Avacyn Restored!

The newest set has been spoiled in its entirety and I'm giddy.  There looks to be so many fun new cards in this set that I'm really upset I can't afford to buy two boxes right this instant.  What strikes me at first glance is how many cards look to be playable right away and how many more are bound to become staples in even the farther reaching formats.  This block has been amazing and has taken its place amongst my favorites of all time for sure.  I've got at least three deck ideas I want to explore more after I get my hands on this set now.  My personal favorite of the three is probably going to be RBW Tokens.  I'll post more when I get to play with some of the new toys over the weekend (hopefully).

SD13

Local Level Events and Brewing

So this weekend I went and played in the Friday night events at one of the local shops. Truehidaway Family & Gaming in Robinson, IL.  I played in two events, one Modern and one Standard.  I ran my BW Tokens list in the Modern event and went 3-0 (6-2 for games) to win the event.  The Standard event was a little less flawless, since I was running a Venser Aggro list that I'm brewing up... This is the interesting part.

So my list is pretty fresh, and I'm still getting the hang of it.  Here goes:

Main Deck
3 Venser, The Sojourner
3 Ponder
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Intangible Virtue
3 Honor of the Pure
1 Day of Judgment
(15 Spells)

2 Grand Abolisher
4 Blade Splicer
2 Master Splicer
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Stonehorn Dignitary
3 Inquisitor Exarch
(22 Creatures)

7 Plains
5 Island
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Glacial Fortress (I only own 3, need 1 more)
2 Moorland Haunt
2 Ghost Quarter
(23 Lands)

Sideboard
3 Trinket Mage
1 Elixer of Immortality
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Hex Parasite
1 Blazing Torch
1 Elspeth Tirel
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Oblivion Ring

The Play-by-Play of the Standard Event.

Round 1
I played against a mono black aggro deck.  Basically, the only plan I could see in either of these two decks (I played the same basic deck twice) was to hurry out Phyrexian Obliterator and then skate to an easy W.  Game one, he did just that and I couldn't do anything after that to secure the win.  Game 2, I kept after mulling down to 6 and having 2 land in hand.  I never saw a third land and that made it an easy win for him.
(0-1, 0-2)

Round 2
Played against RG Werewolves.  It was a short first game and he outraced me to the win.  Same as Game 1 of the first round, it could have gone either way.  Game 2, was a lot more difficult for him, since I had boarded in my trinket mage package.  His undying stuff wasn't working after an early Grafdigger's cage and I managed to lock out his attack phase with Venser/Stonehorn until I could build up game winning damage and get through with everything unblocked.  Sadly, this opponent doesn't belive in conceding lost games, so we had to play it all out.  We didn't even have time to start Game 3, and it went to a draw.
(0-1-1, 1-3)

Round 3
I played against a mono-white weenies style deck for this one.  It was a tough couple of games.  He won first round with a 4th turn Champ of the Parish suited up with Angelic Destiny.  After the first game loss, I plugged in some O-rings and let the rest ride.  We went back and forth and I got lucky enough to land a few well placed O-rings to get through for the win.  Third game was more of the same.
(1-1-1, 3-4)

Round 4
Round 4 was playing against another Mono-black aggro.  Game 1 was rough and he won.  Game 2 I boarded in the Trinket Mage package and the Oblivion Rings.  I managed to control him long enough to get a win in through 2 O-ringed Phyrexian Obliterators.  Game 3 was more of the same.  He played a problem, I played a solution.  Finally Dayed to wipe his board, then made my case with a Giest of Saint Traft suited up with a Sword of Feast and Famine.
(2-1-1, 5-5)

Not exactly the way I'd have liked to have rode to victory, but I guess placing third (in a weak play environment) with a deck that I had never played before isn't so bad.  I need to tweak and refine the monster though.  I wasn't impressed by the Inquisitor Exarch at all and I'm thinking Suture Priest will be a better fit.  Each creature I drop bumps me up by 1 and each one they drop takes one down... I think that'll be a good way to help along the road with clogged board states like what I saw in the Mono-white and the RG Werewolf match ups.  I know that none of these decks are likely to be seen in more developed metagames, but I still needed to playtest and some of the lessons will apply across the actual meta.  I'm open to questions, commentary or suggestions on this deck.  I think it has real potential, but it'll just have to see more play before I know for sure.

