Otherworldly Journey

The Myth(ic) of Unobtainable Cards

2010-04-08T17:07:00.000-04:00

First of all, I want you all to know that this is going to be my last post on Otherworldly Journey. I won't be deleting it in case I decide to fire it back up someday, but after this post you can find my writing on http://iwantmymtg.com So, Trick, you can add this blog to the "Dead Blogs" list (after you add this post to TWIM hahaha).

There has been a lot of talk in the last 24 hours about Mythics, and Lauren Lee correctly predicted the slew of blog posts that would follow such a discussion. Are they too expensive? Do they create too high of a barrier to entry for Standard?

Let's play the priest for a second, and marry this discussion to Jon Medina's recent articles about trading. (You can find those on his own site, mtgmetagame.com and on quietspeculation.com

(Lauren and Jon, I now pronounce you man and wife? Awkwaaaard.....)

Well I'm here today to tell all of you that you can have any card you want.

Want to guess how much money I make currently?

Take a guess...
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...about $60.

Seriously. Want to guess how much of that money I spend on Magic cards?
I'll spare you the scroll down and just tell you: $0.

I'm a smoker. I need that $25 a week for cigarettes, and another $15 or so for the bus. I spend $6 to enter FNM every week.

To be fair, I have no bills to speak of. I steal my internet from my neighbor, and hate cell phones. I live in my mom's friggin attic, which sucks, but allows me to play as much Magic as I want. Also, I sell cards to online dealers on occasion to make a little extra cash.

Want to guess which deck I play? Mythic Bant. Not just Mythic Bant, but Mythic Bant with 4 Elspeths. I keep thinking I should call it "NY Yankees" because of all the high $$$ cards in the deck. I'm gonna buy the damn championship!

How can I play such an expensive deck? I RIP OFF 12 YEAR OLD NOOBS OF COURSE!

Kidding.

I can't remember many specifics, but I have some general advice to give anyone who wants to run money cards but doesn't want to spend money to get those cards. (My apologies to Jon if I am rehashing any of his points from his trading blog posts, but these points just can't be emphasized enough. Seriously folks, read the posts of his that I linked at the top of this entry, they are vital reading.)

1) Trade up - Seriously, this is so easy once you get the hang of it. If you can trade 4 fetch lands for 2 Maelstrom Pulses, you can probably trade the 2 Pulses and another Fetch for a Jace. This is a high end version of this tactic. The best kind of trades are the ones where you can get a $10 card for 10 $1 cards. People do these trades every single day, and both parties are completely happy to do them.

2) Get your binder in order! - Here's my MINIMUM recommendation (and how I sort mine): Sort your Standard trade fodder in the front of your binder, with you Extended/Legacy/Etc. (is Vintage really still a format?) behind it. Sort both sections W/U/B/R/G/Multi/ART/Land. I don't really feel it is necessary to sort these Color sections by set, but if you have a ton of stuff from each set, then sure. It's all about presentation, remember. We're all salesmen on the trading floor, and if it looks like you have a thin binder, people will assume it's been picked over already.

Here's where I stray from J. Medina's reasoning a little bit. Keep a section of your binder (or a separate binder) for "non-trade" stuff. Non-trade doesn't mean NEVER for trade. What that means is that if someone doesn't have anything you REALLY need, don't even show them that section. Save this section for your playsets of cards you are hesitant to let go, but will pull the trigger on if the right deal comes along. Also, this is a section to put newly acquired cards in. When I show someone that section, I tell them to feel free to ask about anything back there, but to not be surprised if I say no to everything they ask about. I only show that section off if someone has a card I REALLY need. Giving them the warning that you have veto power over that section allows you to have maximum control over what you are letting go of for what you need, and gives you multiple paths to take in a trade. For example, if someone has card X I need, and points to cards A, B, and C in my "non-trade" section, I can say no to all 3, but then decide which I would miss the least for the card I badly need.

3) There are Timmys EVERYWHERE - If you are looking for chase cards, Timmys are the way to go. My friend Gary STILL isn't convinced that Jace TMS is a good card. Gary is definitely more of a Spike than most Timmys, because HIS rogue decks win sometimes, but he seems to be repelled by the more expensive cards from most sets. A lot of players are the same way. They see the $60 card that they pulled from a pack as the only one they will ever wind up owning, and figure that trading it away for $60 worth of playsets that they can use in their decks is the way to go. Find 4 people like this, and you have your playset.

4) Don't be afraid to pull the trigger on a deal in your favor - I know some people look at J. Medina's blog posts as a journal of him ripping people off. Some people HATE foils. Some people will trade their foils away in a heartbeat for more useful cards. Also, LOTS of people don't have any idea how much their cards are worth! I have watched, dumbfounded, as people have traded a Baneslayer for 2 Banefires! (This was back when BSA was $25, true, but STILL!)

I would probably see trading differently if I wasn't the person being ripped off in trades for 14 years.

For YEARS AND YEARS I was the person who had no idea how much my cards were worth. I was a pure Timmy, and I only wanted the big, fun cards that I liked to play with (mostly monogreen cards, and mill). I remember trading Abeyance when it was probably $20 for next to nothing because I thought it was "stupid." The people who agreed to these trades are not bad people. I look back at those times as a lesson to be learned, and trade karma to now attempt to swing back into my favor.

With the dawn of on demand pricing thanks to smart phones, and simply the ability to track any card's price online using any number of sites for reference, there is no excuse for people to not know what their cards are worth. Never lie to someone about card values, but if someone never asks they clearly don't care. Everyone has their own scale. Some people use Ebay, some people use findmagiccards.com price averages, some people use Starcitygames.com prices, and some people just don't use prices at all. If your trading partner is ok with a trade the trade is never a rip off. I can't look back and think I was being ripped off in any of the bad trades I made, because I said "ok" to every single one of them. Otherwise it would have been theft and not trading.

So anyway, I am getting a little tired of writing this. My point has hopefully been made. You can honestly get any card that you want. You just have to want it bad enough, and patiently jump through as many hoops as you have to in order to obtain it. Trades chain together, and they shouldn't be looked at individually. Also, remember you can always say "no" to any trade you want. Looking through someone's binder doesn't make you obligated to trade with that person. The surefire warning signs are when the person you are trading with values everything they want from you lower than you do, and everything you want from them higher than you do. I just close my binder, say, "no thanks, but thanks for looking anyway!" and walk away. That is your right.

Anyway, thanks for reading Otherworldly Journey. You can now find me over at http://iwantmymtg.com since it's a much better name. Our podcast is also available there. Maybe this blog will be back someday.

Bigheadjoe

TURTLE POWER!

2010-03-07T22:49:00.001-05:00

Hi Everyone!

I have been in a deck building FRENZY lately.

I have hundreds of ideas swimming around in my head. So many that I can barely build a deck right now, since a lot of the decks share cards, and I don't like to switch them around. (Mainly, my 4 Jaces and 3 Baneslayers)

So, since I have W/G Landfall built right now, I figured the best thing to do would be to build Grixis Control.

After decimating my "Naughturnus" list (monoblack Vamps with NO Nocturnus. I don't care for the card for the same reason why I cut Captured Sunlight from my W/G deck. The one time I cast it I cascaded into Brave the Elements. The ONE CARD I didn't want to cascade into! I feel like if you need a black card on top of your deck to win that top card is going to be a Swamp. So I figured out a list without the Lord and am quite into it. Maybe I'll blog about that deck sometime later this week or next.)

OK, that was a pretty long parenthetical. Let me try again...

After decimating my "Naughturnus" list, I put together the following Grixis Control list that I am calling TURTLE POWER! I haven't really playtested it yet, but it's basically Mike Flores' Grixis Burn list with a few updates. It seems really good. Also, in my opinion, I think it is better than the Chapin W/U control list. I hate Cancel. I don't want to play with Cancel. Also, after watching the Channel Fireball 5K Top 8, and watching W/U get SMASHED twice by Jund, I wanted to go in a different direction. So here it is:

http://mtgurl.com/sclj

Compare this list, first, to Mike Flores' original build of Grixis Burn:

http://mtgurl.com/LlCC

Second, compare the deck to Thomas Dodd's build of Grixis Burn:

http://mtgurl.com/d1hQ

OK, have you looked at all 3 lists?

Now I am going to ATTEMPT to do a comparison of these 2 lists to my own, both for your enlightenment and my own. I don't have the fancy technology that BDM utilized to make his Venn Diagram comparisons, nor do I have the patience to figure out how to do it. I am just going to list the similarities and differences.

Similarities between my list and Mike's:

Main:

2 Sorin Markov

4 Blightning

2 Cruel Ultimatum

4 Sedraxis Specter

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Drowned Catacombs

3 Dragonskull Summit

4 Scalding Tarn

2 Island

2 Mountain

4 Swamp

Board:

2 Malakir Bloodwitch

SB Cards from Mike's deck that I put in the Main:

1 Earthquake

3 Countersquall

Total # of cards in both of our 75: 41

Differences should be obvious, since both decks were posted Pre-WWK. I'm sure an updated list from either player would be closer to what mine is now.

Similarities between my list and Thomas':

Main:

4 Sedraxis Specter

2 Sorin Markov

4 Blightning

3 Countersquall

2 Cruel Ultimatum

2 Terminate

4 Lightning Bolt

4 Drowned Catacomb

3 Dragonskull Summit

4 Scalding Tarn

2 Island

2 Mountain

4 Swamp

Sideboard:

2 Malakir Bloodwitch

SB Cards from Thomas' deck that I put in the Main:

1 Earthquake

Total intersection between the 75: 43

So you now have a decent idea of the base that I started with. It seems that my maindeck more closely resembles Thomas Dodd's list. I guess this is just a natural progression of the build.

Since those two have surely talked at length about their respective decks HERE and HERE, let me instead talk about the new cards in the deck and why I chose those cards, and then talk about the possible pitfalls of this deck and sideboard.

Once again, let me point you to Mike's "latest" blog entry, posted 4 weeks ago (get on that, Mike!), for a great write-up on the Convertible Turtle. Not like all of you haven't read it 100 times already clicking on Mike's blog hoping to find something new. Here is Mike's blog entry in action. Please believe in Turtle Power. It's the nuts.

Essence Scatter is great against, umm... creatures. When a bastard creature comes down that is too big for your bolts, too shroudy for your terminates, or too annoying to send to the graveyard from the battlefield (here's looking at you, Sprouting Thrinax), this card does the trick.

