So even though the date hasn't been officially set, there is a tournament coming up with the Midwest Warfare group, and I have managed to do a fair bit of playtesting for it lately. Trying out and tuning a few variations of my biker list. Right now, I think I've got almost all the models I need. I just have a lot of models to build and a fairly short amount of time to build them in. Six landspeeders, and probably more than a dozen bikers. Lots of magnets, too. This should be fun...
The podcast thing that I've been talking about with Snibble has taken a step further and we've had out first planning discussion. I think we're off to a good start. I'm gonna hit him up about it again. I'd like to aim at the first weekend of March for our launch time frame.
So, to make it a bit more clear what my 40K list is right now, here is the rough outline.
Kahn with Moondrakkan
Chapter Master w/ bike, auspex, burning blade, shield eternal, and artificier armor.
Biker Squad w/ 5 extra bikers, 2 grav-guns, attack bike w/ multimelta
Biker Squad w/ 2 extra bikers, 2 grav-guns, attack bike w/ multimelta
Biker Squad w/ 2 extra bikers, 2 grav-guns, attack bike w/ multimelta
Biker Squad w/ 2 extra bikers, 2 grav-guns, attack bike w/ multimelta
Tactical Squad w/ plasma gun, razorback w/ assault cannon
Tactical Squad w/ plasma gun, razorback w/ assault cannon
Landspeeder Squadron w/ 2 landspeeders, both w/ typhoon missile launchers
Landspeeder Squadron w/ 2 landspeeders, both w/ typhoon missile launchers
Landspeeder Squadron w/ 2 landspeeders, both w/ assault cannons
The list is a bit in flux, so there may be a few things in the list in flux as far as upgrades go. The other things that go back and forth are the landspeeders. If I had the cash, I'd probably replace them with two Storm Talons and a pair of Thunderfire cannons. But after a game with the Landspeeders, I actually really like them. So I don't think I'm going to mind playing the list this way in the upcoming event.
In other news, I've played a little multi-player Civ V online and it's fun. It was faster paced and since my partner quickly outpaced me, I'm pretty sure it shows that I'm not very experienced at the game. But it was still fun and kinda a learning experience. So now I'm tuning it in singleplayer again. It's fun.
Alright, that's all I've got for now. Maybe next time, I'll touch on Magic a bit more. We'll see.
May the dice gods bless you, as they have blessed me!
SD13
Monday, February 17, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
Long Time Coming
So, it has been quite awhile since I wrote last. A lot has happened. New place to live, some new people around me, and some older ones had to go. That's all the more explanation the break needs, since it wasn't gaming related, and that's what this is all about... Now that that's over with, on with the show!
Magic has changed a bit since last time I was pursuing it competitively. Theros is in full Swing, and Born of the Gods just dropped. I've been slowly working on a Heroic Boros deck I like a lot, but it is in need of some serious tuning. It needs to find answers to a few of the big decks in the format like Blue Devotion and Mono-Black. The changes to the format have made it imperative to find answers to the key cards right away. Specifically in the testing I've done so far, if I don't have answers to Blood Barron or to Master of Waves, I just lose. But then again, I feel like a lot of decks have the same problem. So yeah, I'm excited about Magic. Theros block so far seems very flavorful and well put together.
So now, let's talk about some Warhammer! I've actually gotten to play a few games lately, and with a list that I've always wanted to build. Since 6th edition came out, bikers are actually good. So I've built a White Scars list, and a few variations on it that make concessions for budgeting reasons. I've played a couple of games with it, and I'm sad to say that I have to make the concessions! Someone sponsor my nerdiness! But anyway, running a 2000 point list with that many bikes is fun. Surprisingly effective, and I found being able to redeploy my entire army before the start of the game really really helps. I'm already sure there are a few lists and specific armies that are going to make me cringe. Specifically Chaos armies that pack Helldrakes. Those will suck.
In digital gaming news, I've also been playing Civ V a lot over the last week since it is currently featured in the HumbleBundle. It's a load of fun! I've played a few of the older Civ games and liked them, but this one is by far the most comprehensive and flavorful. The multiplayer online support is great from what I can tell as well, and I'm looking forward to starting up a few of those in the not-so-distant future.
Also on the video gaming front, I had a mun-base challenge going with my brother in Texas. He's kicking my ass now, since I haven't been playing much KSP. None at all since my computer crashed and needed to be repaired. But I think I may do that today after I finish up with my homework for the evening. I feel the need to watch rockets explode and leave poor, unfortunate Kerbinauts stranded in orbit. Or dead on Mun. Or in floating in open space. They're easy to lose to accidents. I'll have to put up some pics of the Ducktopian Space Agency's exploits next time I post. It's fun because when I post about it on FB, I try to make it feel like a newsreel kinda thing. It's a laugh.
Speaking of computer repairs though, I had a crash at the beginning of December or so and didn't have time to get it worked on or the money to get it repaired until recently. So I had to tear the thing apart and troubleshoot part by part, which was really frustrating at first. But I got lucky and found that it was my video cards that were bad. I had already budgeted some money aside for the fix since I expected it to be the mobo/CPU that was bad at first. When it was the graphics cards instead, I pounced on the opportunity to use the budgeted money on a general upgrade. I got a better video card, another stick of ram, and a better CPU cooler. The beast is humming along like clockwork, and I love it.
Anyway, I'll get some pics and some updates on here soon about more gaming exploits. Coming up soon: 40K podcast/blog with Snibble from Snibble's Games in Robinson, IL as a cohost/author, possibly with another good friend as well. Also on the horizon is another 40K tournament there at his store, sometime in March. That's pretty much all for me for now.
Stay frosty.
SD13
Magic has changed a bit since last time I was pursuing it competitively. Theros is in full Swing, and Born of the Gods just dropped. I've been slowly working on a Heroic Boros deck I like a lot, but it is in need of some serious tuning. It needs to find answers to a few of the big decks in the format like Blue Devotion and Mono-Black. The changes to the format have made it imperative to find answers to the key cards right away. Specifically in the testing I've done so far, if I don't have answers to Blood Barron or to Master of Waves, I just lose. But then again, I feel like a lot of decks have the same problem. So yeah, I'm excited about Magic. Theros block so far seems very flavorful and well put together.
So now, let's talk about some Warhammer! I've actually gotten to play a few games lately, and with a list that I've always wanted to build. Since 6th edition came out, bikers are actually good. So I've built a White Scars list, and a few variations on it that make concessions for budgeting reasons. I've played a couple of games with it, and I'm sad to say that I have to make the concessions! Someone sponsor my nerdiness! But anyway, running a 2000 point list with that many bikes is fun. Surprisingly effective, and I found being able to redeploy my entire army before the start of the game really really helps. I'm already sure there are a few lists and specific armies that are going to make me cringe. Specifically Chaos armies that pack Helldrakes. Those will suck.
In digital gaming news, I've also been playing Civ V a lot over the last week since it is currently featured in the HumbleBundle. It's a load of fun! I've played a few of the older Civ games and liked them, but this one is by far the most comprehensive and flavorful. The multiplayer online support is great from what I can tell as well, and I'm looking forward to starting up a few of those in the not-so-distant future.
Also on the video gaming front, I had a mun-base challenge going with my brother in Texas. He's kicking my ass now, since I haven't been playing much KSP. None at all since my computer crashed and needed to be repaired. But I think I may do that today after I finish up with my homework for the evening. I feel the need to watch rockets explode and leave poor, unfortunate Kerbinauts stranded in orbit. Or dead on Mun. Or in floating in open space. They're easy to lose to accidents. I'll have to put up some pics of the Ducktopian Space Agency's exploits next time I post. It's fun because when I post about it on FB, I try to make it feel like a newsreel kinda thing. It's a laugh.
Speaking of computer repairs though, I had a crash at the beginning of December or so and didn't have time to get it worked on or the money to get it repaired until recently. So I had to tear the thing apart and troubleshoot part by part, which was really frustrating at first. But I got lucky and found that it was my video cards that were bad. I had already budgeted some money aside for the fix since I expected it to be the mobo/CPU that was bad at first. When it was the graphics cards instead, I pounced on the opportunity to use the budgeted money on a general upgrade. I got a better video card, another stick of ram, and a better CPU cooler. The beast is humming along like clockwork, and I love it.
Anyway, I'll get some pics and some updates on here soon about more gaming exploits. Coming up soon: 40K podcast/blog with Snibble from Snibble's Games in Robinson, IL as a cohost/author, possibly with another good friend as well. Also on the horizon is another 40K tournament there at his store, sometime in March. That's pretty much all for me for now.
Stay frosty.
SD13
Monday, July 29, 2013
So... Things Happen
Things happen in the real world that get in the way of our lives as gamers. It's part of the reality of this life. And that's not just for us gamer sorts, but for everyone with hobbies. Sometimes, the real world gets in the way. Regardless of the form it takes, hurdles pop up that must be navigated before we can get back to ourselves. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail, but suffice it to say, I've recently been drudging through one such period of my life and I haven't had the time I'd like to have for my gaming pursuits. So it goes. But, I'm climbing back in the saddle so to speak, and here's a recap of what the Grinning Gamer has been up to lately...
Rage!