SD13

The 19th of May

So I decided to back up 5 yards and punt.  I've ruled out some of the other thoughts I had and have decided to use my position in Midwest Warfare to my advantage.  Instead of trying to plan around the Terrain building day on the 19th that would have precluded me from going to the Indy PTQ, I decided to move the event to Sunday so I could go to Indy on Saturday.   Now I just have to decide what I want to play in that tournament.  I'm trying to bash out a Venser aggro list, and I think I've got a good start on it.  Now just to sleeve it up and do a little playtesting.

SD13

Conflicted Intrests

Well, that sucks.  I finally got my hands on the upcoming PTQ schedule for Protour Return to Ravnica and it is very unfortunate for me.  Seems that most of the nearby dates that would be easy to get to and have fun at are corresponding with the 40K tournament we're putting on.  So yeah, I'm gonna have to drive all the way to Louisville, St. Louis, or Columbus to play.  I'm a bit bummed.  But, I need to get in 2-3 more of these events over the next 3 months to keep up with my resolution of playing in six competitive level events this year.  So irritated...

In other news, I'm working on a few fun brews for Standard.  I'm tinkering with a Venser deck that's more aggro than control, which is definitely not where he's used most.  But I think keying him up with some of the "enters the battlefield" effects has a lot of potential for some cards that usually play into more aggro style decks.  I'm thinking of pairing him with a few of the splicers that put golems into play, as well as a few of the other good white creatures that hit the same way.  With a few copies of intangible virtue, honor of the pure, and some other prize cards, I think we can make a very fun UW aggro deck that manages to feature the underplayed and unsung planeswalker.  And I would definitely like some feed back on this idea.

SD13

Trades and Upcoming Events

So got a few things to post about tonight...

May is going to be a very busy month for me.  The last few weeks especially.  May 19th is a terrain building day being hosted in Vincinnes at Legends Family Games.  It's to stock up the store terrain pool and to make sure we've got enough stuff for a table or two more than we do now.  Currently, the Midwest Warfare group is up to nearly 40 people.  That's a personal point of pride.  The Indianapolis tournament scene (the seriously competitive part) is around 30 people that show up to the 'Ard Boyz events that Games Workshop sponsors.  I'm pretty proud of the fact we've got so many people in our group.  Also, our 6th tournament is being held on the 26th and the 27 at Legends as well.  Talking to the guys down there today helped really get some good work put together for next month.

Speaking of the guys in Vincinnes, I got to do a little trading and some playing today that was productive.  I met a guy named... Something I can't remember.  I really need to work on names.  But he's a cool guy and was very knowledgeable.  We did some trading, partially for value, partially for playability in our own interests.  I hope he got the stuff he was looking for and I'm very pleased with the stuff I got in return.  I have to attribute the smooth trading to the guys over at TCG for the articles about trading, particularly the recent one about transparency in trades.  Being able to establish what we were and were not willing to trade right away and with ease really helped get things along.  It also helped to know what each other were looking for and what kind of prices we went by.  Things went very well.  Then we sat down to play a few games.  I only had one playable deck on me, my Modern BW Tokens.  He played one game with a mono-white Humans for Standard.  His second deck was BG Pod.  He had a very interesting spin on it.  It piloted more like a control deck than the standard Birthing Pod fare.  It was innovated, and very effective.  I have to admit, I underestimated how effective massacre wurm.  That card really turned his game around when he dumped it out.  The deck he played really was very good at putting me on a tight clock.  The lesson learned was easy enough to sort out... Grafsdigger Cage is worth it's weight in gold and I need to find my few copies.  They shut down Undying, as well as the Birthing Pod itself.