Hello, my name is Jace, the Mind Sculptor. I cost a ton of real life dollars. I belong in every single deck that shares my colors. Holler.

The Tar Pit is an obvious choice in a "burn" deck, since it always goes to the head. The Reaches is an X spell on a land after you gain board advantage from the Jace and the removal. Both are pretty awesome.

These are all main because there is nothing wrong with a sweep (just ask that doucheface from Karate Kid 3!), or a burn spell when you are ahead in life totals. Alternate win condition if they are low enough, and if you are doing your job, they should be.

Here's a fun fact: this is the first time I have ever looked at this card art. I am really weird with cards. I look at them as a whole, and never focus on the minute details of the art. When I do I am often VERY surprised by what is actually in the card art.I thought Graypelt Hunter was some weird wolf looking creature until I realized, like 3 days ago, that it is a dude. Show me any recent card for a split second though and I can tell you exactly what card it is.

Anyway, I use these to stop evil shit like Mind Sludge, Eldrazi Monument, and removal spells that target my Sedraxis Specters or Planeswalkers. Also do well in any sort of control mirror. No problem with 3 of these in the main.

Sideboard cards:

Sign the petition to Ban Bloodbraid Elf HERE.

Not too sure about this one honestly. Might actually wind up cutting these for Deathmark or something similar, maybe another Cruel, or another Chain Reaction and something else. Mostly in here to deal with WW, Eldrazi Green Pre-Monument, and other stuff.

GREAT against Eldrazi green, White Weenie, and a popped Sprouting Thrinax. I think this card is going to be an MVP out of the board.

I hate Eldrazi Monument. So much. I also hate my opponents' win conditions. Enter Thought Hemorrhage.

I know the big ol' Blue Guy has fallen out of favor lately, and Mike Flores thinks the card sucks ass, but nothing spells trouble for Jund like a big fat shroud flyer that can block it's Broodmates and come back at them the next turn. I like it in the board.

So that's the deck so far. Like I said, I haven't really tested much outside of some goldfishing, but I plan to play it this Friday at FNM and I will give some updates then. (I know I said I was going to give some updates about the monogreen stompy deck last time and never did. So here's the update: I went 2-2. It plays like a big fat monogreen deck. I lost to another monogreen deck that got it's monument out before I could. Stupid Eldrazi Monument. It was fun and could be fairly competitive with some tweaks. However, like I said before, I am on a deckbuilding FRENZY right now and can't be bothered with it.)

Here are the potential pitfalls I see with this deck:

- Not too much help in the board against control.

- Might need more Cruel Ultimatum (1 more).

- Infest might be a useless board slot.

- I haven't tested the deck enough.

- I'm tired of writing this blog entry.

- Goodbye.

Bigheadjoe

A Wolf Shirt, In Deck Form

2010-02-25T17:01:00.003-05:00

Sign the official petition to BAN Bloodbraid Elf here: http://www.petitiononline.com/BanBBElf/petition.html

OK, so a few weeks ago, a few of us on Twitter made a pact.

(by the way, if anyone is wondering why this blog isn't frequently updated, I feel like, between Twitter and our podcast, Yo! MTG Taps! I get most of my blog-worthy topics sufficiently off of my chest. Still, I plan on posting more blogs when I deem it appropriate, so don't give up on me! Patience, Young Padawan!)

I tweeted about my desire to build an old school, monogreen list similar to the one I had in 1995 when I first started playing and traded my Birds of Paradise for Llanowar Elves because I only needed green mana and those fools had ONE POWER. Several of my followers posted similar sentiments in response to my original post. This evolved into a pact on Twitter that we were all going to play monogreen stompy lists on 2/26/2010 at FNM. The people who made this pact, to call them out and make sure they keep up their end of the offer, were @fatecreatr @stupiddeck and @tigerbreak

So, after a few days of testing and a few different versions of the deck, here is the final list that I am going to war with on Friday Night!

A Wolf Shirt, In Deck Form

FIRST, a confession.

I am turning into a Spike.

Despite my Timmy deckbuilding tendencies, I am really starting to want to just play the best cards, and smash my opponent without remorse in every single way imaginable. This deckbuilding exercise was a lot of fun, but you will notice that some of my card choices strayed from the spirit of the original exercise. Noticeably absent from the list is Terra Stomper. I originally included the card, but I wasn't enjoying spending 6 mana to have the creature killed by removal. True, it can't be countered, but I really just wanted to kick a Wolfbriar Elemental twice instead of playing this card. This deck is just a placeholder until I can run my W/U control list with 4 copies of the Mind Sculptor next week.

A few notes about the specific card choices:

Master of the Wild Hunt: MVP. This card is such a blowout if you untap with it, especially if you have a Basilisk Collar to attach to any of the wolves. With 3 different ways to generate Wolf tokens, this card gets more mileage in this deck than any other deck running it.

Vines of Vastwood: Saves a creature from spot removal, protects Master of the Wild Hunt, and can sometimes be used to keep your opponent from targeting his/her own creature in a pinch. Also, +4/+4 on a creature at instant speed has so many fun uses.

Scattershot Archer: Oh Jesus, Scattershot Archer + Basilisk Collar = <3 Thanks @blairwitchgreen

Pitfalls:
Sometimes you get an opening hand with 1 land and 5 4+ CC spells. Not fun. A Mulligan to 6 is not uncommon, although in my brief testing with the deck a Mulligan to 5 is rare. This is definitely a mid-range deck, so some aggro strategies decimate it, and sometimes control decks get enough time to stabilize before you can get your Masters etc. online. Also, Iona exists. She is a right bitch.

That's all I got for now. I will post a tournament report sometime next week, if I take decent enough notes and I don't misplace them.

If you have a monogreen list that you want to post, post it in the comments for comparison purposes.

Thanks for reading! Get out to FNM, and watch out for wolves...
Bigheadjoe

An Amusing Post Script to My Dating Blog

2010-02-14T09:53:00.000-05:00

Heren van het Spel, who runs the first Dutch language podcast (or I guess first foreign language podcast on MTGCast at all!) on MTGCast, has a very good point. These people are in fact speaking of this woman in a very unflattering manner, and I disagree with the language they are using. However, I agree with the sentiment and figured I'd share this link with all of you: Ex-girlfriend complains of excessive Magic playing on FML

Read the comments. I find the response to this, minus the poor choice of descriptive adjectives, amusing.

bigheadjoe

A Call to Ban Bloodbraid Elf

2010-01-23T08:38:00.001-05:00

Let me start off by saying that I am well aware that these types of things usually don't work.

People were calling for the head of Bitterblossom on a silver platter a year ago to no avail.

However, after a lengthy discussion about the Jund deck on our podcast this week (PLUG) I feel that Bloodbraid Elf should be banned for a number of reasons:

1) Create a healthy metagame. Bitterblossom made Faeries a very powerful deck, but even still it only comprised about 20% of the metagame. That's one out of five decks, which I think is a better way to look at the problem. Jund is approximately 33% of the field, meaning one in three decks is Jund. (Let me say right now that I don't have the references to back these numbers up, I am simply going on the numbers that my podcast partner Joey Pasco was using in our latest episode. I know HE got them from an article, and after he reads this, if he would like to post a link in the comments you can check out the hard stats from there. Otherwise, just go with me.) More telling is the Top 16 at the most recent Star City Games 5K in LA, where Jund did not win, but was 9 out of the Top 16 finishers. Like user Mellowcow said in the comments to our latest podcast, when decks can consistently play maindeck color hosers like Flashfreeze, there is a seriously unhealthy and lopsided metagame.

Looking at deckcheck.net, the 10 most frequently occuring decks, followed by the number of decklists of each type:

1) Jund - 299
2) Vampires - 86
3) R/W Aggro - 79
4) Naya Aggro - 50
5) Mono Red Aggro - 45
6) Bant Aggro - 44
7) White Weenie - 34
8) Cruel Control - 32
9) U/W/x Control - 24
10) BGW Aggro - 23
(Actually pretty surprised to see Eldrazi Green at 11th with 20 decks!)

If this is a healthy metagame, than I am an idiot who shouldn't be allowed on the internet.

2) Keep casual players coming back to FNM. Many casual players come to FNM's with their own rogue decks, and enjoy playing against other such decks. While the expectation of a 100% rogue FNM is unreasonable, many players become discouraged when they play in an FNM with their own build of an archetype and do surprisingly well only to lose to Jund in the Top 8. Wizards has been going to great lengths to encourage new players to enter the game, and to promote their FNMs. When one in three decks at these events is the most powerful deck in the format, players can be turned off by the game and decide to not come back. Frankly, I personally have no problem with playing against Jund, rampant as it may be, but the FNM environment has become so competitive due to Jund's dominance that I have no interest in playing in these events until something can be done. FNM's are supposed to be fun events, but a stale format almost ensures a lack of fun.

3) Give the Jund deck a more exploitable weakness. Currently, Jund's only weakness is it's mana base. Jund requires all three colors of mana in it's shard to be fully functional, and many of it's lands come into play tapped. However, the deck is going to become one turn faster with the Amulet of Vigor recently spoiled, and even faster with Explore. Jund is not necessarily an aggro deck in the classic sense of the term, but is still a deck that relies on pumping out creatures at a faster clip than it's opponent and swinging in for the win. The problem with most aggro decks is that they run out of gas pretty quick. One board sweep can usually stall these decks enough for the opponent to battle back and win. This has always been the case for aggro decks, such that people who decide to play these types of decks are aware of the inherent risk in doing so. The problem with Jund is that, thanks to Bloodbraid Elf, the recovery from such "Wrath" effects is swift and devastating. Not only that, but the card provides Jund an opportunity to never run out of gas with enough of these in hand, an opportunity that other traditional aggro decks seldom have. This brings me into my next point:

4) Using Mike Flores' metric of mana efficiency, Bloodbraid Elf is severely overpowered. Mike Flores recently took part in a podcast over at top8magic called "Victory Bacon," wherein he described his "Grand Unified Theory" of Magic, in essence saying that the only metric that matters in Magic is spending the most mana in the most efficient way possible. While the theory is still a little raw and in need of testing to be validated, it is an earth-shattering theory nonetheless that will change the way you view deck construction and card choice. I highly recommend right-clicking that link, opening it in a new window, and listening to it immediately as you continue to read this blog entry. With that said, we can use this metric to surmise just how overpowered Bloodbraid Elf is. The benchmark for a 3/1 Haste creature is Spark Elemental at R, and it dies at the end of turn. Bloodbraid Elf is a 3/2 Haste that doesn't die at end of turn, so it is obviously valued higher than R. Looking at Gatherer for other creatures that are powered at 3/2 with Haste or another similarly powerful ability, we find several cards. Akuta, Born of Ash is a 3/2 with haste that costs 2BB, is legendary, and can be returned to play by sacrificing a swamp. Harvest Wurm costs 1G, no haste, and you must return a basic land from your graveyard to your hand or it dies, which is great card advantage, but makes the card difficult to cast. Keldon Champion is a 3/2 Haste for 2RR that deals 3 damage to target player when it enters the battlefield. Very similar to a Bloodbraid flipping over a Lightning Bolt, one of it's less mana efficient, although similarly devastating, cascades. However, even the Champion has an Echo cost of 2RR. Kitchen Finks. Now we're talking. Kitchen Finks is another overpowered card for it's mana cost, and one that comes close to matching the power of the Elf. However, due to the cascade ability of the Elf, it is unfair to value the Elf alone at 1G/W G/W since it is the Elf's cascade that makes it as powerful as it is. Ranger of Eos and Scythe Tiger are 2 creatures in the current Standard environment that share the 3/2 p/t of the Elf. Scythe Tiger requires you to sacrifice a land. The Ranger might be having a similar article written about it in the coming months (although not by me) with the introduction of a 13/13 creature for B in Worldwake. For now, however, the Ranger is a powerful, yet fair, card whose entire effect can be countered with a simple Essence Scatter. Vulshok Berzerker is a telling card. A 3/2 Haste for 3R, that Wizards felt was costed fair enough to print. However, we are looking for tournament viable mana costs here. For comparison's sake, then, let's cost the Elf alone at RG.

Now that we have the Elf valued at RG, let's look at the things that Bloodbraid Elf can cascade into: Blightning, Borderland Ranger, Maelstrom Pulse, Lightning Bolt, Terminate, Sprouting Thrinax, Putrid Leech. Every single one of these cards strengthens the board position of the Jund player. Only 3 of these seven cards cost less than 2 CMC, and the Bolt is a highly mana efficient Incinerate and therefore must be valued at 1R. So, at worse, the Elf is breaking even. At best, the Elf hits a Blightning or a Sprouting Thrinax. Both of these cards should at least be valued at 4 CMC. So the card is 6 mana worth of value for 4 CMC quite often, with a variety of devastating effects that cripple it's opponent.

Maybe some of that mana metric stuff is over some of your heads, but the simple fact is that until something is done to stop the rise of Jund our game will begin to lose discouraged players and the growth of our game that Wizards has made it's top priority will cease. Let me make this clear: the Jund deck will not die. While my language suggests that by banning Bloodbraid Elf the Jund deck will go away, I know that to not be the case. However, Bloodbraid Elf is the one card that takes this deck over the top and prevents other strategies from being viable. However, removing this key element will bring the deck back to parity with other decks, and maybe even cause some Jund players to consider other strategies.

Petition: I am starting a petition to ban Bloodbraid Elf. I don't typically think online petitions are an effective tool for change, but we as Magic players are in a unique position. Thanks to sites like Twitter, the powers that be at Wizards are only a Tweet away. With enough support, and enough retweets, I truely believe that we can create change and hold Wizards accountable for creating a balanced metagame where the cards in the format do not all point toward one singular viable strategy, and where multiple decks can flourish.

Sign the petition HERE.

Thanks as always for reading,
Bigheadjoe

P.S. If you think that I missed any points in this entry, please let me know in the comments section and I will do my best to address them. I know I'm gonna get some heat for this (by about 33% of you) but I'm ready for it.

Dating: the Puzzling

2010-01-14T13:20:00.002-05:00

DISCLAIMER: This blog involves a good deal about my personal life, and might not be for everyone. However, after a few conversations I have had over the past couple of weeks, I decided this was something that I needed to share with the Magic community. Just as Patrick Chapin has gone all zen on us as far as his Theory of Everything, I think I have hit a greater understanding of how to find happiness as a Magic player and still be able to be socially adept enough to find a woman (like, a real human woman) without hiding the fact that I play Magic.

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: This is from my perspective as a straight man. If you are a straight woman, or gay man or woman, this article is for you too. I'm not making anything gender-neutral, so deal with it.

Finally, I would like to thank the author of this comic for your inspiration.

INTRODUCTION:

So, I figured I need a blog post that will get me on Trick Jarrett's good side. This blog was put on death row on The Week in Magic a few weeks ago. I hadn't updated the blog since November. It was a good wake up call to start considering this blog again. We HAD been posting podcasts regularly over at MTGCast and Joey Pasco had been posting links to those in his blog. Since Joey posts more frequently on his blog than I do, and has one of those fancy personalized web addresses, I figured his blog was the best place to spread the word. I took my own blog for granted since our efforts were getting out to the public anyway.

Meanwhile, I had moved in with my mother, away from my reliable internet connection, and had also broken up with my girlfriend. So, as much as I enjoy writing about Magic for 7-10 total strangers to read and enjoy, I was downright lonely and decided to concentrate a lot of my energy on reentering the dating scene.

PART ONE: Finding a Girlfriend

Give up on the idea that you will meet a girl that plays Magic.

That sounds sexist, and incomplete. Let me rephrase that:

Give up on the idea that you will wind up dating someone who played Magic before you met them.

Maybe you will. Maybe you will roll into an FNM or a prerelease and find yourself sitting across the table from an incredibly attractive female who teaches you a thing or two about sick beats. You strike up some flirty banter during the match, follow her up to the table to turn in the results slip, ask her out on a date (another FNM), and wind up getting married by Richard Garfield himself.
Good for you.

Here's what happens in real life:

You roll into an FNM or prerelease and sit across the table from an incredibly attractive female who teaches you a thing or two about sick beats. You strike up some flirty banter during the match, follow her up to the table to turn in the results slip, and begin to ask her out on a date when one of two things happen:

A) Her boyfriend walks up to her to find out how she did.
B) You wake up.

Sorry, but this just isn't going to happen to you. Get the fantasy out of your head now, or stop reading this article. If you can't deal with this fact, there is no hope for you.

However, for those of you who are still reading, there IS hope.

Everyone deserves to be happy. No matter what we do with our time, we all deserve to be satisfied in all areas of our lives. Every single person is deserving of love, peace, sex, wealth, success, and whatever else we feel makes up a fulfilling life. Magic players are no exception. Just because you are 27 and have the same hobby as 10-20 year olds doesn't mean that you have to lower your standards or pretend to be someone that you are not. Even though most Magic players are in their 20's that doesn't mean that the young kids aren't there. More importantly, people who do not play Magic always seem to remember the youngest person playing Magic, maybe as a way to belittle the hobby as a kid's game.

So you need to get out of the comic shop and into someone's arms. What do you do?

As a geek, online dating is a very obvious choice for me. Despite my boisterous public persona (and startlingly masculine good looks), I tend to clam up when it comes to speaking to women I like in bars or other such places. So the internet gives me the opportunity to type the first thing that comes to mind when I read someone's profile, and then erase it and type something COHERENT. That is a luxury I do not have in a bar at 1am after 6 or 7 beers.

So far, internet dating has gone fairly well for me. The one thing I like about it is the opportunity to really learn about someone before you even decide to meet them. Meeting someone at a bar without any prior conversation is purely superficial: one can only make the snap judgment of whether or not they would sleep with the other person before approaching them. (Random Observation #1: I am watching a 6 hour tape of Beavis and Butt-Head right now, and the live video for "Mother" by Danzig is playing. I must say, anyone who dresses up like they are in The Misfits and goes to a Danzig show is a total loser. Wrong band, asshole.)

At this time, I would like to point your attention to the following link:
http://www.okcupid.com/profile/vjbsiljerhuthgl

That is my dating profile on the OKCupid website, which is the only dating website I use because it is free.

Take a moment to read my profile.

What did you notice?

I mention Magic a lot.

A LOT.

I mention Magic a lot because I play Magic a lot. Magic takes up about half of my time, whether I am thinking about it, reading about it, playing it, building decks, blogging about it, podcasting about it, listening to podcasts about it,or running tournaments at my local store (PLUG: AMAZING SPIRAL COMICS IN THE ROTUNDA MALL... WE'VE GOT A BANESLAYER FOR $55!)

You are probably asking yourself at this point, "Why in the hell would he ever mention Magic in his dating profile? WHAT A LOSER! I bet he never gets laid!"

Mostly because I would rather be alone than pretend to be something I am not.

First off, Magic is what I do. If anyone asks me what I do, the first thing out of my mouth is, "I play a lot of Magic, and..." The "and" doesn't need to be elaborated, because any cardboard addict knows that the "and" is only there to downplay the depth of my addiction. Magic is my recreation, my stress relief, my drug of choice. (OK, fine, if you read my dating profile thoroughly enough you would know that pot is way up there too, but I bet you just skipped to all the mentions of Magic, you nerd...)

Second, playing Magic as much as I do, there is only so long that I could hide the fact from someone before they found out. I would rather have a woman know that I am out playing cards with my friends on a Friday night than think I am out at a bar trying to replace her. At least she always knows I am at a sausage party on Friday nights! Besides, lies only lead to more lies, and when the shit hits the fan and she finds out I am hiding the fact that I play a CARD GAME the situation appears more pathetic than it actually is.

Furthermore, maybe I am just getting old, but at this point in my life I do not see any reason to be ashamed what I do with my time. I actually LOVE playing Magic. I don't really play video games anymore, I enojyed playing Yu-Gi-Oh with my old roommates (and later some college classmates) but that was only because those people didn't play Magic, and I honestly have no interest in playing D&D anymore (although I have no problem with the game or those who do play it). Reminds me of a quote from Baltimore native John Waters' film Cecil B. Demented: (I'm paraphrasing here) "I used to have lots of problems, but now I just have one: drugs. Gave my life real focus." I've taken all of my nerdy tendencies and have concentrated them into one area.

Finally, and this is a fairly important point, WOMEN LIKE HONESTY. If you read my dating profile all the way through, Magic is not the only fact about me that I am honest about. I really feel like that profile is an accurate representation of myself. I haven't updated it in maybe a month and am a little less bitter than I was when I typed that stuff, but I feel like I covered all of my bases on there. I want to find someone that I can spend the rest of my life with (again, I know my profile says otherwise, but I was pretty disheartened by the end of my last relationship. Not going to get into too much detail on that one, but it had nothing to do with Magic.), so I feel as though full disclosure is vital to making that happen.