This is a CCG based on the RPG Werewolf: the Apocalypse. For those of you keeping score at home, the RPG and the CCG have both been out of print for a long time. White Wolf Studios has a new line of World of Darkness games, including a new werewolf game, but WW:tA has been dead for awhile. But, one of my close friends and I have a lot of cards left over from way back when we were playing. Since we've been playing some old school World of Darkness lately (which I'll get to shortly), we've decided to break out the old cards. It's funny though. We used to play a lot, but had the rules all botched up. Now that we're playing correctly, the game is a lot more fun, though there are a handful of cards that seem to just break the game, but I guess that's to be expected. We're starting off easy with single tribe decks for everyone. I'm playing Glass Walkers because I decided after digging through the cards that they were the tribe I felt had the best synergy within themselves that was still available. So, I think it's been fun so far. I'm looking forward to getting into some bigger multiplayer games. The two player games don't have the same dynamic. They were still fun though... More to come on that later.
Werewolf: the Dark Ages
So we've rebooted our group's RP attempt at the World of Darkness. The last one fell through for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was a lack of communication within the group and a lack of experience all around. But, we're moving on. Currently, there are four of us playing, with a fifth possibly joining later. But we'll see how that goes. Right now, I'm enjoying the game. The same close friend from above and I made our characters together and have rekindled some of the old gaming fun we used to have back in high school (which has been longer ago than I care to admit). Basically, we're playing Shadow Lord cousins that are nobility. His character is in line for a Duchy, mine is the cousin that's just around and has a little power he swings around like a club to make sure everyone knows he's better than them. The other characters include a Silent Strider and a third Shadow Lord that's a lupus. The game is going well so far. At time it's hard to get into character, but others it fits like a glove. Still learning the ropes of the character, and I'll get there.
Warhammer
I haven't had nearly enough time for this game lately. I've been working on a few modeling projects, and doing a little painting when I can, but even that's been slow. I haven't had the space to set up anything and leave it where I see it every time I'm at the desk, so it's been even harder to keep focused on. Hopefully the new living arrangements will help with that a little. It's not the same as playing, but I have been a little more involved in the local stuff a bit behind the scenes. Sadly, I'm not as involved in Midwest Warfare as I have been in the past, mostly due to time limitations and travel. But I have been getting more involved in Battleland Games here in the local area. I'm going to be helping run and judge a tournament at the local game-con next month, so that's a plus. Time to start brushing up on my rules.
Magic
This is probably the game that it makes me the most sad that I haven't had the time or money for. As always, this game is my favorite. I've almost got my Legacy Merfolk deck put together, which is an investment that I hope pays off. Merfolk isn't one of the most powerful decks in the format, but it is one of the most consistent and cheapest. I haven't been keeping up with Standard very much, but the new core set looks solid. Nothing jumps out to me as broken yet, but I haven't really had time to get into it a lot. The new block coming up looks promising so far. It's based in the classical Greek/Roman mythos fantasy setting, which is awesome to me. There was also a bit of a hint that one of my personal favorite planeswalkers might be making a return, which is great news to me.
Computer games
I haven't been playing as much Guildwars 2 as I was, but I've been perusing Kerbal Space Program with a vengeance. I've been having trouble with my Munar missions though... Not able to land reliably and not able to dock in orbit, either... So... That's a drag. My rockets have improved, and I'm getting closer on my spaceplane programs, too.
So, that's where my gaming hobbies all sit at the moment. Most of them on shelves and boxes until the moving around is finished. Questions, comments, and ideas are welcomed as always.
SD13
Rage!
This is a CCG based on the RPG Werewolf: the Apocalypse. For those of you keeping score at home, the RPG and the CCG have both been out of print for a long time. White Wolf Studios has a new line of World of Darkness games, including a new werewolf game, but WW:tA has been dead for awhile. But, one of my close friends and I have a lot of cards left over from way back when we were playing. Since we've been playing some old school World of Darkness lately (which I'll get to shortly), we've decided to break out the old cards. It's funny though. We used to play a lot, but had the rules all botched up. Now that we're playing correctly, the game is a lot more fun, though there are a handful of cards that seem to just break the game, but I guess that's to be expected. We're starting off easy with single tribe decks for everyone. I'm playing Glass Walkers because I decided after digging through the cards that they were the tribe I felt had the best synergy within themselves that was still available. So, I think it's been fun so far. I'm looking forward to getting into some bigger multiplayer games. The two player games don't have the same dynamic. They were still fun though... More to come on that later.
Werewolf: the Dark Ages
So we've rebooted our group's RP attempt at the World of Darkness. The last one fell through for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was a lack of communication within the group and a lack of experience all around. But, we're moving on. Currently, there are four of us playing, with a fifth possibly joining later. But we'll see how that goes. Right now, I'm enjoying the game. The same close friend from above and I made our characters together and have rekindled some of the old gaming fun we used to have back in high school (which has been longer ago than I care to admit). Basically, we're playing Shadow Lord cousins that are nobility. His character is in line for a Duchy, mine is the cousin that's just around and has a little power he swings around like a club to make sure everyone knows he's better than them. The other characters include a Silent Strider and a third Shadow Lord that's a lupus. The game is going well so far. At time it's hard to get into character, but others it fits like a glove. Still learning the ropes of the character, and I'll get there.
Warhammer
I haven't had nearly enough time for this game lately. I've been working on a few modeling projects, and doing a little painting when I can, but even that's been slow. I haven't had the space to set up anything and leave it where I see it every time I'm at the desk, so it's been even harder to keep focused on. Hopefully the new living arrangements will help with that a little. It's not the same as playing, but I have been a little more involved in the local stuff a bit behind the scenes. Sadly, I'm not as involved in Midwest Warfare as I have been in the past, mostly due to time limitations and travel. But I have been getting more involved in Battleland Games here in the local area. I'm going to be helping run and judge a tournament at the local game-con next month, so that's a plus. Time to start brushing up on my rules.
Magic
This is probably the game that it makes me the most sad that I haven't had the time or money for. As always, this game is my favorite. I've almost got my Legacy Merfolk deck put together, which is an investment that I hope pays off. Merfolk isn't one of the most powerful decks in the format, but it is one of the most consistent and cheapest. I haven't been keeping up with Standard very much, but the new core set looks solid. Nothing jumps out to me as broken yet, but I haven't really had time to get into it a lot. The new block coming up looks promising so far. It's based in the classical Greek/Roman mythos fantasy setting, which is awesome to me. There was also a bit of a hint that one of my personal favorite planeswalkers might be making a return, which is great news to me.
Computer games
I haven't been playing as much Guildwars 2 as I was, but I've been perusing Kerbal Space Program with a vengeance. I've been having trouble with my Munar missions though... Not able to land reliably and not able to dock in orbit, either... So... That's a drag. My rockets have improved, and I'm getting closer on my spaceplane programs, too.
So, that's where my gaming hobbies all sit at the moment. Most of them on shelves and boxes until the moving around is finished. Questions, comments, and ideas are welcomed as always.
SD13
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Online Gaming and Preperations
So, I have a few things I want to touch on before I go into much detail about my most recent gaming efforts. First of all, support your local game store is still a cause I think we should all be behind. Buy your materials there so they stay open. Otherwise, don't complain when they close and there's no place for you to go play. Secondly, I'd like to apologize to the community as a whole. I played Magic against a guy in my home town last weekend and because I was having bad luck, and he was on a deck that I thought was a scrub, I complained, talked down to him, and basically threw a fit. That's not appropriate behavior for any game environment. Were some of the things I said true? Absolutely. I was there to play test against other competitive decks, and his Dimir mill deck was most certainly not that. Does that mean the whole thing was a waste of my time? No. I should have told him up front that I wanted serious playtesting and that his deck wasn't what I needed to play against. That's bad form on my part, and I wish I could remember the guy's name, because I'd apologize directly.
Moving on...
Guild Wars 2... Holy crap, give me my money back and stop holding my life hostage! I love this game. It's the best MMO I've played to date. The dailies are relevant, built into what you're already doing, and easy to get done every day. The crafting skill give you access to actually useful gear at every step of the way instead of being able to craft some kinda cool stuff at max level only. The story line is ever evolving and it is interesting to play through. I love that every character you make can have an individual story line to play along the way as well. I wish I could go into some detail about the instances, but since I'm only leveling, I haven't had the opportunity to do any yet. But I'm very much invested in the game at this point. Also, having it buy to play, with micro-transactions covering the rest of the monetary costs means that this game only costs you as much as you want it to instead of having to pay a monthly fee like others.
In other news, there's a TCGPlayer Diamond open event in Indy on the 6th of April. I'm planning to attend (finances available) and I plan to play a very similar Esper Tokens build to what I've been playing. I've made a few tweaks, and in the games that I've played so far, I love it. It seems very solid. There are a few other directions I can take the deck that have been suggested, but I haven't made up my mind on those yet. All in all, this is probably the deck I'll be playing until rotation this fall.
So happy gaming. Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. There is no sweeter sound.
SD13
Moving on...
Guild Wars 2... Holy crap, give me my money back and stop holding my life hostage! I love this game. It's the best MMO I've played to date. The dailies are relevant, built into what you're already doing, and easy to get done every day. The crafting skill give you access to actually useful gear at every step of the way instead of being able to craft some kinda cool stuff at max level only. The story line is ever evolving and it is interesting to play through. I love that every character you make can have an individual story line to play along the way as well. I wish I could go into some detail about the instances, but since I'm only leveling, I haven't had the opportunity to do any yet. But I'm very much invested in the game at this point. Also, having it buy to play, with micro-transactions covering the rest of the monetary costs means that this game only costs you as much as you want it to instead of having to pay a monthly fee like others.