So, in closing, I've learned a few things today and got a lot done.  Now just to start figuring into my Standard deck for the upcoming PTQ season.  And before that, I have to get a Warhammer tournament in order...  Sounds like May is going to be a very busy month.

SD13

PTQ Dreams

So the newest season of Pro Tour Qualifiers started last weekend on the 7th and is running through the middle of August.  I'm really hoping to catch some breaks on the front of playtesting partners and potential car-pool help to get to these events.  With a little luck, I could play in more than the 6 that I set the bar for in December.  Standard is really accessible, so it should be a little easier to have people to play with than Modern was.  And with the way the new set looks so far, this format is going to be sick. 

Plenty of new staples for Standard coming in with the new releases from the look of it.  Still really liking the positioning of BW Tokens so far, and even GW Ramp or GW Tokens may have some good gas.  I also want to check into Venser Control.  It looks like a very fun deck to play with a lot of fun interactions.  I guess we'll just have to see where the format heads with the new cards coming in.  I really doubt the meta game will be shattered and altered entirely by the new set.  Sure, there will be some changes to the established decks, but they're all sure to gain some new playables.  It's hard to imagine the format gaining entirely new deck types until after the Scars block rotates though.

We'll see.  Here's to hoping that the new set has a lot to offer though.  I'm looking forward to seeing the new face of the game.

SD13

New Sets Revealed!

Just tossing out there how excited I am about the newest things previewed by Wizards of the Coast about Magic.  The few cards (there are 6) that they have spoiled from Avacyn Restored are very interesting.  Nothing game-changing yet, just a preview of the newest mechanics they're going to be dropping on us.  There's an interesting top-decking mechanic that will be fun to play into some blue decks that have deck stacking capabilities.  There's an obligatory banding style mechanic that buffs two creatures at the same time by "pairing" them.  And there are some very cool cards in general.  Now onto my actual "sqee" moment...

The next block is Return to Ravnica.  For those not in the know, Ravnica: City of Guilds was one of my favorite sets and the Ravnica block is probably my all time favorite Magic environment.  Those sets made multicolored decks the norm, not the exception.  It also had a very competitive power level and very interesting set of interactions.  Deck building wasn't linear since pure tribal decks weren't the solution.  And while I do love me some tribal Magic, it does make for a very boring constructed environment if everyone is running one of four or five competitive ready-made tribal decks they way it went down in the two Lorwyn blocks.

So, depending on the direction that the last set of the Inistrad block takes and what direction they decide to go with M13 (core set), Magic is bound in a very fun and interesting direction!  I can't wait to get a hand into all of it.  That being said, there is still a ton of room for error and for the guys at Wizards to drop the ball.  I'm praying that the next two years of Magic are as exciting as I think they can be!

SD13

New Friends

So I went on a bit of a safari today in the name of Midwest Warfare.  I bumped into a new group on accident at the school today. They're from a bit farther north, so I referred them to the guys here in town instead of trying to talk them into driving 2 to 3 hours to play with us.  After meeting him and getting his info, I went on into the local shop here in town to help cement a working relationship with the locals.  I guess this is how networking goes... Who'd have thought that Snibble and I launching a gaming group would have led me to such an interesting position.  I find it a point of pride that the full blown competitive tournaments in and around Indianapolis have around 12-15 players and we in our small group have 12 regular players and a handful of extras.  And even better, we're still growing.  As I meet and speak to new players from all over this edge of the state, we're going to be picking up new players.  I already know of two or possibly three more people who are going to be playing in the next tournament, putting our numbers up to around 15.  I'm proud of that.

In a slightly different direction, I've managed to drag a few new friends into the wonderful world of Magic and I've managed to get my girlfriend to agree to learn.  At least she's willing to pick up the basics....  It's a start.  I'm looking forward to teaching her, too.  It'll be a good time if I don't nit-pick and drive her mad.

So, on this new bit of my journey, I'm going to become a teacher of Magic again... Fun.  I hate teaching the basics.  I suck at it.

SD13