Returning to Ravnica!

So here we are, a few days away from the pre-release events we all know and love.  I've already preregistered to compete in all six events at Legends.  I'm playing the first two events as Selensya, then one as Izzet, then two more as Azorius, then the last one as Golgari.  I'm looking forward to seeing what all comes in the guild packs.  I'm also looking forward to playing with as many of the new cards as possible.  The cards I'm most looking forward to playing with are pretty much the ones you'd expect.  I want to play with the new planeswalkers, though Vraska looks a lot more fun that the new version of Jace.  I like the new guild charms and the new guild keys.  I'm curious to see what kinds of fun ways we can break those kinds of cards.  I think there's a few new versions of Delver decks I want to explore, as well as new token decks.  My personal favorite in the format right now is the Token deck.

So, as I'm sure the few people that read this blog are aware, I'm a huge fan of token strategies in almost any format.  They're just fun to me.  They usually offer great card advantage when pitted against point removal, and they're less of a blow out against sweepers.  Also, they have the most efficient anthem effect in the game at the moment in the form of Intangible Virtue.  There are a few different ways to go with the over all strategy at the moment and numerous color combinations, but I think my favorite right now is Junk.  Selensya is offering some awesome token generators as well as some great support spells, so I love G/W tokens, but then you're missing out on the opportunities offered by splashing for another color.  Of the token support that I think has the most to offer at the moment (and that will improve with Gatecrash in another three months) is Black.  By adding black we get access to some point removal, some Golgothi cards to go with our Selensya base, and even more importantly, the mana to flashback Lingering Souls and to play Sorin, Lord of Innistrad.  So here's the decklist I come up with as a rough draft.

Creatures (8)
4x  Arbor Elf
2x  Doomed Travelor
2x  Trostani, Selensya's Voice

Planeswalkers (6)
2x  Vraska the Unseen
2x  Garruk the Relentless
2x  Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Spells (22)
4x  Intangible Virtue
4x  Lingering Souls
3x  Gather the Townsfolk
3x  Call of the Conclave
4x  Selesnya Charm
3x  Oblivion Ring
2x  Abrupt Decay

Lands (24)
4x  Evolving Wilds
4x  Temple Gardens
4x  Overgrown Tomb
4x  Isolated Chapel
2x  Forest
2x  Plains
1x  Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x  Gavony Township

This is a rough draft and I still haven't decided if I want to up the land to 25 to help support the three colors, or if I want to change the count of Abrupt Decay and Oblivion Rings.  The sideboard will vary quite a bit, but I think it's safe to say the remainder of the playset of O-rings and Abrupt Decays will be in there, as well as the new version of Naturalize.  I feel like there's also an American Tokens deck that's possible, but not sure how it is positioned.  I think it'd be more of a straight forward aggro deck and less mid-range, but the card pool is very interesting.  Tokens does have some problems in the current meta, but I don't think there are so many weaknesses as to make it improbable for this to be a competitive deck.  On the plus side, most of those weaknesses are in red, which will partially limit the number of decks that support them.  However with the number of multi-colored decks that are going to be running rampant in the coming months, I really doubt that there will be a shortage of these cards in the format.  Then again, I feel that way about the hate cards for any deck type.  Thanks to the abundant manafixing in the set, there's going to be no shortage of hate from all colors spread around in splashes into other decks.

In closing, as I've said, I think Token decks are going to have a wide range of options to choose from.  I'll fully expect to try Junk tokens first myself, but  American Tokens has a lot to offer as well.  I will probably at some point attempt to build both of these decks and playtest them thoroughly.  I'll post again later this week with my idea of the American Tokens deck.

SD13

Return to Ravnica Previews

I'm thrilled to say that the spoiler season for Return to Ravnica is in full swing.  There are already a few very nice cards that have seen the light of day.  My personal favorite that's shown up so far are the "shock" lands from the original Ravnica block.  I love the way these lands work.  The only downside to seeing them reprinted is that they will lower the value of my originals slightly...  On the other hand, I can't wait to play them in Standard.

Anyway, moving on to less fanboy-ish things...  The Warhammer community is all lit up with rumors about new codexes and the latest 40K release from Games Workshop is helping to fan the flames.  The new starter set for 6th edition is a combination of Chaos Marines and Dark Angels.  There really aren't any completely new things to be looked at on the Dark Angels side, but the addition of cultists and of a new dreadnaught type model for Chaos is causing a stir.  It makes sense to assume that these are going to be the first two codexes released for 6th edition.

In other news, the MidwestWarfare gaming group is set to host it's next tournament on the 15th and 16th this month at Legends in Vincennes.  I'm hoping we have a good turn out, but it seems unlikely given the launch of a new rules set.  But one can hope anyway.  I'm still tinkering with my army lists and trying to nail down exactly what I want to play.  I'm not sure if I'll even actually be playing in this event.  I guess we'll just have to see.

SD13