In other news, there's a TCGPlayer Diamond open event in Indy on the 6th of April. I'm planning to attend (finances available) and I plan to play a very similar Esper Tokens build to what I've been playing. I've made a few tweaks, and in the games that I've played so far, I love it. It seems very solid. There are a few other directions I can take the deck that have been suggested, but I haven't made up my mind on those yet. All in all, this is probably the deck I'll be playing until rotation this fall.
So happy gaming. Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women. There is no sweeter sound.
SD13
Monday, March 11, 2013
Leagues, Tournaments, and Other Adventures
Alright, so an update about the Mordheim stuff. I won the first Battlelands league by a landslide. I've already registered for the second and I'm playing Beastmen this time around. I'm looking forward to getting started. I should have my core built and painted by the end of the week if all goes well.
Next up is Magic. I've started playing again. This Saturday, the 10th, I played in the Star City Games Open in Indianapolis. I started off bad. I had been in a hurry to get to the event and I was still filling my deck list out during the player's meeting. They announced at the player's meeting that this was the biggest SCGOpen to date, at 775 registered players. There were to be eleven rounds of swiss before cutting to top 8. So, let me give you the over view, then I'll touch on a few highlights.
I lost my first round. I then went on to beat the kid I was playing round two and went on to win round three as well. Round four I was really stupid (I'll touch on this more in the highlights) and ended up losing. I lost round five and round six. It was a kick in the pants and I was really shaken out of my focus. I went and sat down over by myself and ate some jerky and granola and just tried to clear my head. After refocusing and getting the bad start out of my way, I went on to win out the rest of the day.
Here are some of the highlights of my day. I screwed up in the hurry to write my list out and missed my Hallowed Fountains, leaving my deck at 56 cards on the paper. I got pulled aside and told about this during round two. So I got a game loss. The good news is I went ahead and beat the kid two-nothing after that for the round win. No sweat, still feeling alright and at least I was even again.
I went into round four with a 2-1 record and was feeling pretty good. I'd been able to recover from my early mistakes and was feeling strong going into the round. When I read my pairing, I found I was against a man named Kyle Zimmerman. The name seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it. I made the worst play I've made in the last couple of years of competitive play in game one, and it probably cost me the next two rounds because I'd lost my focus. I flashed a Snapcaster in early on to block a big nasty and to flash back the Tragic Slip in my yard back to finish it off. Solid plan, solid play. However, I messed up and flashed him in, then played the Tragic right away and ended up two-for-noning myself. That rattled me hard. I was so shaken up that I missed that I was set to win the game later and ended up giving it away. After getting trounced in game two, Kyle was nice enough to compliment my deck and pointed out the mistakes I made in game one. Apparently the rest of my play was solid. We talked a bit about his list, since I complimented his use of Thatcher's Revolt in a Naya Humans (blitz) deck and he told me what it was really in there for and how it worked. He was a pretty cool guy, really. (Wait for the big reveal at the end of the post...)
So I went into round five feeling like I'd been kicked in the gut and couldn't really focus very well. I lost pretty quick to an UWR Aggro (as I've started calling it "Murica") in a close game two race. It was over fast enough that I had about fourty-five minutes or more left between rounds, so I took the time to get a snack, a drink, and refocus myself. I went into round six feeling a little better, but still lost.
I still want to talk about my round six match. I was playing with Mathew, a cool gentleman from Mt. Vernon Illinois. He was piloting Murica! as well, and I ended up losing on game three. But we were talking and he was telling me about his friend's shop that just opened down in Mt. Vernon. I would like to encourage those of you (though I doubt I have any readers down there) that are in that area to stop by Asgard Keep and buy some cards, play some games, and get to know the locals. There's a rant to follow on that mater at the end of the post as well.
So, here we go after six rounds, I was getting my rump kicked around and I was feeling kinda crappy, but after loosing round six, I was feeling a bit better. Even though I had lost, round six was relaxed, calm, and easy to enjoy. I sat down for round seven with a very careless attitude and I ended up winning. And then I won round eight... And nine, and before I knew it I was back even at four and four. Then I was on a roll. I did something that none of the other guys thought was possible and a few of the other guys had dropped over because they had hit the dreaded x-three mark. I won out the rest of my day and finished very strong in the standings, though I was still a match win away from winning any prize money. That's happened twice now.
So what else should be discussed after such a long and drawn out event? Well, how about a deck break down of what I saw in the metagame? I played against "Murica!" three times, Esper midranged once, Bant Flash twice, Bant wolf run once, and an interesting Bant Mutants once. I played against Naya Blitz (humans) twice. My Esper Token build was strong against most of the field. I lost to Naya in close races that it felt like I just couldn't win, and I lost to Murica! twice for the same reason. The games I won against them, I won because I stuck an early Doomed Traveler. That card is a very strong bit of defense against early aggression. I also found that Blind Obedience stuck early enough is good not just because it slows down their haste creatures but because the lifegain from extort is completely relevant.
So, now for the closing comments. Remember the Kyle guy from round four? Yeah, as it turns out, after a brief but fruitful Google search, I found that he was winning and top 8ing a bunch of Qualifiers and SCG Opens last year with Delver. So the single worst play I've made in years, I made against a pro who will forever remember me (if at all) as "that guy who screwed up his Snapcaster play and then gave away the game." Awesome.
I'd also like to congratulate two of the players from my local group on their top 64 finishes. Hayden Treadway and Cody Albaugh both made the money this round, as did one of the gentlemen from Legends that I play with on occasion, and a buddy from Full Moon Games, Gareth. I'm proud that the local area is producing some high quality players and that I've been a part of such a fun group.
Secondly, the bit about local game stores. Over the last year or so, I've become a very outspoken promoter of local game stores everywhere. Not the big ones that are chains and have huge player bases that are in major cities and are running very little risk of closing day to day. Those will survive. The ones that need our support are the little ones. The ones that have only been opened a year or so, or even less. Despite how you may feel about waiting, or about mail ordering stuff, you should go to these stores and buy gaming things. Spend money at them, don't just hang out (though you should do that as well). If you don't, they go away. Then, there's no where to go play. No place that'll host leagues or tournaments. And no place where you can go hang out and be yourself with your fellow nerds and gamers. So next time you're looking at SCG, or GamesWorkshop, or any other online avenue to buy your gaming materials, go to a the local store and get them there when you can.
I'm signing off on this one now. May you always find the answers,
SD13
Next up is Magic. I've started playing again. This Saturday, the 10th, I played in the Star City Games Open in Indianapolis. I started off bad. I had been in a hurry to get to the event and I was still filling my deck list out during the player's meeting. They announced at the player's meeting that this was the biggest SCGOpen to date, at 775 registered players. There were to be eleven rounds of swiss before cutting to top 8. So, let me give you the over view, then I'll touch on a few highlights.
I lost my first round. I then went on to beat the kid I was playing round two and went on to win round three as well. Round four I was really stupid (I'll touch on this more in the highlights) and ended up losing. I lost round five and round six. It was a kick in the pants and I was really shaken out of my focus. I went and sat down over by myself and ate some jerky and granola and just tried to clear my head. After refocusing and getting the bad start out of my way, I went on to win out the rest of the day.
Here are some of the highlights of my day. I screwed up in the hurry to write my list out and missed my Hallowed Fountains, leaving my deck at 56 cards on the paper. I got pulled aside and told about this during round two. So I got a game loss. The good news is I went ahead and beat the kid two-nothing after that for the round win. No sweat, still feeling alright and at least I was even again.
I went into round four with a 2-1 record and was feeling pretty good. I'd been able to recover from my early mistakes and was feeling strong going into the round. When I read my pairing, I found I was against a man named Kyle Zimmerman. The name seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it. I made the worst play I've made in the last couple of years of competitive play in game one, and it probably cost me the next two rounds because I'd lost my focus. I flashed a Snapcaster in early on to block a big nasty and to flash back the Tragic Slip in my yard back to finish it off. Solid plan, solid play. However, I messed up and flashed him in, then played the Tragic right away and ended up two-for-noning myself. That rattled me hard. I was so shaken up that I missed that I was set to win the game later and ended up giving it away. After getting trounced in game two, Kyle was nice enough to compliment my deck and pointed out the mistakes I made in game one. Apparently the rest of my play was solid. We talked a bit about his list, since I complimented his use of Thatcher's Revolt in a Naya Humans (blitz) deck and he told me what it was really in there for and how it worked. He was a pretty cool guy, really. (Wait for the big reveal at the end of the post...)
So I went into round five feeling like I'd been kicked in the gut and couldn't really focus very well. I lost pretty quick to an UWR Aggro (as I've started calling it "Murica") in a close game two race. It was over fast enough that I had about fourty-five minutes or more left between rounds, so I took the time to get a snack, a drink, and refocus myself. I went into round six feeling a little better, but still lost.
I still want to talk about my round six match. I was playing with Mathew, a cool gentleman from Mt. Vernon Illinois. He was piloting Murica! as well, and I ended up losing on game three. But we were talking and he was telling me about his friend's shop that just opened down in Mt. Vernon. I would like to encourage those of you (though I doubt I have any readers down there) that are in that area to stop by Asgard Keep and buy some cards, play some games, and get to know the locals. There's a rant to follow on that mater at the end of the post as well.