Let's say Magic is still around 20 years from now. 90% of the people reading this, and 100% of the people writing it, will be still doing "Magic, and..." with their time. Sure, maybe Magic will come second to taking care of your family, or your job, but it won't go away entirely. Even if you quit to focus on one of those things, you know damn well that, just like Brett Favre, August will roll around and you will start getting that old itch like something is missing in your life. For Favre it was football season, for us it's spoiler season. The internet has made "one quick glance for old times' sake" nearly impossible to avoid.

In summary:
1. Give up on meeting someone who plays Magic
2. Post a profile on a dating website
3. Be honest
4. Be proud of who you are and what you like to do for fun
5. Don't dress like you're in The Misfits at a Danzig concert

PART TWO: Keeping Your Girlfriend From Breaking Up With You Because You Play Magic

OK, so let's say you get on OKCupid, you put up a profile, you mention Magic and are completely honest about your level of commitment to the game, you meet someone, you hit it off, things get serious, and you wind up in a relationship. How do you make sure that you don't screw it up? I have a few suggestions on that front as well. I can't teach you how to put the toilet seat down (although you MUST), how to be a good listener, or just how not to be a douchebag in general. However, I can give some pointers on how to not have Magic be the thing that ruins your otherwise perfect relationship.

(As I write this, I am remembering reading an article online that touched on this subject. The article was called "Dear Blossom #1" and was from http://www.themagicarena.com, which apparently no longer exists. I apologize to the writer of that article if any of our ideas unintentionally overlap. That article was more about teaching your girlfriend to play rather than finding a girlfriend or keeping her around. I want to thank the author of that article for the inspiration. The article may still be available on the MTGCast iTunes channel, but just in case it isn't I will paste the article in it's entirety in the comments.)

First, and I think most importantly, KEEP YOUR MAGIC TIME AND YOUR GIRLFRIEND TIME SEPARATE. My buddy (and YO! MtG TAPS! Co-host) Joey Pasco has had the same girlfriend for the entire time he has played Magic (Yes, that's 15 years for those of you keeping score at home) and he is the living embodiment of this rule. I know she had been around when we were way younger and playing the game, but I don't think she has seen me tap a forest in 10 years. That's because Joey got smart. When he realized that he was never going to get her to play the game (probably because, as a Spike, I'm sure he had a hard time letting her win hahahahaha), he made sure to keep Magic as small a part of HER life as he possibly could. They are moving in together in 2 weeks, so we'll see how well she handles cards where cards have no business being (like in the bathroom), but I'm sure he at least puts the toilet seat down! I'm know they will do fine, mostly because they love each other, but also because Joe has certain times and days when he plays cards, and certain times and days where he spends time with his girlfriend.

That leads me right into my next point: DO NOT EVER INVITE YOUR GIRLFRIEND TO WATCH YOU PLAY IN A TOURNAMENT! NOTHING could be more boring! I know someone who had a boyfriend who wanted her to come watch him play in a tournament, and apparently he broke up with her because she refused. This man was what people in civilized societies would call a "complete moron." When I was told this story, I compared it to asking someone who didn't understand Japanese to come watch you write an essay in Japanese (Maybe I said Korean, but you get the point). No matter how elegantly and successfully you play the game, this fact is lost on someone who knows nothing about the game. Furthermore, seeing the game for the first time in a tournament setting is the WORST POSSIBLE WAY for someone to be introduced to the game. (Random Observation #2: My favorite quote from Beavis and Butt-Head that I always seem to forget about is, "I wish... I wish... nothing. It's too late." No context. Figure it out.) (Random question #1: Which band was the Vixen of "Grunge?" If you don't know who Vixen was, watch the video "Edge of a Broken Heart." You will then understand my question. For the record I do not have an answer to this question, I am simply curious as to any responses I may receive.) The best place to introduce ANY new player to the game, especially a significant other, is at the kitchen table. Even if they don't play themselves, they can ask questions and you can answer them thoroughly without the ticking clock of a tournament setting. You can slow down and explain the game. If they would like, they can try playing a game of two themselves.

I feel like this is getting a little too hopeful for some of you. Let me expand this rule even further. DO NOT EVER ASK YOUR GIRLFRIEND TO PLAY MAGIC. EVER. If she is really interested, she will ask. Do not make your girlfriend resent you for playing Magic. The best way to accomplish this is to not ever ask her to play. Asking once only leads to asking twice, and then three times, and then leads to (or at least can be perceived as) pressuring her to play. Just don't go down that road.

The previous rule contrasts the next rule. MAKE SURE YOU MENTION MAGIC ONCE IN AWHILE TO YOUR GIRLFRIEND. Do not let your girlfriend believe that she lives in a Magic-less world. The less often you mention Magic, the more weight each mention of the game carries. This is a little tricky. There is a balance here that will best be understood as you come to better understand your partner. Basically, don't talk to your girlfriend exclusively about Magic, but don't go out of your way to never mention it either.

Here is something that I think is worth mentioning. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND UNDERSTANDS THAT SHE WON'T GET YOU TO QUIT PLAYING THE GAME. Make sure that you are clear that this isn't a phase you are going through. The only phases (besides Phasing, and the phases of a turn) in my life are the short periods where I have stopped playing, and I haven't even seen one of those since 2001. Some people are convinced that they can "fix" their partner and get them off of drugs, or keep them from cheating, or any other vice they might have. These people are more sensible than anyone who thinks they can convince their partner to quit Magic. New heroin doesn't come along every 3 months. I had one ex-girlfriend actually convince me to sell a decent chunk of my collection (10000 cards, mostly before Ravnica block), which I am still kicking myself about. I wish I was playing EDH back then. I could have sold the same amount of cards and kept one copy of everything cool. Anyway, other than that it wasn't a bad thing, my point is I sold TEN THOUSAND CARDS without my collection being compromised enough to make me unable to play. I made sure of that.

Another ex-girlfriend really resented the amount of time I spent playing Magic, and wanted me to play less. Here's the kicker: she used to play Magic. Like, before I met her. Meaning, I was living the dream. Unfortunately, she didn't like the game anymore, and thought it was dorky and boring. While there were other things about her that lead to me no longer wanting to be with her, trying to keep me from playing Magic was the one thing that made me realize that I COULDN'T be with her anymore. That's the closest I have ever come to dating someone who plays Magic.

I think that's the best advice I can give for now. I think I have been typing this for damn near 6 hours. To summarize part 2 of this piece:

1. Keep your Magic time and your girlfriend time separate.
2. Don't invite your girlfriend to a tournament to watch you play.
3. Do not ever ask your girlfriend to play Magic.
4. Make sure you mention Magic at least once in awhile to your girlfriend.
5. Make sure your girlfriend realizes that she won't convince you to quit Magic.

I think that following these guidelines will bring you the happiness you deserve.

Thank you for reading,
Bigheadjoe

Currently reading: My Files Part One by Zvi Mowshowitz courtesy of www.top8magic.com and the USPS handling Joey Pasco's copy poorly. Thanks guys!

YO! MtG TAPS! Episode 8 Addendum: Relevant Research

2010-01-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

OK, so in the most recent episode of YO! MtG TAPS!, Joey Pasco and I debated the mythic rarity of the spoiled card Comet Storm. Here is the card for those of you who haven't yet seen it:

While I don't necessarily think this card is MYTHIC, for the sake of the podcast I took the position of someone who agreed with the card's mythic rarity. I used the argument that there haven't been too many Red Instant Spells with X in their mana cost. Here are all of the cards I was able to find that met that initial criteria (Oracle wordings included under card pictures):

Balduvian Rage XR:
Target attacking creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn.
Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

Blazing Shoal XRR:
You may exile a red card with converted mana cost X from your hand rather than pay Blazing Shoal's mana cost.
Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn.

Captain's Maneuver XRW:
The next X damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn is dealt to another target creature or player instead.

Dwarven Catapult XR:
Dwarven Catapult deals X damage divided evenly, rounded down, among all creatures target opponent controls.

Enrage XR:
Target creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn.

Fault Line XRR:
Fault Line deals X damage to each creature without flying and each player.

Flaming Gambit XR:
Flaming Gambit deals X damage to target player. That player may choose a creature he or she controls and have Flaming Gambit deal that damage to it instead.
Flashback XRR (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Heat Ray XR:
Heat Ray deals X damage to target creature.

Lavaball Trap 6RR:
If an opponent had 2 or more lands enter the battlefield under his or her control this turn, you may pay 3RR rather than pay Lavaball Trap's mana cost.

Destroy 2 target lands. Lavaball Trap deals 4 damage to each creature.

(Doesn't have X, but has a very similar effect in the current standard environment, so included for comparison's sake)

Outmaneuver XR:
X target blocked creatures assign their combat damage this turn as though they weren't blocked.

Rock Slide XR:
Rock Slide deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of target attacking or blocking creatures without flying.

Starstorm XRR:
Starstorm deals X damage to each creature.
Cycling 3 (3, Discard this card: Draw a card.)

Timecrafting XR:
Choose one — Remove X time counters from target permanent or suspended card; or put X time counters on target permanent with a time counter on it or suspended card.

Volcanic Geyser XRR:
Volcanic Geyser deals X damage to target creature or player.

So, not counting Lavaball Trap as it does not have X in it's mana cost, there have been 13 cards printed, in the history of Magic: the Gathering, that are Red Instant Spells with X in the mana cost.

Next, since Comet Storm is a burn spell that hits multiple targets, I eliminated any spells from this list that did not meet that criteria:

Balduvian Rage, Blazing Shoal, Enrage, Outmaneuver, Timecrafting - OUT! (Not burn spells)

Captain's Maneuver - OUT! (Contains white, only has one target)

Flaming Gambit - OUT! (Only one target per time cast, although DOES hit 2 total targets)

Heat Ray, Volcanic Geyser - OUT! (Only one target)

So that leaves us with the following spells:

4 spells that have a similar effect to Comet Storm, at instant speed, with X in the mana cost.

Now let's compare the cost of each spell.

For this, we will use 4 damage to 4 targets.

