around in the next 3 months.The stoneforge mystic-sword cell has proved its self as a huge addition to the blue white caw go deck.

Now that the scenery has been set i believe it is high time to search our current standard toolbox to see if there are any new toys that would give as advantage in the 'blade' wars.We can do so by searching any weaponry that might appear in the sets that are legal in the current standard.

So lets do some searching of what additions might there be apart from those two masterpieces of equipment.

Lets begin by searching in the oldest set available ,Zendikar.We have these piece of equipment.

Adventuring gear:Nope this isnt usefull in a deck without fetches to go for maximum damage.

Blade of the warchief:Not enough creatures to make this worthwhile.

Blazing torch:I would consider this one as a bonus burst lightning with no kicker option which can be good and useful in some aspects but certainly not standard useful.

Explorer's scope:This could have some synergy with jace to give as an extra land drop but in most aspects it is weak.

Grappling hook:Nope.

Spidersilk net:Nope

Trailblazer's boots:Non basic land walk is somethink that would make our creatures unblockable versus some match ups but other than that it is totally useless.

Trusty Machete:It is a good piece of equipment but our swords are better by miles so there is no use adding this one up.

Let's see what worldwake has to offer as far as equipment is concerned:

Basilisk collar:It is good, it has some potential as lifelink is extremelly usefull in some match ups but sylvok lifestaff is by far greater when we come down and check the creatures we run in Caw blade as the 3 life given by the staff is by far greater than the 1 life we would get from basilisk collar hawks!

Hammer of ruin:This one has potential to be a sideboard plan in the current metagame.It has an ability that is begoming more and more relevant in standard.Destroying enemy equipment.It is good and i believe it might see play in the coming months making our opponents thinking twice before striking with their swords as this piece of hammer is able to be smashing swords all day long and it also gives a +2 attack pump which is something to be considered.People wont be expecting this equipment any time soon and i would advice you to use this one as a sideboard plan in places where caw blade will be dominating.Divine offering does the job once where as this might do it again and stick there to give as an advantage for the race!!

Kitesail:Nope.

Razor boomerang:Nope.

On to the rise of the eldrazi set!

Hedron matrix:Well it could be good but is is waaaay too expensive!

Ogre's Cleaver:Expensive,expensive ... argentum armor expensive...

Pennon blade:Expensive and irrelevant for our deck.

Warmonger's chariot:It is irrelevant and we cant fill any defenders for this to work as it would ruin our game plans and deck strategy!

Now it is time to check in our coreset.M11.

Sword of vengeance:hmmm let's see, +2/+0 added up with first strike ,vigilance, trample and haste.This is i believe an EXCELLENT addition to the caw blade strategy.It offers GREAT abilities and first strike means no sword hits are getting through no time soon.Trample is sure killing some jaces and haste is sure making more of our hawks active.On top of that we have vigilance.That means attacking and standing ready to stop ANY incoming sword attacks.Sword of vengeance is soon making to the sideboard plans of caw blade decks.We may see it mainboard as it offers a lot and can put the pressure factor on another level!

Warlord's axe: A Bit too expensive for just a +3/+1 pump...

Whispersilk cloak:Nope.

So on to scars of mirrodin:

Accorder's shield:Nope

Argentum armor: Too expensive vindicate effect..

Barbed battlegear:Aren't most are creatures at one power?

Bladed pinions:Nope.

Darksteel axe:Not that good in standard...

Echo circlet:No way!

Heavy Arbalest:No way!

Infiltration lens:Irrelevant.

Limewire lash:It is a good piece of equipement in limited but nothing else.

Nim deathmantle:Paying (4) for the rise from the grave effect is not standard viable.

Strata scythe:This is a good piece of equipment but there are a few things it can do in standard.It gives just a pump effect that can do little in this format and will not be able to win games in a world of day of judgement and jace the mind sculptor...

And our final set mirrodin besieged...

Bonehoard:It is a creature and it is a good one.Living weapon -stoneforge mystic is huge and i can see this one making it through some caw blade decks.Its ability is easily broken and it can even constitute a game finisher.Apart from that it has few abilities other than the ability to become a massive beater.

Darksteel plate:No thanks!!Even if my opponent gave this card to me for free i would laugh at it!

Flayer husk:We are not kuldotha red!

Mortarpod:I love this card but not for the caw blade deck.

Piston sledge:This one is good when it comes to play BUT if a creature we own drops it then its a waste!

Silverskin armor:No.

Skinwing:Another living weapon but not so good to make it in our decklist.

Strandwalker:Another living weapon but not so good to make it in our decklist.

Viridian claw:Sealed deck material...

So After checking what is legal in standard we have some possible additions to caw blade that might see play in the upcoming months,these ones

Those two are either usefull in the current metagame or ready to beatdown enemy decks.I believe we are seeing those some time soons on the battlefield summoned by known mages :)

Will this guy make it to our caw blade 75 or our enemies list?

This one can stall all our tutoring effects.All of them.The good thing about this guy is that PLAYER'S cant search libraries so that even its user may be stalled by it , considering the current metagame.I dont believe that a deck that is built on tutoring can use him even as a sideboard plan.Boros cant sac fetches , stone forge mystic cant bring any blades on , and hawks aint bringing any more hawks along.But how can we use this one?An esper tezzeret deck?A white winnie deck?One thing is certain that if this guy finds a home in a tier 1.5 deck that can capably win games he will be a great condition to stall most decks of our current metagame.Even titans wont be fetching lands.But dont forget that he can be easily removed and that has been its drawback till now...This card has the potential to do a lot in stalling most current decks but it is highly possible that with this guy in our list we have to let go of the current huge card advantage offered by the standard tutor effects in order to gain in tempo and do something about the powerhouses of the current standard.So if we are seeing this guy in play real soon is not certain, some people will try to break this guy and i dont know wether it is viable but it is possible.Were this guy a mind lock orb things would be different but he isnt.And kuldotha red will be around for the next months making this guy a waste in that matchup so making him main board is not something that could easily happen.Taking away the surprise factor of game one versus tutor decks that could give us game one with this guy around in our mainboard..

Anyway send me any ideas you might have about this card or other artifacts that could stand aside in the current caw blade deck!

Till then grab your swords and slash some of your enemies to zero or less life!