So, here we go after six rounds, I was getting my rump kicked around and I was feeling kinda crappy, but after loosing round six, I was feeling a bit better. Even though I had lost, round six was relaxed, calm, and easy to enjoy. I sat down for round seven with a very careless attitude and I ended up winning. And then I won round eight... And nine, and before I knew it I was back even at four and four. Then I was on a roll. I did something that none of the other guys thought was possible and a few of the other guys had dropped over because they had hit the dreaded x-three mark. I won out the rest of my day and finished very strong in the standings, though I was still a match win away from winning any prize money. That's happened twice now.
So what else should be discussed after such a long and drawn out event? Well, how about a deck break down of what I saw in the metagame? I played against "Murica!" three times, Esper midranged once, Bant Flash twice, Bant wolf run once, and an interesting Bant Mutants once. I played against Naya Blitz (humans) twice. My Esper Token build was strong against most of the field. I lost to Naya in close races that it felt like I just couldn't win, and I lost to Murica! twice for the same reason. The games I won against them, I won because I stuck an early Doomed Traveler. That card is a very strong bit of defense against early aggression. I also found that Blind Obedience stuck early enough is good not just because it slows down their haste creatures but because the lifegain from extort is completely relevant.
So, now for the closing comments. Remember the Kyle guy from round four? Yeah, as it turns out, after a brief but fruitful Google search, I found that he was winning and top 8ing a bunch of Qualifiers and SCG Opens last year with Delver. So the single worst play I've made in years, I made against a pro who will forever remember me (if at all) as "that guy who screwed up his Snapcaster play and then gave away the game." Awesome.
I'd also like to congratulate two of the players from my local group on their top 64 finishes. Hayden Treadway and Cody Albaugh both made the money this round, as did one of the gentlemen from Legends that I play with on occasion, and a buddy from Full Moon Games, Gareth. I'm proud that the local area is producing some high quality players and that I've been a part of such a fun group.
Secondly, the bit about local game stores. Over the last year or so, I've become a very outspoken promoter of local game stores everywhere. Not the big ones that are chains and have huge player bases that are in major cities and are running very little risk of closing day to day. Those will survive. The ones that need our support are the little ones. The ones that have only been opened a year or so, or even less. Despite how you may feel about waiting, or about mail ordering stuff, you should go to these stores and buy gaming things. Spend money at them, don't just hang out (though you should do that as well). If you don't, they go away. Then, there's no where to go play. No place that'll host leagues or tournaments. And no place where you can go hang out and be yourself with your fellow nerds and gamers. So next time you're looking at SCG, or GamesWorkshop, or any other online avenue to buy your gaming materials, go to a the local store and get them there when you can.
I'm signing off on this one now. May you always find the answers,
SD13
Friday, February 8, 2013
Live, Learn, Gain XP.
So life has been an adventure all its own lately. I'm not going to go into a lot of details, but suffice it to say that things have been changing in my personal life and that's kept me away from some of the gaming I love so much. It is what it is.
Even so, with all the other crap going on, I've managed to keep some time open for the local miniwargamming shop's Mordheim campaign. I think right now I'm bouncing around in the top 4 or 5 out of around 20ish players. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. If you haven't played this game yet, I highly recommend it. It's fast paced, fairly easy to learn, and very quick to play. Part of the reason I've managed to work that in even ahead of my other gaming pursuits such as Magic or Warhammer is that each game only takes around an hour at most and some are much much shorter.
I think my next post will be a battle report from a game. I'll take notes and pics of the game I'm playing today and post them on here for the enjoyment of the few readers I have. I would say I'd make a video, but I'm not much into that kinda thing. I may have a scheme to get some more hits onto the Midwest Warfare group though... I'll have to talk to my buddy about it this weekend.
I'm going to take requests this time. Are there any games that I'm known to you to play that you want to hear more about as a reader? Which of the games that I write about bore you to tears and you skip over? I know I'm kinda spastic with what topics I cover and the frequency of my posts, but now that things are calming down, hopefully I'll be able to pick that up again.
Here's to the future. May it hold many crit hits and miraculous top-decks for us all.
SD13
Even so, with all the other crap going on, I've managed to keep some time open for the local miniwargamming shop's Mordheim campaign. I think right now I'm bouncing around in the top 4 or 5 out of around 20ish players. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. If you haven't played this game yet, I highly recommend it. It's fast paced, fairly easy to learn, and very quick to play. Part of the reason I've managed to work that in even ahead of my other gaming pursuits such as Magic or Warhammer is that each game only takes around an hour at most and some are much much shorter.
I think my next post will be a battle report from a game. I'll take notes and pics of the game I'm playing today and post them on here for the enjoyment of the few readers I have. I would say I'd make a video, but I'm not much into that kinda thing. I may have a scheme to get some more hits onto the Midwest Warfare group though... I'll have to talk to my buddy about it this weekend.
I'm going to take requests this time. Are there any games that I'm known to you to play that you want to hear more about as a reader? Which of the games that I write about bore you to tears and you skip over? I know I'm kinda spastic with what topics I cover and the frequency of my posts, but now that things are calming down, hopefully I'll be able to pick that up again.
Here's to the future. May it hold many crit hits and miraculous top-decks for us all.
SD13
Monday, January 7, 2013
More Mini Madness!
So I've been working on the 40K campaign a bit, which has proven to take a lot more work than I first anticipated. I've also been working on a new game that has caught my interest quite heavily. Mordhiem by Games Workshop has been very much at the forefront of my gaming mind lately. I'm also excited about the next Magic set as well. So let's break it down.
The campaign is going to be cool if I can get all the details worked out. I want it to start with a boarding action that takes place throughout the ship. Multiple small battles each played separately but with consequences that tie into the whole campaign from round to round. I'll illuminate that idea more as it comes out though.
Mordheim is what has really been eating my spare time lately. Since I decided to get involved in the campaign that's starting this month at the local store (Battleland Games), I've traded some cards off to pick up bits and models to make my warband. Mordheim is a skirmish game based in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. You play with a small force of troops that range from three up to 20 or so members. As you play, these "characters" gain experience and can acquire new gear and skills. It's very much a cross between a roleplaying game and a table-top minis game. But in a much cooler way than 4th Edition D&D. I won my first game of it yesterday and I'm supposed to be going to play a game or two this afternoon when a friend gets a hold of me.
And then there's Gatecrash. The new Magic set that's coming out soon. From what I've seen of the spoilers, I'm very much looking forward to this one. I haven't enjoyed the Standard format at all over the last few years and since the release of Return to Ravnica, that's changed. Things are heading in the direction I like and I enjoy the more wide-open feel of the format. From what I've played and seen so far, there isn't a single deck that's really dominating. Though there are a few cards that are, such as Thragtusk and Shpinx's Revelation. But that's to be expected in any format.
So that's all from me for now. I'll post more about my gaming adventures soon. Until then, may the dice be ever in your favor.
SD13
The campaign is going to be cool if I can get all the details worked out. I want it to start with a boarding action that takes place throughout the ship. Multiple small battles each played separately but with consequences that tie into the whole campaign from round to round. I'll illuminate that idea more as it comes out though.
Mordheim is what has really been eating my spare time lately. Since I decided to get involved in the campaign that's starting this month at the local store (Battleland Games), I've traded some cards off to pick up bits and models to make my warband. Mordheim is a skirmish game based in the Warhammer Fantasy setting. You play with a small force of troops that range from three up to 20 or so members. As you play, these "characters" gain experience and can acquire new gear and skills. It's very much a cross between a roleplaying game and a table-top minis game. But in a much cooler way than 4th Edition D&D. I won my first game of it yesterday and I'm supposed to be going to play a game or two this afternoon when a friend gets a hold of me.
And then there's Gatecrash. The new Magic set that's coming out soon. From what I've seen of the spoilers, I'm very much looking forward to this one. I haven't enjoyed the Standard format at all over the last few years and since the release of Return to Ravnica, that's changed. Things are heading in the direction I like and I enjoy the more wide-open feel of the format. From what I've played and seen so far, there isn't a single deck that's really dominating. Though there are a few cards that are, such as Thragtusk and Shpinx's Revelation. But that's to be expected in any format.
So that's all from me for now. I'll post more about my gaming adventures soon. Until then, may the dice be ever in your favor.
SD13
Thursday, December 20, 2012
40K on the Brain
So lately I've had Warhammer 40K on my mind a lot lately. I was very pleased with the way the last tournament went, even if I got crushed in day two. Anyway, long story short, between writing group rule changes for our next tournament and thinking about my list, I've also been working on some modeling and tinkering with a campaign idea. It's still in the brainstorming stages, but hey, gotta start somewhere. Right now, I'm working on a kitbashed and remodeled Saint Celestine model. I hated her giant cape and all that crap, and I didn't like her sword. So I've replaced both. I'm pretty satisfied so far. Still tinkering with the replacement jump-pack, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far.
Also, been reading and watching more about Magic the last week or two. Kinda been out of it for about a month or so. Just haven't had time to play much. I did play in a few tournaments at one of the smaller tournaments a couple of weeks ago. I got second in both, losing to the same guy in the finals in both events. Modern he was on Splinter Twin and Standard he was on a pretty interesting 4c Reanimator that was running blue instead of red. I was kicking myself in the ass for this one because the standard was within my reach and I blew it. Once by forgetting to desideboard between rounds and once for making a few sloppy plays in the second game because I was on tilt. Lessons learned...