Comet Storm: RR + 4(for x) + 3(for 3 instances of multikicker) = 9 CMC

Dwarven Catapult: R + 16(for x) = 17 CMC (and can't hit players)

Fault Line: RR + 4(for x) = 6 CMC (although can't hit flyers and damages the caster)

Rock Slide: R + 16(for x) = 17 CMC (although can't hit flyers or players)

Starstorm: RR + 4(for x) = 6 CMC (although hits your own creatures)

And for comparison's sake:

Lavaball Trap 6RR = 8 CMC (although doesn't damage player)

So, the conclusion I've reached is that this is a very versitile spell, capable of a good, one-sided sweep, for a decent cost. Does that make it Mythic-worthy? Probably not. Lavaball Trap seems like a better bargain in Standard, and Starstorm would have been more exciting as a reprint, in my opinion. It's cheaper than some of the other instant speed, Fireball-like abilities in the past. (Fireball, by the way, would cost 20 CMC for the same effect) Joey, my podcast partner, seems a little more up in arms about this than I am, but he also is more unsatisfied with Mythic Rarity as a whole. How do you feel about this? Let me know by emailing yomtgtaps@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!

Bigheadjoe

It's Not Dead, It's Restin'

2009-12-21T11:46:00.000-05:00

Top 8 finish for All-In Sphinx Sunday!

2009-11-09T03:08:00.000-05:00

Hello again!

So, after winning Saturday's event at Amazing Spiral, I decided to test my deck in a forum where I have previously only embarrassed myself: Legends in Towson. Legends has a extremely dedicated and competitive Sunday crowd. I brought the same deck as Saturday, only changing out the single Elspeth for a single Swerve. Elspeth is a great card obviously, just not what I was looking for in the deck. Anyway, let's call this minor change (and one change to the board) "All-In Sphinx version 1.5"

http://mtgurl.com/zyVq

I actually kept my lifetotal sheet from this one, but still no real tournament report unfortunately. I can hardly take notes when I play I get so scatterbrained. I will do my best to recall though.

RD1 vs. Ryan (playing an Esper Mill deck):
Game 1 I lost quickly, not really prepared to see Mill to be completely honest. My deck is set up Game 1 to deal with some of the more aggressive creature-based decks in the format. He hit me with an Archive Trap almost immediately when I fetched, and hit with at least 2 good Mind Funeral's. Game 2 I sided in Negate, Meddling Mage, Thought Hemorrhage, and maybe something else, and sided out Purge, one Jace, probably 3 Terminate's and something else. I played Meddling Mage naming Archive Trap, and then Mage naming Mind Funeral, and beat him down with 2 Mages for the win. I think there may have actually been a double Lightning Bolt to take his final 6 life. Anyway, Game 3 I was set up to do the same thing when he Path to Exiled my Mage; and, since I had been used to playing with Sphinx, I searched my library for a land (even though I was totally fine on land). This prompted a double Archive Trap, followed by a next turn Mind Funeral to clear me out completely. Big mistake cost me what should have been an eventual win. I am glad I did it, because now I won't ever do that again.
0-1

RD2 vs. Paul (Playing 4CC)
These 2 games Paul beat me pretty severely. I didn't put up too much of a fight, I don't remember exactly why, but I did write down my big mistake of Game 2 (which I was going to lose anyway). Game 2 Paul played a Luminarch Ascension, and I let it get to 4 counters. He played some Angels and managed to swing in for 8. The next turn I had an Esper Charm and a Day of Judgment in my hand. I played the Day of Judgment before I played the Esper Charm! Of course he made 3 Angels in response to me blowing it up! I don't know what I was thinking with that play, possibly "5! 5 dollar! 5 dollar footlong!" Which I had plenty of time to enjoy.
0-2

RD 3 vs. David (playing Grixis Pyromancer's Ascension)
I wasn't too impressed with this deck. It was running Duress, Burst Lightning, Lightning Bolt, Ponder, maybe Blightning. I sided in a bunch of Counterspells and Swerves, Thought Hemorrhage, Meddling Mage after winning Game 1 fairly easily. I don't remember if he sideboarded or not. I know he had Thought Hemorrhage in Game 2 so I'm guessing he did.
1-2

RD 4 vs. John (playing WUR Control, I think)
I don't remember much about this matchup, other than I think at one point he got in with Sphinx, I played my own Sphinx and blocked his Sphinx next turn, and then played Cruel Ultimatum. That sounds about right. Obelisk of Alara has really been great in this deck too, very versatile and game-altering. Won both games fairly easily. (I also remember playing Celestial Purge every time he played Chandra Nalaar)
2-2

RD 5 vs. Brian (playing Mono White Aggro)
Brian was watching my previous match against his friend, and went into our match talking about how much he hated playing against control decks. He didn't seem to have too much trouble beating me down in Game 1 though. Knight of the White Orchid, Elite Vanguard, Honor of the Pure, Ajani Goldmane, Kor Skyfisher, Emeria, the Sky Ruin, Baneslayer Angel, Captain of the Watch are all cards I remember seeing throughout our 3 games. Once I sided out the Purges in favor of 2 Day of Judgment and possibly one Negate I seemed to have the ability to slow him down enough for me to stabilize. I remember he would be on 2 cards in hand at the end of his draw step and I would Esper Charm him. I did that twice in three turns, and he said, "Seriously?" Obelisk of Alara I'm pretty sure helped me win both games here, I guess Dispeller's Capsule isn't "cool."
3-2

I MADE TOP 8! I was really excited because this was my first Top 8 at Legends ever. I am constantly playing rogue decks and getting stomped by all of the more well-tuned decks, but this deck feels tighter than any deck I've played before.

TOP 8 vs. Scott (playing Jund)
Game 1 I got stuck on 2 land after mulliganing to 5. Not much to really report there, except that maybe I should have gone to 4. Game 2 he seemed to do very little to me according to the life totals. I believe I swerved a Blightning back at him, and played Cruel Ultimatum, followed by several lightning bolts and activations of the red Obelisk ability. Game 3 was tough! I got him all the way down to 1 life before he swung in for lethal damage with 2 Thrinax, 3 Saprolings, and Bloodbraid Elf. I did all I could with what I had in my hand. I actually had a chance to beat him had he cascaded into either Blightning or Lightning Bolt off of his Bloodbraid Elf.

So, after my experience at Legends Sunday, here is the list I plan on trying out:
http://mtgurl.com/aiuE

I needed one more damage to make Top 4, so I added Burst Lightnings to make sure that doesn't happen again, and 2 Mind Springs to make sure I get to them. I also added a fourth maindeck Celestial Purge because they do pretty well in this environment, not only against Jund, Vampires, Red Deck, and Boros BushWACKAAAA!!! but also against those pesky Chandra Nalaar's that keep popping up against me. I don't see the appeal of Chandra AT ALL honestly, but that's just probably because of what I'm currently playing. The sideboard has been drastically overhauled. QUICK! Name one spell that Jund runs that is monoblack? Exactly. Flashfreeze it is.

I'd rather YOU tell ME more about my deck, one because I am lazy and it's 3am, but also because I would like to hear why YOU think I chose these cards, and maybe why you think I am wrong in choosing some of them. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Thanks for reading!
bigheadjoe

I AM A SELL OUT: Presenting "All-In Sphinx," a Deck for Standard.

2009-11-07T22:39:00.003-05:00

OK, let me begin by saying that on the second episode of Joe Pasco and I's podcast, "YO! MtG TAPS!," I briefly described a 4 Color Control deckbuild that I was working on. I also mentioned how I wasn't too hot on Sphinx of Jwar Isle. Joe defended his little blue buddy eloquently (check out Joe's blog at http://www.affinityforislands.com/ to see more of his comments on the Sphinx), and made me rethink my position. A few days later I was trading him for 3 of the 17 Sphinx's that he owned at that time (I believe that number has since jumped back to 18) and cutting Baneslayer Angel from my deck. So since I committed to the Sphinx, I decided to run 4 copies and call the deck "All-In Sphinx" to expose myself as a hypocrite. At FNM that same night, my friend Darryn suggested cutting Volcanic Fallout for maindeck Celestial Purges, a tidbit of advice I followed almost immediately, and with smashing results (thanks, Darryn!).

So here is the current decklist:
http://mtgurl.com/674S

I run Saturday morning Standard events at Amazing Spiral Comics in the Rotunda Mall, right in beautiful Hampden, Maryland. (A town in Baltimore City, A City of Neighborhoods, the Greatest City in America and home of Grand Prix Baltimore May 22 and 23, 2010). I recently had a Booster Draft invalidated by the DCI, and was curious as to why. Apparently you need 8 players for an event to be sanctioned, and our draft only had 4. Oh well, it was still fun. My concern was that we were invalidated because I participated in the event and I am the organizer. Fortunately that was not the case, and I am actually glad I found out about the 8 person minimum. We would have had 7 today had I not participated.

By the way, have you seen the Foil DCI Alternate Art Vampire Nighthawk? It's pretty great. Too bad you will NEVER find a decent picture of it online. Go to an event and get one. I don't know.

So I think I am on to something here with this deck. I can't claim 100% credit for it's construction, as I looked to a lot of previous 5CC builds for inspiration for the mana base and such, as well as some invaluable criticism from my friends. Still, I feel like I have taken all of this information and arranged it into a really tight decklist. The mana base works very well, although I seem to mulligan to 6 a lot. 90% of the time I have the correct colors to cast any spell in my hand.

So like I said, I participated in an 8 person Standard event today that I am also the organizer for. I won the event, which was 3 rounds of swiss, into a top 4, going 4-1 in matches. I didn't write a tournament report or anything, but I can briefly go round by round with whatever info I can remember (I knew I should have kept that life total sheet!)