So anyway, I'm not usually much into espousing the values of music on here since this is supposed to be my nerd-blog, but I have to admit, I've been listening to a lot of underground Seattle Hip-hop lately. If you're into hip-hop that's very independent in thought and that's layed back, check out Macklemore, Grynch, and Sota from Seattle.
SD13
Also, been reading and watching more about Magic the last week or two. Kinda been out of it for about a month or so. Just haven't had time to play much. I did play in a few tournaments at one of the smaller tournaments a couple of weeks ago. I got second in both, losing to the same guy in the finals in both events. Modern he was on Splinter Twin and Standard he was on a pretty interesting 4c Reanimator that was running blue instead of red. I was kicking myself in the ass for this one because the standard was within my reach and I blew it. Once by forgetting to desideboard between rounds and once for making a few sloppy plays in the second game because I was on tilt. Lessons learned...
So anyway, I'm not usually much into espousing the values of music on here since this is supposed to be my nerd-blog, but I have to admit, I've been listening to a lot of underground Seattle Hip-hop lately. If you're into hip-hop that's very independent in thought and that's layed back, check out Macklemore, Grynch, and Sota from Seattle.
SD13
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The First SCG Open...
So, Saturday didn't go quite the way I'd have liked. I ended up placing way back in 110th out of 430+ players. This may sound good, but in reality, I was only 5-5 for the day, which means I was very much middle of the pack at best. I attribute my poor finish to some play mistakes, a bad mana count in my deck, and in at least one case, a bad go with variance. So anyway, I'll get down to the nuts and bolts and post up my round by round history after a quick look at my final sideboard.
I hadn't really hammered out my sideboard choices until right before the event, mostly because I wasn't sure what I wanted to be afraid of and with so little play testing, I wasn't sure what my worst matchups were. With that in mind, I just tried to be prepared for what I expected some of the more popular decks to be.
Sideboard
3x Centaur Healer (to help stem the flow of blood against aggro)
2x Thragtusk (to help prevent being blown out by board sweepers in control)
2x Tormod's Crypt (to help out against graveyard strategies)
1x Grafdigger's Cage (Same as Crypt)
3x Sever the Bloodline (To help clean up Angel tokens in control)
2x Sundering Growth (I figured populate with enchantment removal might be relevant)
2x Pithing Needle (To help against control with planeswalkers)
So with the board in mind, and the deck list posted in the previous blog, you can now see the full 75 I took to the event. With no further ado, let's move on to the meat of today's article.
While I intended to run through my match-by-match opponent and results, it seems I've misplaced my notes on the subject, so I'll just touch on the highlights. I started out round 1 with a win, which thinking back on it seemed easy.
I moved to round 2 against a BG Zombies deck and an opponent that was ultimately condescending, but blew me out. This is one of the first rounds that I realized my mana count was off. I kept my game 2 hand without a white source and got blown out before I played a single card. I remember making a note not to keep bad hands, but apparently I didn't head my own advice. More on that later.
Round 3 and 4 were more wins. I vaguely remember an American control list and UW Humans, both of which went down pretty quickly, leaving me at 3-1 going into round 5. So far I was pretty pleased with myself and I was one of a handful of my friends that was x-1 up to this point. We were all on a high, thinking we had a legit shot at making top 8 or at least placing into the money.
I sat down for round 5 and got my spirits crushed (not just the ones on the table). I was matched against a Bant Control list for the first time in the day, though they were seemingly everywhere according to my play group. Game one was quick and easy with me living the dream of turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 Lingering Souls, Turn 3 Intangible Virtue for the quick win. Game 2 started well, but I ended up the match with something like 10 lands in play, and never having seen another real card past turn 3 or 4. Game 3 went much the same way, except it took him longer to close it out and I finished with more along the lines of 13 land in play... Not the way you want to see a match like this go.
At some point along this time, I recall making a few play errors. At some point, I missed a creature that was set aside when I activated Gavony Township and netted a game warning. I did this again later in the event. Also, I managed to miss planeswalker activations at two different points in the event, one with Vraska and one with Garruk. The extra wolf would have helped, but fortunately, I had the removal spell to save Vraska when the opponent attacked her.
Anyway, in round 6 I lost again, I can't remember to what, I just remember being very disheartened at that point because I was keenly aware that one more loss would put me out of the money entirely. So round 7 I played against a nice opponent who was on Selesnya aggro and I managed to blow her out. I even managed a game one win of Vraska's tokens by way of Intangible Virtue coupled with a Garruk (flipped) ultimate to net them some trample. She could block them all, but couldn't keep the one point of damage from spilling over to win the game. Game two was a much more conventional and easy win Round 8 was another win, putting me at a running total of 5-3 for the day, and giving me a chance to sweep the rest of the day for cash. I was a little more optimistic after rounds 6 and 7, seeing more decks that I had good matches agaisnt.
Round 9 was the heartbreak. I played against a fella I know from one of the stores I frequent and was disappointed to lose to him. He was on Jund Midrange and played a very tight game against me. He seemed upset that he was in a position to beat someone he knew out of the money range, but I reasured him that I wasn't going to hold back and that he shouldn't either. I cruised to a game one win, then a second game loss. Game 3 started with a nearly perfect opening hand for me and was going very well until he cast Rakdos Return to make me discard my hand. I was kinda dejected because I had good insurance in that hand. I ended up the victim of a Mizzium Mortars that cost me the game and the match. I shook his hand and congradulated him on his win, and wished him luck in the last round since he had really good odds of placing high enough to win some money.
Finally, last round I lost some very grindy games against 4c Reanimator. The match was fine and I think I could have done better. I got stuck on 3 mana in game 2 and resulted in going to game 3. Game 3 was another long haul. I never saw any of my gy hate and never drew into any of my answers that would have allowed me to win the game. There were around 5 turns in a row where any one of 4 or 5 cards would have resulted in a game win and a positive record for the day, but I ended up flooded out again for the loss.
So, after the end of the event, my thoughts were on the future and on tweaks to make the deck play more consistently for the next time I have a chance to play in some serious standard competition. These are the changes I would make:
Maindeck:
-1 Vraska
-2 Trostoni
-2 Vault of the Archangel
-2 Call of the Conclave
+2 Collective Blessing
+1 Gather the Townsfolk
+1 Gavony Township
+1 Sunpetal Grove
+2 Selesnya Keyrune
Sideboard:
-2 Sundering Growth
-2 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Grafdigger's Cage
-2 Pithing Needle
-2 Thragtusk
+1 Centaur Healer
+4 Deathrite Shaman
+2 Trostoni, Voice of Selesnya
+2 Vraska the Unseen
My over all concern is that I wasn't fast enough or aggressive enough. By dropping out the slower cards in the deck that weren't adding to the actual plan, I figured I could squeeze in some more tokens, and more anthem effects. As for specific card choices, I'll start with Vault since it will likely be the selection that most people shake their heads at. Through the even though, I never wanted Vault though. Any time I hit Vault, I found myself wishing it was a Gavony or a land that produced the more important colors in the deck. As for dropping Vraska and Trostani, they seemed to only help the matches I was already solid against. This deck has good game against control and against midrange, and I think moving these to the board is the best choice. Game 1 Vraska was weak against aggro and Trostani was weak to control. So I decided to slide a few more cards into the deck that were more often active threats. I dropped Call of the Conclave in favor of another Gather and the Keyrunes because I felt that more bodies was better with the addition of more anthem effects and the Keyrunes would help accelerate me to a more stable manabase in addition to providing a threat that was resilient to board sweeps.
As for the Sideboard, I dropped all of the reactive cards in favor of more pro-active strategies. Why just remove the cards in Re-animator's graveyard when I could instead benifit from removing the specific problem cards with the Shaman? Pithing Needle seemed redundant to the playset of O-Rings maindeck, and by dropping in Vraska in a pair, I had much better odds of being able to destroy opposing planeswalkers and giving myself another win con against control. Trostani is good in the matchups where I need lifegain, but that's so very rare that I figured instead of drawing a game out longer with lifegain that was encouraging me to overextend, I would be better served by her in the sideboard, making room for the Collective Blessings maindeck.
Also, on the trip home, I started hashing out an American Miracles deck with the guys I was traveling with and it looks pretty solid. I'll post it up next time I get a chance, hopefully after a little playtesting of both decks.
Until next time, keep gaming and rock on.
SD13
I hadn't really hammered out my sideboard choices until right before the event, mostly because I wasn't sure what I wanted to be afraid of and with so little play testing, I wasn't sure what my worst matchups were. With that in mind, I just tried to be prepared for what I expected some of the more popular decks to be.
Sideboard
3x Centaur Healer (to help stem the flow of blood against aggro)
2x Thragtusk (to help prevent being blown out by board sweepers in control)
2x Tormod's Crypt (to help out against graveyard strategies)
1x Grafdigger's Cage (Same as Crypt)
3x Sever the Bloodline (To help clean up Angel tokens in control)
2x Sundering Growth (I figured populate with enchantment removal might be relevant)
2x Pithing Needle (To help against control with planeswalkers)
So with the board in mind, and the deck list posted in the previous blog, you can now see the full 75 I took to the event. With no further ado, let's move on to the meat of today's article.
While I intended to run through my match-by-match opponent and results, it seems I've misplaced my notes on the subject, so I'll just touch on the highlights. I started out round 1 with a win, which thinking back on it seemed easy.
I moved to round 2 against a BG Zombies deck and an opponent that was ultimately condescending, but blew me out. This is one of the first rounds that I realized my mana count was off. I kept my game 2 hand without a white source and got blown out before I played a single card. I remember making a note not to keep bad hands, but apparently I didn't head my own advice. More on that later.