RD1 vs. Keith Cooper (playing Mono Black Vampire Aggro):
I seem to remember Keith winning game one pretty handily. He beat me down pretty quickly. I did nothing to him.
For Game 2 I sided out a Sphinx, a Jace, an Esper Charm and something else for 3 Thought Hemmorhage and one Celestial Purge. Keith got me down to 2 life and I managed to drop an Obelisk of Alara and stay alive long enough to climb back thanks to Cruel Ultimatum and Sphinx.
Game 3 I managed to get Ajani's ultimate off, which should have in parenthesis "you win the game." A hell of a tough fight though, and Keith is a good sport even though he hates control decks. Such a fun match.
1-0

RD2 vs. Gary Harthousen (playing Red Deck Wins):
I remember drawing a ton of removal in both games to deal with his threats, although I actually have Gary to thank for exposing some of my decks weaknesses in some prior games we had played earlier this week. I did not sideboard for Game 2, and I didn't really need to. This deck seems to answer the threats of Red Deck Wins pretty consistently, but a 4th Purge wouldn't have hurt.
2-0

RD3 vs. Harrison Stevens (playing Mono Black Vampire Control)
Harrison surprised me today with his skillfully built Vampire Control deck. No offense meant by that comment, Harrison is just a fairly casual Magic player and I wasn't expecting such a sophisticated build of the most popular archetype among casual players. I don't remember much about my win of game one, but I remember my biggest mistake in game 2: I played Oblivion Ring on one of his vampires (most likely Bloodghast) instead of holding back mana to Negate his Mind Sludge. Games 2 and 3 I was obliterated by that card, and couldn't recover. Joe has talked me into Negate vs. Swerve as a more consistently effective option against some of the most devastating spells in the format, but I wonder if Swerve would have won me the match in this instance. Maybe I will run 2 and 2 in the sideboard and cut a Day of Judgment.
2-1

TOP 4 vs. Michael Tango (playing RG Valakut Mana Ramp)
This deck was really cool also. I have been thinking about building some version of this deck after hearing of its existence, although I haven't looked at any decklists yet. Game 1 I was totally thrown off guard by this deck, and lost handily. I wound up siding in 9 cards for Game 2 (1x Meddling Mage, 3x Thought Hemorrhage, 3x Negate, 2x Identity Crisis) and added 2 more Meddling Mage in Game 3. I can't remember exactly what happened in what order, but my sideboard plan was effective. When siding those in, I sided out much of the creature removal (esp. O Ring and Purge which were utterly useless). I played Meddling Mage naming Harrow, so he killed Meddling Mage and proceeded to play THREE HARROWS in game 2. In one turn. I was scared. I was able to stay alive thanks to Ajani Vengeant, Obelisk of Alara, and a Cruel Ultimatum. In Game 3 I think I played Esper Charm to discard his last 2 cards, and then used his Oracle of Mul Daya to choose my Meddling Mage target for me :) Sphinx of Jwar Isle had a hand in many of my wins today, as no one had too many answers for it. I believe games 2 and 3 of this match were no exception.
3-1

FINAL vs. Keith Cooper (still playing the same deck):
Vampires was a deck I had expected to see a good amount of, so I had built this deck with defeating that deck and Jund primarily in mind. My deck has a lot of answers to Vampires, and I seemed to draw all of them at just the right time in both games of this match. Keith also got unlucky with Vampire Nocturnus flipping Swamp on more than one occasion. Of course we split the prize money because that's way more fun.

Overall, I was really excited about this deck, and by my play today. I am NOT a control player by nature, and I never played 5CC when it was... well, easier to cast the cards in it. I feel like I piloted this deck very skillfully and with poise in the face of peril. I was at 2 life in one game and 1 life in another and still managed to come back and win. Also, I had NEVER won a tournament before, and while this was a small event, it was still thrilling to win. My constructed rating is terrible, and it's nice to see some movement in the right direction.

I wish I had a chance to face Jund with this deck today. I am still not 100% sure how well it stacks up. Time will tell. I might go play more cards tomorrow morning in Towson, but I don't have my workshirt LOL... so I might have to be responsible, for what it's worth. Maybe I'll just call out.

Goblin Ruinblaster did not appear once today against my deck. That is incorrect. That card belongs in the sideboard of almost every deck that can cast it, my own deck included. Would have helped a ton against Valakut today. And if that Graveyard deck takes off running Crypt of Agadeem that statement is even more correct. Although I would probably cut Identity Crisis for it, and that actually works a little better against the Graveyard deck. At least in theory.

Anyway, that's my story for today. I had a lot of fun, and can't wait to run this deck in more tournaments. Shows a lot of promise. Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading!
Bigheadjoe

UPDATE: My Current Balthor the Defiled EDH Decklist! (I love this deck)

2009-11-05T15:55:00.001-05:00

Hey there, it's been awhile!

I have had a lot of personal issues to deal with, nothing I am going to bore you with here. Let's just say I went through a lot of good positive change in my life. Maybe overdue change.

We DID manage to start our podcast, YO! MtG TAPS! On the MTGCast network. The link to our second episode is http://mtgcast.com/?p=2974 . Check it out, we are having a lot of fun making it!

I just wanted to do a quick update here to get back in the habit of updating this blog. I talked in an earlier post about my EDH deck using Balthor the Defiled as my general. I have been picking up cards here and there for it and wanted to post my progress in building the deck. I am finally getting to the point with the deck where I look at every card and say "awesome..." under my breath. It is such a flavorful fun deck to play, and I can't wait to get some Planechase to add to the chaos! Check out the list:

1 General:
Balthor the Defiled

38 Lands:
32 Swamp
Crypt of Agadeem
Leechridden Swamp
Phyrexian Tower
Springjack Pasture
Unholy Grotto
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

30 Creatures:
Cemetery Reaper
Corpse Connoisseur
Corpse Harvester
Corpulent Corpse
Death Baron
Festering Goblin
Fleshbag Marauder
Gempalm Polluter
Graveborn Muse
Gravedigger
Grixis Slavedriver
Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
Headless Horseman
Howling Banshee
Infectious Horror
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
Lord of the Undead
Maggot Carrier
Nightmare
Phyrexian Scuta
Rotlung Reanimator
Shepherd of Rot
Stromgald Crusader
Undead Warchief
Vengeful Dead
Viscera Dragger
Wall of Tombstones
Withered Wretch
Zombie Master
Zombie Trailblazer

5 Instants:
Cabal Ritual
Dark Ritual
Grim Harvest
Makeshift Mannequin
Treacherous Urge

14 Sorceries:
Beseech the Queen
Buried Alive
Cabal Therapy
Consume Spirit
Corrupt
Damnation
Death Cloud
Mind Twist
Mutilate
Night's Whisper
Profane Command
Rise from the Grave
Sign in Blood
Sinkhole

7 Enchantments:
Animate Dead
Bad Moon
Call to the Grave
Grave Pact
Oversold Cemetery
Phyrexian Arena
Quest for the Gravelord

5 Artifacts:
Eternity Vessel
Lightning Greaves
Loxodon Warhammer
Nevinyrral's Disk
Quietus Spike

I am completely in love with this deck. It is so much fun to play. Once I get the Zombie Planechase deck I will have Cabal Coffers and Soulless One to help it out, and I think Twisted Abomination wouldn't be too bad either. Kabahl Ghoul is still the dream card though. I just really want to obtain that card. Also, some of the broken monoblack card draw spells would be a welcome addition. What do you think? Send feedback to yomtgtaps@gmail.com

Talk to you soon!
Bigheadjoe

Big Black Deck Week #3: Laziness Ensues, or What Was Supposed to be a Look at Monoblack Control Decks Over the Years

2009-09-10T01:47:00.002-04:00

Hello, and welcome back to Big Black Deck Week!

Today, I was going to go over the evolution of Monoblack Control over the years.

Well, I guess at this point in time I mean YESTERDAY.

Oops.

I had work training today, and had some errands afterwords that I wound up spending more time worrying about than actually doing, so today's article got lost in the shuffle. I will be resuming Big Black Deck Week tomorrow (today) as though this never happened and I had in fact posted article #3. Unless of course tomorrow's article goes really well. In that case, I will go back and reedit this post to include the promised article.

So tune in tomorrow, or later today for those of you who are not confused as to what day it is, for Big Black Deck Week #4: The Top 25 (or 50, or however many cards I feel like writing about) Monoblack Cards in Multiplayer Magic!

Thank you for your disappointment! It means you are actually reading this! (If anyone is actually reading this!)
Bigheadjoe

UPDATE 9/10/09: Due to being busy this morning recording a podcast, and then spending a good deal of time editing it this afternoon. I am not going to be able to do this post. Maybe one day, but not today. Big Black Deck Week #4 will be online in a few hours, and I might just do #5 at the same time. Not sure yet. Need to do work stuff tomorrow so it might be easier to get them both done at once tonight. Not moving for the next 4 hours due to football on TV, so that might help.

Consider this topic an I.O.U. I've been good at those lately. If you stumble across this blog and are interested in hearing me talk about this topic, email me.

Big Black Deck Week #2: Evaluating Monoblack in Standard Post-Lorwyn

2009-09-08T18:03:00.000-04:00

Hello, and welcome back to Big Black Deck Week! Alternately, if you are viewing this blog for the first time, welcome to Big Black Deck Week! After all of that rambling about EDH yesterday, I am going to flip the script today and talk a little bit about the upcoming Standard rotation and what it means for the potential resurgence of monocolored decks, specifically the ever-elusive, standard-viable, monoblack control deck!

For years, players have longed for monoblack control to make a comeback, and every year the most faithful of its followers say that "THIS IS THE YEAR" when they see the latest spoiler lists for the latest upcoming big October set. And every year since the release of Mirrodin this has positively NOT been the case. The cabal have had to hang out at the fringes of Standard, only occasionally peeking their heads into the metagame (Hello, Kokusho and Cranial Extraction!). But for monoblack control to really make a comeback, and once again become a tier one deck, there would need to be a return to the color wheel, an environment where monocolored decks can BE ALL THAT THEY CAN BE.

This is one of those sets!

The color wheel is coming back into balance!

Monoblack Control has a chance!

OR DOES IT?

So far, after looking at the cards spoiled from Zendikar, the answer is... maybe. Lately, besides EDH and extended, Joe Pasco and myself have been testing decks using M10 and Alara Block, in preparation for post-Lorwyn standard. My favorite deck I have been playing thus far is a monoblack control deck. Before I go any further, take a look at the decklist:

Lands:
23 Swamp

Creatures:
4 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Child of Night
3 Nyxathid

Instants:
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Doom Blade

Sorceries:
4 Sign in Blood
4 Consume Spirit
4 Mind Rot
2 Mind Shatter
4 Duress

Sideboard:
3 Infest
4 Deathmark
4 Corrupted Roots
4 Black Knight

This deck has produced some decent results for me during our sometimes all-night playtesting sessions, although it has performed well against decks that are similarly limited in their cardpool. Another thing to note is that this decklist is simply a speculative list as to what might be in Standard after Zendikar's release and is made with the intention of replacing some of the cards with cards from Zendikar. This made the deckbuilding process easy and very fun since I could "dream a little dream" and play around with cards that I feel have not quite reached their full potential. Admittedly, the deck was not built with too much scrutiny, and the sideboard is garbage, but how do you side for a format that doesn't exist yet? Let me run down my card choices, one by one, with a little explanation for each choice.

23 Swamp - I chose a fairly low number of swamps for monoblack control because the deck runs 4x sign in blood to draw into more land and 4x Vampire Nocturnus, which rewards me for not having a land on top of my deck.

Vampire Nocturnus - I feel as though this card has so much potential, but does not currently have decent support pre-Zendikar. IF ONLY THERE WAS SUPPORT. Oh, yeah... more on that later.

Child of Night - Another card that I absolutely LOVE and had been dying to play with since I first laid eyes on it.Goes great with Vampire Nocturnus.

Nyxathid - Originally, this slot was for x3 Megrim and x1 Mind Shatter (the deck was also running 22 lands), but I seem to never draw a Megrim unless I absolutely do not need it. Mind Shatter is always great, but x3 was way too many. I have not had a chance to play around with the deck since I changed out the Megrims, but this is an obvious choice since before the change I kept drawing Megrims when my opponent had exactly no cards in hand.

Tendrils of Corruption - Kills Baneslayer Angel dead. And Gargoyle Castle. And just about every other creature that doesn't have Protection from Black. A great card for this deck. Hasn't been a liability with the low Swamp count yet.

Doom Blade - Also kills Baneslayer Angel, and quicker than Tendrils. must have 4x.

Sign in Blood - It has always been a good thing to have this card in my hand. Goes great with Vampire Nocturnus. Got a Swamp on the top of your deck? Sign in Blood and try again!

Consume Spirit - Now THIS card, sadly, is underperforming in the deck. The deck needs a Cabal Coffers to make this card better. Still, doesn't hurt to have one late game.

Mind Rot - As I said to Joe while we were playing, "this is like a really crappy Blightning." Which is sort of true, and I never actually used it with Megrim on the board. 4x might be too many, but its nice to force your opponent to make a tough choice. I have forced Joe to play spells when he didn't want to just so he doesn't have to discard them, and that's part of the plan.

Mind Shatter - An absolute bomb. turn 5 this card is so mean, and if the opponent has only 3 cards in their hand and not a lot of card draw, they REALLY have to put their "faith in the heart of the cards." Since that's a Yu-Gi-Oh saying, it doesn't always go so well... Sadly never got to live the dream of playing this card with Megrim, but Megrim is cut so who bloody cares?

Duress - In such an aggro environment, Duress has really underperformed, so it might go to a 3 of, but its nice to snatch Planeswalkers from your opponent's hand. But drawing these after you have Mind Shattered leaves you wishing it was a kill condition instead.

Sideboard - Sadly, the sideboard includes the best black board sweeper in the format, and lots of things to punish White and Green Decks. Deathmark is so awesome. I just want to put that out there. We'll see what happens with the board.

So that's the list I have built so far. Looking at the Zendikar spoiler list so far, here are the biggest threats you are going to have to face:

Iona, Shield of Emeria
This card is going to reign supreme if monocolor decks become fashionable, and Wizards may have shot themselves in the foot by printing this card if they meant for a return to a monocolor-heavy standard environment. Goes great with Emeria, the Sky Ruin.

Also, this card might really hinder the deck:

Oh, is that the same card I was just talking about?

Yeah, it's THAT good.

How in the hell does ANY monocolor deck answer this card? Most multicolor decks, like 5CB, run a majority of cards of the same color: green. So don't overlook this card as a serious threat to both monocolor and multicolor deckbuilders alike, and remember that you can't answer its ability since it occurs as the creature enters the battlefield, and doesn't trigger once it hits the board.

Nothing else comes to mind right now as far as the biggest threats to monoblack. But Iona is so nasty and unforgiving to a deck of this nature that it deserves a special mention.

Here's some advice: if this card get heavy play, make sure you sideboard Executioner's Capsule x4. That's about the only way I can see stopping Iona after she's on the board.

Let's quickly go over a few notes on what you WON'T have to deal with:

First thing you need to remember, dearest black mage, is that there are no more ubiquitous 5CC or Faeries decks to worry about! (Well, DEFINITELY no faeries. This has been confirmed by the Orb of Insight. 5CC will still be ran by the stubborn, and may actually succeed, but without vivid lands or Reflecting Pool it just doesn't seem likely to dominate like it once did.)

No Chameleon Colossus. This fact alone practically enables monoblack to return. Valeron Outlander and White Knight are still around, though, although they are far less of a threat than the Colossus.

If Zendikar was completely spoiled, and it just happened to be 71 cards and that's it, here is the list I would build:

Lands:
24 Swamp

Creatures:
3 Bloodghast
4 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Vampire Nighthawk

Instants
2 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Doom Blade
3 Hideous End

Sorceries:
2 Blood Tribute
4 Sign in Blood

Enchantments:
4 Quest for the Gravelord

Planeswalkers:
2 Sorin Markov

Sideboard:
3 Duress
2 Mind Shatter
4 Black Knight
4 Executioner's Capsule
2 Deathmark

If you are unfamiliar with the Zendikar cards in my decklist, please refer to the Magic the Gathering official visual spoiler page for Zendikar. That's about all I have the energy to write for today. This article, while shorter, has actually taken way longer to write than yesterday's article. That's because I am talking about breaking through in Standard with a rogue deck, which I guess requires a little more thought than talking about fun formats like EDH. Please let me know your honest opinions on this article. Was it helpful? Do you think the deck could work? Should I stop talking about Standard and focus more on EDH and other casual formats?

And please, if you think you can come up with a better monoblack decklist for the upcoming Standard season, feel free to post your list in the comments where we can talk about it!

Tomorrow... since my knowledge of Monoblack Control's history is admittedly vague, we are going to go through monoblack control throughout the years. This should be an excellent primer for anyone who wants to learn more about this historic deck, myself included.

Thanks for reading!
Bigheadjoe

Big Black Deck Week #1: EDH - Demoting the General, Going to War with Balthor the Defiled and Thoughts on Multiple Legends in One EDH Deck

2009-09-07T17:51:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Big Black Deck Week! (I'm not wishing anyone a happy Labor Day because I am not currently working so this does not feel like a holiday to me, although I start work this week!)

All this week, I will be discussing various themes to delight both the budding and experienced necromancer.

Today I am focusing on EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander, or Commander, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the casual multiplayer variant. I am assuming for this article that you, the reader, are both experienced in and enthusiastic about this format. If you would like to learn more about this format, please check this link: http://www.dragonhighlander.net/rules.php ).

First, in an attempt to come across as an pseudo intellectual jerk, let me quote this passage from "The House of the Dead" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I was reading this book a few days ago, and stumbled across this passage which reminded me of my current situation with my monoblack EDH deck:

..."There's a general, lads-a general coming from Petersburg; he'll inspect all Siberia. That's true. They said so at the commander's."

This news produced an extraordinary sensation. For a quarter of an hour there was a stream of questions: who was it, what general, what was his rank, was he superior to the generals here? Convicts were awfully fond of discussing rank, officials, which of them takes precedence, which can lord it over the other, and which has to give way; they even quarrel and dispute and almost fight over the generals. One wonders what difference it can make to them. But a minute knowledge of generals and the authorities altogether is the criterion of a man's knowledge, discrimination and previous importance in the world. Talk about the higher authorities is generally considered the most refined and important conversation in prison.

"Then it turns out to be true, lads, that they are coming to sack the major," observes Kvasov, a little red-faced man, excitable and remarkably muddle-headed. He had been the first to bring the news about the major.

(I wasn't going to include that last paragraph, but I swear I have met a dozen Magic players that fit that description!)

Back during Onslaught block, I had assembled a wicked casual monoblack zombie deck. I believe the deck went something like this:

23 Swamps

4 Gempalm Polluter
4 Festering Goblin
4 Nantuko Husk
4 Shepherd of Rot
4 Rotlung Reanimator
3 Call to the Grave
4 Dark Banishing
1 Zombie Master
4 Undead Warchief
2 Graveborn Muse
3 Vengeful Dead

Something along those lines. Just chock full of zombies. Wasn't the best deck ever made, but it was flavorful and lots of fun to play. I kept it together as an extended deck until just recently, adding cards as new sets came out, although there were very few good zombies to add in Mirrodin block, and, as I recall, none in Kamigawa block. When I realized that my zombie deck would be gutted when Onslaught rotated out of extended, I decided to shelve the deck. It sat in an incomplete state on my shelf for months as I tried to think of something to do with these cards. I traded the Rotlungs away, but the rest of the cards were not getting any action in my trade binder. I made one last effort to reanimate the deck by picking up a set of Death Barons and just going lord happy with the deck, but I wasn't happy with the results. It just didn't have the flavor that I loved with the Onslaught tribal cards.

Fortunately, a few months back, after a little bit of nagging on my part, Joe, Tim, and I all built our first EDH decks. Tim and I were instantly in love with the format. Joe took a little warming up but he seems to like it now just as much as we do (it helps to build a deck that you can win with!). The deck that I had built was based around Doran, the Siege Tower. While I built the deck with the intention of winning games with it, the thing that really endeared me to EDH was the sheer joy of playing a card that no one has seen in like 10 years and watching my opponents' jaws drop with excitement. (and in some cases, sheer terror)

Eventually, I started getting tired of the Doran deck. Mind you, I still like it, and I still plan on playing it, but I never really played Doran when he was standard legal (I know he still is, but I am so out of standard right now until Zendikar's release that I don't consider him legal anymore) so the nostalgia factor really isn't there for me. I wanted to play a deck where every hand I drew made my heart flutter a little. So, naturally, I gravitated straight away to a Zombie themed EDH deck.

There was only one card in the zombie deck that fit the bill as my general: Korlash, Hier to Blackblade. Putting the deck together took very little time, at least in terms of typical EDH deckbuilding time. I knew what I wanted in the deck, lots of ZOMBIES and other fun, devastating black spells. I was, and in some cases still am, missing a few obvious choice cards to really make the deck tough to beat, but I don't care. That's one of many really cool things about EDH: the decks evolve over time, but can be built to be at least playable almost immediately. I couldn't wait to try it out.

And try it out I did. First, Tim and I played a few games just one on one with our new EDH decks. The deck seemed to work out just fine, but I was really itching to try the deck out in a multiplayer setting. We finally got our chance 2 weeks ago at Games and Comics and Stuff in Glen Burnie, MD. We both joined a 6 player EDH game, our first and only game of that size to date. In hindsight, we both prefer 3-4 player games of EDH max to keep that wow factor when someone drops a ridiculous card. Its tough to be wowed by a card you can't even see hit the table. But that is a discussion for another time.

Tim and I both got mana screwed early on, but we still managed to live, as there were much bigger threats on the board than our stalled out selves. (I am trying REALLY HARD not to swear in this blog: does it even matter?) 3 1/2 hours later the game ended with neither of us successful, but that didn't matter too much. We had fun, and that's what EDH is all about, right?