Round 3 and 4 were more wins. I vaguely remember an American control list and UW Humans, both of which went down pretty quickly, leaving me at 3-1 going into round 5. So far I was pretty pleased with myself and I was one of a handful of my friends that was x-1 up to this point. We were all on a high, thinking we had a legit shot at making top 8 or at least placing into the money.
I sat down for round 5 and got my spirits crushed (not just the ones on the table). I was matched against a Bant Control list for the first time in the day, though they were seemingly everywhere according to my play group. Game one was quick and easy with me living the dream of turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 Lingering Souls, Turn 3 Intangible Virtue for the quick win. Game 2 started well, but I ended up the match with something like 10 lands in play, and never having seen another real card past turn 3 or 4. Game 3 went much the same way, except it took him longer to close it out and I finished with more along the lines of 13 land in play... Not the way you want to see a match like this go.
At some point along this time, I recall making a few play errors. At some point, I missed a creature that was set aside when I activated Gavony Township and netted a game warning. I did this again later in the event. Also, I managed to miss planeswalker activations at two different points in the event, one with Vraska and one with Garruk. The extra wolf would have helped, but fortunately, I had the removal spell to save Vraska when the opponent attacked her.
Anyway, in round 6 I lost again, I can't remember to what, I just remember being very disheartened at that point because I was keenly aware that one more loss would put me out of the money entirely. So round 7 I played against a nice opponent who was on Selesnya aggro and I managed to blow her out. I even managed a game one win of Vraska's tokens by way of Intangible Virtue coupled with a Garruk (flipped) ultimate to net them some trample. She could block them all, but couldn't keep the one point of damage from spilling over to win the game. Game two was a much more conventional and easy win Round 8 was another win, putting me at a running total of 5-3 for the day, and giving me a chance to sweep the rest of the day for cash. I was a little more optimistic after rounds 6 and 7, seeing more decks that I had good matches agaisnt.
Round 9 was the heartbreak. I played against a fella I know from one of the stores I frequent and was disappointed to lose to him. He was on Jund Midrange and played a very tight game against me. He seemed upset that he was in a position to beat someone he knew out of the money range, but I reasured him that I wasn't going to hold back and that he shouldn't either. I cruised to a game one win, then a second game loss. Game 3 started with a nearly perfect opening hand for me and was going very well until he cast Rakdos Return to make me discard my hand. I was kinda dejected because I had good insurance in that hand. I ended up the victim of a Mizzium Mortars that cost me the game and the match. I shook his hand and congradulated him on his win, and wished him luck in the last round since he had really good odds of placing high enough to win some money.
Finally, last round I lost some very grindy games against 4c Reanimator. The match was fine and I think I could have done better. I got stuck on 3 mana in game 2 and resulted in going to game 3. Game 3 was another long haul. I never saw any of my gy hate and never drew into any of my answers that would have allowed me to win the game. There were around 5 turns in a row where any one of 4 or 5 cards would have resulted in a game win and a positive record for the day, but I ended up flooded out again for the loss.
So, after the end of the event, my thoughts were on the future and on tweaks to make the deck play more consistently for the next time I have a chance to play in some serious standard competition. These are the changes I would make:
Maindeck:
-1 Vraska
-2 Trostoni
-2 Vault of the Archangel
-2 Call of the Conclave
+2 Collective Blessing
+1 Gather the Townsfolk
+1 Gavony Township
+1 Sunpetal Grove
+2 Selesnya Keyrune
Sideboard:
-2 Sundering Growth
-2 Tormod's Crypt
-1 Grafdigger's Cage
-2 Pithing Needle
-2 Thragtusk
+1 Centaur Healer
+4 Deathrite Shaman
+2 Trostoni, Voice of Selesnya
+2 Vraska the Unseen
My over all concern is that I wasn't fast enough or aggressive enough. By dropping out the slower cards in the deck that weren't adding to the actual plan, I figured I could squeeze in some more tokens, and more anthem effects. As for specific card choices, I'll start with Vault since it will likely be the selection that most people shake their heads at. Through the even though, I never wanted Vault though. Any time I hit Vault, I found myself wishing it was a Gavony or a land that produced the more important colors in the deck. As for dropping Vraska and Trostani, they seemed to only help the matches I was already solid against. This deck has good game against control and against midrange, and I think moving these to the board is the best choice. Game 1 Vraska was weak against aggro and Trostani was weak to control. So I decided to slide a few more cards into the deck that were more often active threats. I dropped Call of the Conclave in favor of another Gather and the Keyrunes because I felt that more bodies was better with the addition of more anthem effects and the Keyrunes would help accelerate me to a more stable manabase in addition to providing a threat that was resilient to board sweeps.
As for the Sideboard, I dropped all of the reactive cards in favor of more pro-active strategies. Why just remove the cards in Re-animator's graveyard when I could instead benifit from removing the specific problem cards with the Shaman? Pithing Needle seemed redundant to the playset of O-Rings maindeck, and by dropping in Vraska in a pair, I had much better odds of being able to destroy opposing planeswalkers and giving myself another win con against control. Trostani is good in the matchups where I need lifegain, but that's so very rare that I figured instead of drawing a game out longer with lifegain that was encouraging me to overextend, I would be better served by her in the sideboard, making room for the Collective Blessings maindeck.
Also, on the trip home, I started hashing out an American Miracles deck with the guys I was traveling with and it looks pretty solid. I'll post it up next time I get a chance, hopefully after a little playtesting of both decks.
Until next time, keep gaming and rock on.
SD13
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Return to Competition
So Saturday is the first competitive level event I'm going to have played in in months. I'm pretty set on my Junk Tokens. I've done some playtesting up at the local shop and here at the house and I think I've settled on a good deck design. I have good game against control, though it's not perfect. I have a very good match up against midrange decks in the form of board flood and inevitability. And I feel like I have very good game against the fast aggro decks in the format. I really do feel like the crazy control builds are my worst matchup and I'm still considering my board options against it. Most are running an inane number of board sweepers, usually between 5 and 8, and that's hard to recover from. Especially Terminus, being as indestructible, regeneration, nor protection from x do anything to stop it.
My current decklist:
Creatures
Avacen Pilgrim x2
Arbor Elf x4
Trostani, Voice of Selesnya x2
Planeswalkers
Garruk, Relentless x3
Vraska the Unseen x1
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad x2
Spells
Lingering Souls x4
Selesnya Charm x4
Gather the Townsfolk x3
Call of the Conclave x2
Intangible Virtue x4
Golgari Charm x2
Oblivion Ring x4
Land
Isolated Chapel x4
Temple Garden x4
Overgrown Tomb x4
Forest x2
Plains x2
Swamp x1
Evolving Wilds x2
Vault of the Archangel x2
Gavony Township x2
My current problem with my deck is that it doesn't offer me what I consider enough pump spells. I dropped two Phantom Generals in favor of 2 more mana dorks, which I think will make the deck play out a little more aggressively, but gives me less long game. But the short game is where I think I was lacking. Lowering the curve and giving me more chances to drop Lingering Souls on turn two feels very important. I'm also unsure of my split of planeswalkers. Vraska seems ok, but I don't know if I want a second one of her. I've been contemplating dropping her for another copy of Sorin to add to my chances of drawing an anthem effect. I'm also thinking about dropping her for a copy of Angel of Serinity that I can fetch up with Garruk's (flipped) -1 ability. It would give me a big out to some of the other deck's end game plans and offer me a chance to slip in the fatal hits needed to end a game. Just some ideas.
As for my board, right now it's built to shore up the control match up and give me some outs against Unburial Rites decks. This is in the form of 2 Tormod's Crypt and 1 Rest in peace. It also gives me more game against control decks in the form of 2 Pithing Needles and 3 Sever the Bloodlines. I feel that a lot of control decks are riding Entreat the Angels to the win and a timely Sever will snatch the game out from under them. I've got 3 Centaur Healers in there for match ups that are bad races. Azorius Aggro and Rakdos/BR Zombies being my biggest worries in that respect. The last 4 slots are currently utility things such as Sundering Growth and Rootbound Defense (2 each). I haven't decided if these are the best things in the slot or if I'm better off putting in a pair of each of the knights. Pro white and pro black are both very relevant right now and I may want to drop them both in in different match ups over the utilities. Alternatively, I can add in some bigger nasty critters to act as my finishers in the place of Vraska. I have no idea at the moment, these last 4 spots are the only ones I'm not confident in right now.
I'll post again when it's all over and update the decklist one last time, as well as posting a tournament report.
SD13
My current decklist:
Creatures
Avacen Pilgrim x2
Arbor Elf x4
Trostani, Voice of Selesnya x2
Planeswalkers
Garruk, Relentless x3
Vraska the Unseen x1
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad x2
Spells
Lingering Souls x4
Selesnya Charm x4
Gather the Townsfolk x3
Call of the Conclave x2
Intangible Virtue x4
Golgari Charm x2
Oblivion Ring x4
Land
Isolated Chapel x4
Temple Garden x4
Overgrown Tomb x4
Forest x2
Plains x2
Swamp x1
Evolving Wilds x2
Vault of the Archangel x2
Gavony Township x2
My current problem with my deck is that it doesn't offer me what I consider enough pump spells. I dropped two Phantom Generals in favor of 2 more mana dorks, which I think will make the deck play out a little more aggressively, but gives me less long game. But the short game is where I think I was lacking. Lowering the curve and giving me more chances to drop Lingering Souls on turn two feels very important. I'm also unsure of my split of planeswalkers. Vraska seems ok, but I don't know if I want a second one of her. I've been contemplating dropping her for another copy of Sorin to add to my chances of drawing an anthem effect. I'm also thinking about dropping her for a copy of Angel of Serinity that I can fetch up with Garruk's (flipped) -1 ability. It would give me a big out to some of the other deck's end game plans and offer me a chance to slip in the fatal hits needed to end a game. Just some ideas.