Just because we had fun despite losing didn't mean we were happy with the result, and I went on to thinking about how to make my EDH deck better. I scoured gatherer looking for awesome zombies and black cards, and made a huge wishlist. One thing I knew for certain after testing my deck was that Korlash wasn't cutting it. I mean, he's a big fun monster to play, and is even better later in the game when I have 15 or so swamps on the board, but as a general I just wasn't happy with how the deck was playing. With so many zombie lords in the deck, he just felt underwhelming to play. And, while I shouldn't be wishing for my general to be killed, I only seemed to be playing him once or twice per game. So I needed a new general, and the one dude who stood out instantly as a perfect replacement was Balthor the Defiled. Not only was he a zombie, but his sacrifice ability exiles him, right back where he would be in EDH after removal anyway, and have you seen his ability? SWEET and FLAVORFUL!

The problem was, I didn't own a Balthor the Defiled. I have no money to purchase one, and its such an old card that no one would have one in their binder anymore, right?

WRONG!

I went to Friday Night Magic at Legends in Towson, MD last week and sure enough someone had him in their binder. I think I gave him a really good deal for it just in my exuberance. Korlash was officially demoted to private first class, and I couldn't sleeve up and play a game with Balthor fast enough. The game went VERY well. After watching some ridiculousness take place regarding Tawnos's Coffin, Voyager Staff, and Sharuum the Hegemon, as well as taking 10 general damage from Sharuum itself, I resurrected an army zombies at EOT, used Corpse Connoisseur to search up Undead Warchief, and used a top-decked Makeshift Mannequin to bring him out after Mr. Sharuum Combo declared no blocks for lethal. Next turn I had so much momentum I killed Tim outright as well. He had been mana screwed this game as well, a state which has plagued him in our recent EDH games. (He is playing Ghost Council of Orzhova by the way)

I loved it. The deck did exactly what I had hoped it would do, and I had so much fun playing this deck that just oozes with flavor (that ooze reference was just for you, Tom).

One thing I can safely say needs improvement with this deck is that it does not have much mass removal. That is not by design, but simply due to the fact that I don't have the cards or the money to buy the cards. I tried trading for a Damnation yesterday but the guy was totally trying to railroad me. But once again, the deck will evolve with time. Here is the current decklist:

General:
Balthor the Defiled

Lands:
34 Swamp
1 Springjack Pasture
1 Dark Depths
1 Unholy Grotto
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Leechridden Swamp

Creatures:
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Vengeful Dead
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge
1 Viscera Dragger
1 Stromgald Crusader
1 Grixis Slavedriver
1 Corpulent Corpse
1 Cemetery Reaper
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Corpse Harvester
1 Shepherd of Rot
1 Death Baron
1 Gravedigger
1 Infectious Horror
1 Gempalm Polluter
1 Festering Goblin
1 Howling Banshee
1 Nightmare
1 Zombie Trailblazer
1 Maggot Carrier
1 Zombie Master
1 Lord of the Undead
1 Undead Warchief
1 Korlash, Heir to Blackblade

Artifacts:
1 Quietus Spike
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Lightning Greaves

Enchantments:
1 Call to the Grave
1 Animate Dead
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Bad Moon
1 Underworld Dreams

Instants:
1 Cabal Ritual
1 Grim Harvest
1 Pack's Disdain (which I am really tempted to replace with the more flavorful, does exactly the same thing but for 1 more mana, Feeding Frenzy)
1 Makeshift Mannequin
1 Sudden Death
1 Terror
1 Treacherous Urge
1 Dark Ritual
1 Tendrils of Corruption

Sorceries:
1 Bitter Ordeal
1 Consume Spirit
1 Rise from the Grave
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Profane Command
1 Sign in Blood
1 Stir the Grave
1 Zombify
1 Festering March
1 Bond of Agony
1 Night's Whisper
1 Incremental Blight
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Corrupt

These cards are also in the deck for now, but I am thinking about taking them out because they are too mean for EDH. I would like your opinion on these cards:
1 Mind Twist
1 Delirium Skeins
1 Death Cloud
1 Mind Shatter

One final point I would like to make on EDH from a flavor standpoint. The 6 player game we played was at a store that had the house rule of "your general can be the only legendary creature in your deck." I completely disagree with this house rule. Just because a creature is a legend doesn't mean it must be your general. A creature can be a legendary as a fighter, or assassin, or wizard, or dragon, or whatever. The creature doesn't have to be legendary just because it can lead an army! That didn't make any sense to me, and I disagree with the argument that it is more flavorful. Please let me know your thoughts on the subject.

PHEW! That was a lot of writing! Be sure to join me tomorrow as I go over a speculative monoblack deck that I have been testing using only Alara Block and M10, in anticipation of Zendikar! (and because its nice to not have to play with Lorwyn anymore! Like I said, I have already moved on with Standard and am looking forward to rotation!)

Thanks for reading!
Bigheadjoe

Who I Am, and What to Expect

2009-09-05T15:25:00.001-04:00

My name is Joe Panuska AKA Bigheadjoe. I have been playing Magic for 14 years. For years I have been a rogue deckbuilder. I really don't want to go too much into my background on here, since I will soon be doing a podcast with my buddy Joe Pasco (who runs the Affinity For Islands blog) that goes into my playing history at great length.

While I do play net decks on occasion, and enjoy the serious tournament atmosphere, my long time love and the focus of this blog will be rogue decks and casual formats. Its what I have the most fun talking about, and what I have the most fun playing. We will be discussing EDH, Planechase (which I still haven't had a chance to play... frowny face), and any other casual variants I am playing at the moment. We will be discussing the current Standard metagame and how to break through it with you own rogue decklists. I will be providing tournament reports on my own attempts to do so. I guess in a way that will make my rogue decks netdecks, if I do well and you like my lists. That's trippy. That doesn't mean that I will never discuss the hot topics in Standard or tier one decks, I will just be talking about them from the perspective of a rogue player.

I am planning on updating this blog once a day if possible, although I start at my new job next week and am not sure yet how much time I will have to dedicate to updating this, but I will do my best to stay on the ball. Next week is Big Black Deck Week, where each day I will discuss a different topic concerning the black mage. Not really planning on doing a week for each color, at least not consecutively, but if this is something you would like to see happen let me know.

Since it is not quite Big Black Deck Week just yet, I will, in lieu of an introduction to who I am, post an email I sent to The Magic Sock podcast that goes over one of my favorite rogue decks, Monoblue Decking.

Enjoy.

Hi Ron,
I am writing in response to your call for deck submissions from episode 163. This one was just too good to pass up.

I have been playing magic since Summer of 1995. My dci # is 749887. That's right. 6 numbers. I remember them pulling my dci card off of a roll of cards. my friend Joe Pasco's is 749889. Someone must have got in line between us. I played a mono green deck back then, and when Alliances went out of standard I was super mad because I could no longer play my Yavimaya Ants.

That's when I decided to "go rogue." There was something about the limitations of standard that did not sit right with me. I played that same worn out green deck, with no sleeves, for 5 years. I tore it apart and put it back together over and over again, adding stompy goodness along the way. It's still together, no sleeves, to this day.

As a rogue, I was also into alternate win conditions. Poison counters were so cool, but back then there weren't enough poison creatures to build anything worth playing.

That's when I discovered "decking."

Making someone lose all of the cards in their deck. It's how you win in the Harry Potter CCG. (don't ask me how I know this.) Taking the spells straight out of the spellcaster's head. I fell in love with the concept. Millstone was great, hit them with a Braingeyser with 3 Howling Mines on the board. Taking a key tactic (card advantage) and turning it against my opponent was just so much fun. Making someone scratch their head while I won with lame cards was my favorite sort of victory.

Then came Traumatize and Brain Freeze. Suddenly "decking" as sound strategy seemed closer to reality. I spent years and years building different decks looking to harness this strategy as a winning one. However, one card has always stuck out to me, a card deemed the worst card in Onslaught, unplayable, a true "crap rare." Utter jank. Shall I continue?

Wheel and Deal.

To me, it opened up a whole new world of jaw-dropping wins. Mind you, they were few and far between, but when they happened it was so satisfying. I played it in tournaments. Standard. Probably when Psychatog was going around (which of course I hated. The first Psychatog I ever pulled is still in my binder, ripped in half fresh out of the pack, in 2 different slots.).

I have recently been interested in becoming a more serious magic player. Meaning studying decks, listening to podcasts, and working to build a competitive decks in standard and extended. I still don't netdeck, but I no longer stubbornly ignore them either. One deck I recently came across was the CounterTop deck from GP Chicago by Andy Probasco. I have to admit I didn't pay too much attention to the list because I don't have Force of Will of Goyf. But I liked the interaction between Counterbalance and SD Top, so I thought it would be fun to reference that deck, a top 8 deck, in my deck, an obviously rogue deck.

I had to put this back together after a failed attempt to once again make the deck type 2 legal. The list had to change because I last made an extended version when Odyssey was still legal. I honestly think this is the best decking deck I have ever created. I only used cards that I own and not a fantasy list.

I have not playtested this yet, but I will be firing up MWS in the next few days to give it a go and I will let you know how it does. I am only giving you a list (and a heartfelt rant) so if you want more info on my choices for the deck let me know and I would be glad to provide them before the deadline. Thanks for giving me the motivation to build an extended deck.

I am calling this deck "Wheel and Deal for the Win."

Lands (24):
x4 Shelldock Isle
x1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
x1 Springjack Pasture
x1 Urza's Factory
x17 Island

Spells (23):
x1 Twincast
x3 Remand
x4 Rune Snag
x4 Broken Ambitions
x4 Wheel and Deal
x4 Brain Freeze
x3 Traumatize

Artifacts (6):
x3 Sensei's Divining Top
x3 Mesmeric Orb

Enchantments (2):
x2 Counterbalance

Creatures (4):
x4 Drift of Phantasms

Planeswalkers (1):
x1 Jace Beleren

Sideboard:
x3 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
x3 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
x4 Riftwing Cloudskate
x1 Jester's Scepter
x2 Jester's Cap
x2 Feldon's Cane

That's the end of the email. I think I am going to rebuild this deck the weekend following Big Black Deck Week as a legacy deck and will post my edits for you to analyze. Looking at this list, I have added some cards to my collection since writing this email that will really make the deck competitive. Any and all feedback as to how to make this blog better would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!
Bigheadjoe