As for my board, right now it's built to shore up the control match up and give me some outs against Unburial Rites decks. This is in the form of 2 Tormod's Crypt and 1 Rest in peace. It also gives me more game against control decks in the form of 2 Pithing Needles and 3 Sever the Bloodlines. I feel that a lot of control decks are riding Entreat the Angels to the win and a timely Sever will snatch the game out from under them. I've got 3 Centaur Healers in there for match ups that are bad races. Azorius Aggro and Rakdos/BR Zombies being my biggest worries in that respect. The last 4 slots are currently utility things such as Sundering Growth and Rootbound Defense (2 each). I haven't decided if these are the best things in the slot or if I'm better off putting in a pair of each of the knights. Pro white and pro black are both very relevant right now and I may want to drop them both in in different match ups over the utilities. Alternatively, I can add in some bigger nasty critters to act as my finishers in the place of Vraska. I have no idea at the moment, these last 4 spots are the only ones I'm not confident in right now.
I'll post again when it's all over and update the decklist one last time, as well as posting a tournament report.
SD13
Monday, September 24, 2012
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
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
Sunday, September 2, 2012
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
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
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Reflections on 6ed 40K.
After playing my first full sized game with allies and the whole shootin' match, I like the new rules even more. I played 2K with Mathew down at Legends yesterday. He was on Chaos Marines and I played Blood Angels with Grey Knight allies. It was a fun game, even if there were a lot of distractions and some confusion caused by the new rules. It took us about 4 hours to finish 5 turns, then I had to leave. I won, but it was kind of a sketchy victory. Due to the time limit we had, the game ended before he had a chance to get another objective. If the game would have gone full term, I think he'd have won, but there's no way to say for sure.
Other than the games of 40K going on this month, it's been pretty quiet on the gaming front. I haven't had much time to devote to Magic, which is sad considering the pace at which the metagame evolves these days. I'm an easy month and a half behind the ball on that one. If the last article I read this week on TCGplayer was any indication, it smells like Delver is making a come back. It made a huge portion of the top 8 placings last weekend at the larger open events. I'm not sure if I want to play much before rotation. Even if that means come rotation time, I'll have to completely rebuild a new deck, since the ones I've been tinkering with lately all rely very heavily on cards that are going to rotate in October.
Things to consider.
SD13
Other than the games of 40K going on this month, it's been pretty quiet on the gaming front. I haven't had much time to devote to Magic, which is sad considering the pace at which the metagame evolves these days. I'm an easy month and a half behind the ball on that one. If the last article I read this week on TCGplayer was any indication, it smells like Delver is making a come back. It made a huge portion of the top 8 placings last weekend at the larger open events. I'm not sure if I want to play much before rotation. Even if that means come rotation time, I'll have to completely rebuild a new deck, since the ones I've been tinkering with lately all rely very heavily on cards that are going to rotate in October.
Things to consider.
SD13
Saturday, August 4, 2012
40K Like its My Job.
So lately I've been taking a bit of a break from Magic. I'm not a fan of the current format and I've been pressing too hard recently and I'm afraid of burnout. So, I'm taking a break and refocusing on Warhammer for a bit. As such, I'm trying to get our group, Midwest Warfare, a bit more organized.
A problem occurred with the new rules set. No-one (or at least a small minority) has managed to play games with the new rules. A few of our players reportedly haven't even laid eyes on the new rules. SO.... That pretty much rules out a large tournament style event this month. So we've dropped back 10 yards and we're taking a big punt. Tournament play will be next month, and leading up to it this month will be a few weekends of practice games and goofing off.
Starting today for a few of us, and going into next weekend for more of us. Then at the end of the month, instead of the tournament, a large gathering at our usual location at Legends in Vincennes. Then I'll (probably) be helping judge a tournament here in TH. With our tournament postponed until the weekend of the 15th next month.
At least that's the current plan. Here's to hoping it works out.
SD13
A problem occurred with the new rules set. No-one (or at least a small minority) has managed to play games with the new rules. A few of our players reportedly haven't even laid eyes on the new rules. SO.... That pretty much rules out a large tournament style event this month. So we've dropped back 10 yards and we're taking a big punt. Tournament play will be next month, and leading up to it this month will be a few weekends of practice games and goofing off.
Starting today for a few of us, and going into next weekend for more of us. Then at the end of the month, instead of the tournament, a large gathering at our usual location at Legends in Vincennes. Then I'll (probably) be helping judge a tournament here in TH. With our tournament postponed until the weekend of the 15th next month.
At least that's the current plan. Here's to hoping it works out.
SD13
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
New Sets, New Rules
So here's the deal. Since my last post, there have been all kinds of changes in my gaming world. Warhammer 40,000 was given a new rule set by the gaming lords at Games Workshop and Wizards of the Coast graced us with yet another core set in their endless pursuit of profit. The only really good thing I have to say about the release schedule from Wizards is that it keeps the game fresh.
But, to move along let's focus on the Magic side of things first. M13 has changed up the format a little bit. Right now we're in the midst of the worst (depending on how you're looking at it) or best part of Standard progression. We have two core sets and two whole blocks to pull from, and both of them are very powerful blocks in their own ways. Personally, I can't wait for October to come around and Return to Ravnica to kick Mirrodin and all the terrible cards it offers as well as the over bearing duplicity of M12 out of the format so we can all breath a sigh of relief.
However, in the meantime, competitive players have three months of this to get through. Its just a mater of knuckling under and getting work done. I've been building and tinkering with a lot of new decks and cards. Last night I went to a "win-a-box" event at one of the local shops. I played a Bant Superfriends deck that was a lot of fun, but needs some tuning. I ended up placing 4th out of around 13 players and won 4 packs. Naya Pod made up both of my actual match losses. I also had a rough time against a BR Vampire aggro deck with tons of burn in it. My final record after the swiss rounds was 2-1-1. I drew against the BR Vampires and lost to Naya Pod. Then for some reason we cut to the top 4 and lost again to the same Naya Pod list. My biggest problems with the deck were that I flooded out hard in four or five games in the event. Drawing 14-16 lands out of 25 seems very unlikely and harsh. I'm probably going to cut a few for some more ramp spells. I need to play test some more, but I think this is the deck I want to play.
So, moving on to 40K... The new rules set is pretty good after a little play testing and a lot of reading. GW may have gotten things right finally. The game plays a little more complicated, but it is a lot of fun. There are some great rules changes that have made the game a lot more interesting and a lot more balanced. My favorite two things in the new rules set are the Allies system and the new wound allocation rules. They're going to make the game a lot more bearable and add a lot of diversity to the games we play.
As of now though, I'm out to get some work done.
SD13
But, to move along let's focus on the Magic side of things first. M13 has changed up the format a little bit. Right now we're in the midst of the worst (depending on how you're looking at it) or best part of Standard progression. We have two core sets and two whole blocks to pull from, and both of them are very powerful blocks in their own ways. Personally, I can't wait for October to come around and Return to Ravnica to kick Mirrodin and all the terrible cards it offers as well as the over bearing duplicity of M12 out of the format so we can all breath a sigh of relief.
However, in the meantime, competitive players have three months of this to get through. Its just a mater of knuckling under and getting work done. I've been building and tinkering with a lot of new decks and cards. Last night I went to a "win-a-box" event at one of the local shops. I played a Bant Superfriends deck that was a lot of fun, but needs some tuning. I ended up placing 4th out of around 13 players and won 4 packs. Naya Pod made up both of my actual match losses. I also had a rough time against a BR Vampire aggro deck with tons of burn in it. My final record after the swiss rounds was 2-1-1. I drew against the BR Vampires and lost to Naya Pod. Then for some reason we cut to the top 4 and lost again to the same Naya Pod list. My biggest problems with the deck were that I flooded out hard in four or five games in the event. Drawing 14-16 lands out of 25 seems very unlikely and harsh. I'm probably going to cut a few for some more ramp spells. I need to play test some more, but I think this is the deck I want to play.
So, moving on to 40K... The new rules set is pretty good after a little play testing and a lot of reading. GW may have gotten things right finally. The game plays a little more complicated, but it is a lot of fun. There are some great rules changes that have made the game a lot more interesting and a lot more balanced. My favorite two things in the new rules set are the Allies system and the new wound allocation rules. They're going to make the game a lot more bearable and add a lot of diversity to the games we play.
As of now though, I'm out to get some work done.
SD13
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Breaking the Dry Spell
Alright, been awhile since I've posted and I'm working on new decks. Mostly working on new Bant ideas that work with Venser. I'm loving my Pod brews, but I'm having a hard time deciding if Venser's land control component works well with it or not. Control Pod seems interesting to me, but its hard to come up with a list that makes the best use of both the land control elements of the Band Land Control deck and the Venser Pod list that I've been tinkering with. Maybe the two deck ideas are best left separate, even though they do share more than half of the card choices.
The core concept of both decks is very similar. The Venser Pod deck just goes a different road to get there. Both decks use Stonehorn Dignitary to limit your opponent's early aggressive starts and buying you time to roll out Acidic Slime to get rid of his mana base or some of his threats. The pod version rolls up to Elesh Norn on the high end with Sun Titan shenanigans being possible with Phantasmal Image. On the other hand, the Bant Land Control method works the same way, but instead focuses more completely on the ETB effects of the creature base and ramps more. It runs more lands and adds even more mana dorks, as well as a playset of Rampant Growth.
Both accomplish the win by stalling the game long enough to achieve a soft lock or mana control, then end the game with big hitters and I really like that plan. I just have to decide which I think is more consistent and offers the best lines of play against the Metagame right now. By the metagame, I'm referring to UW Delver and Midrange, Wolfrun, RG Aggro, and Naya Pod. Solarflare is still a real deck, but I don't feel like it is as much of a problem as the faster starting decks for either of my lists.
I guess the good news is that I've got plenty of time for playtesting before the next big event I'll be playing in, which may not be till August. I'll get back in and update before then.
SD13
The core concept of both decks is very similar. The Venser Pod deck just goes a different road to get there. Both decks use Stonehorn Dignitary to limit your opponent's early aggressive starts and buying you time to roll out Acidic Slime to get rid of his mana base or some of his threats. The pod version rolls up to Elesh Norn on the high end with Sun Titan shenanigans being possible with Phantasmal Image. On the other hand, the Bant Land Control method works the same way, but instead focuses more completely on the ETB effects of the creature base and ramps more. It runs more lands and adds even more mana dorks, as well as a playset of Rampant Growth.
Both accomplish the win by stalling the game long enough to achieve a soft lock or mana control, then end the game with big hitters and I really like that plan. I just have to decide which I think is more consistent and offers the best lines of play against the Metagame right now. By the metagame, I'm referring to UW Delver and Midrange, Wolfrun, RG Aggro, and Naya Pod. Solarflare is still a real deck, but I don't feel like it is as much of a problem as the faster starting decks for either of my lists.
I guess the good news is that I've got plenty of time for playtesting before the next big event I'll be playing in, which may not be till August. I'll get back in and update before then.
SD13
Friday, June 8, 2012
The Trials of Testing
So, I've been trying to find a group of people that I can test with reliably for things like PTQs and SCG events. It's difficult. It is such a challenge because everyone has a different idea of testing. I know it sounds strange, but the problem comes when there's only one mind being put into a process and there's no central core to the testing.
My biggest problem comes with the fact that I have friends and acquaintances that are similarly minded to myself. They make for great friends and are fun people to play Magic with but that's not so good for testing. You see, because we're all like minded, we tend to want to play decks that are fringe competitive at best and are just bad at worst. So when I play my hit or miss homebrew against someone else's hit or miss homebrew... The end result is never exactly useful information about either deck's viability in the metagame. Sure, you learn some of the better lines of play in your deck, but you never learn how to make the key plays against the decks that are strongest (most popular) in the metagame.
With that in mind... There are some other thoughts to be put into testing and the methodology of the solo player. First of all, how and where you test makes the world of difference. For some reason, when I do solitaire runs of a deck, I learn the curve and plays of a deck better when I'm sitting at my desk with some light music on. However, when I'm actually playing and intent on learning from the games, I play better and learn more when I'm at the local shop. I don't know why, but playing against players in an environment that I already get competitive in makes me want to play that little bit better and helps me focus on the game at hand. There are also fewer distractions that aren't game related at the shop than at home. I don't find the need to watch TV, or get distracted by what a mess my house is. I just sit down, and play some Magic. Last, I want to address the idea of Magic: the Gathering Online... Don't. Don't waste your time testing on there unless it is with other players that play paper Magic. People online play in a different environment and with a different mindset to people that play at the table. This also doesn't bother to mention that they have a much different metagame for some reason. The formats online just don't transfer to the formats at the shops and at the competitive events.
So, I guess I need to get up to the shop for some more testing tonight. See you folks at 6:30.
SD13
My biggest problem comes with the fact that I have friends and acquaintances that are similarly minded to myself. They make for great friends and are fun people to play Magic with but that's not so good for testing. You see, because we're all like minded, we tend to want to play decks that are fringe competitive at best and are just bad at worst. So when I play my hit or miss homebrew against someone else's hit or miss homebrew... The end result is never exactly useful information about either deck's viability in the metagame. Sure, you learn some of the better lines of play in your deck, but you never learn how to make the key plays against the decks that are strongest (most popular) in the metagame.
With that in mind... There are some other thoughts to be put into testing and the methodology of the solo player. First of all, how and where you test makes the world of difference. For some reason, when I do solitaire runs of a deck, I learn the curve and plays of a deck better when I'm sitting at my desk with some light music on. However, when I'm actually playing and intent on learning from the games, I play better and learn more when I'm at the local shop. I don't know why, but playing against players in an environment that I already get competitive in makes me want to play that little bit better and helps me focus on the game at hand. There are also fewer distractions that aren't game related at the shop than at home. I don't find the need to watch TV, or get distracted by what a mess my house is. I just sit down, and play some Magic. Last, I want to address the idea of Magic: the Gathering Online... Don't. Don't waste your time testing on there unless it is with other players that play paper Magic. People online play in a different environment and with a different mindset to people that play at the table. This also doesn't bother to mention that they have a much different metagame for some reason. The formats online just don't transfer to the formats at the shops and at the competitive events.
So, I guess I need to get up to the shop for some more testing tonight. See you folks at 6:30.
SD13
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
I Had Venser Wrong All Along
So I was up at the local shop yesterday (Full Moon Games), and I played a match with the owner as he was giving me a few ideas to help tweak my deck. So far, everyone that I've talked to about it likes it, which is a plus. Me and one of the other more competitive guys that works at the shop have been sound boarding ideas back and forth and he's helped me make some valuable tweeks. My main point today is that I played against a deck that isn't seeing any attention in the metagame right now at all, which is strange. I don't have the exact deck list, but it is essentially Bant Pod with an emphasis on the UW side of things. There is of course the core of the Green in there for birds and the staples like Acidic Slime. What floored me is how much the deck played out like a Solar-Flare deck. There were so many great card interactions that I was left a little confused after a few of his plays and had to take the time to go through them step by step in my head before I let him finish. The deck was running Venser, Sun Titan, Phyrexian Metamorph, Phantasmal Image, Trinket Mage, Acid Slime and a ton of other great stuff. It was mind blowing how fast he got running, too. I think the best bit of tech in the deck were the Stonehorn Dignitaries paired up with the clones, the Pod, and the Sun Titans. After around turn 4 or 5 every game, I got Stonehorn locked within sight of victory. It was consistent, it was obvious and it was harsh.
My thinking is... In an Aggro dominated environment such as the one we're seeing in Standard right now, why is this deck not seeing more play? It's just too good against the other popular decks. It doesn't leave much room for escape over all. The way the Pod works in the deck is amazing. It gives a much more versatile package when paired with blue instead of Red. I'm going to go up there and ask Ray to give me another look at it later today.
SD13
My thinking is... In an Aggro dominated environment such as the one we're seeing in Standard right now, why is this deck not seeing more play? It's just too good against the other popular decks. It doesn't leave much room for escape over all. The way the Pod works in the deck is amazing. It gives a much more versatile package when paired with blue instead of Red. I'm going to go up there and ask Ray to give me another look at it later today.
SD13
Monday, May 21, 2012
PTQ Indianapolis (May 19)
Alrighty then... Where to start...
Well, I guess the first thing to do is to give a shout out and some thanks to my friend Snibble. Without him loaning me around a third of the deck I played with, I never would have been able to play as competitively as I did.
Next, how about a decklist.
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Angel of Jubilation
4 Champion of Lambholt
3 Mayor of Avabruck
(18 Creatures)
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Entreat the Angels
1 Sword of War and Peace
2 Angelic Destiny
(17 Spells)
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Gavony Township
7 Forest
7 Plains
(25 Lands)
Sideboard
3 Grafdigger's Cage (good against Zombies, Pod, Frights, passable against RG Aggro)
2 Day f Judgment (Planed for Boros and Zombies)
2 Kessig Cagebreakers (Plan against control, never ended up using it)
2 Elspeth Tirel (plan against control)
3 Oblivion Ring (Generally awesome card to fix problems)
2 Sword of Feast and Famine (Zombies and RG Aggro)
1 Sword of Body and Mind (Expected to see a few tempo decks)
So lets get down to game play.
Round 1
Tyler on Venser Control.
I sat down across from my opponent Tyler and we went straight to business. We talked a little as we were waiting for the round to start, but mostly focused on the game. He played a bunch in different formats and sounded like a bit of a "grinder." Cool guy though and a great player. He was playing one of my decks absolutely worst matchups. After getting off to a good start in game one, he dropped a Stonehorn Dignitary and I knew I was in trouble. It took a few more turns and I was trying to get in for damage, but as soon as Venser came down, I knew there was no hope for me and I scooped straight to game 2. I brought in all 3 O-rings and dropped SoWP and both Entreats. The second game ended up with me waiting to topdeck the O-ring as he locked me down with Venser and a Dignitary. It never showed up, he got the emblem, and I scooped for a round loss. I was off to a rough start. Tyler was pretty cool though and ended up going 5-2 I think, so I didn't feel too bad about losing to him.
0-1 (0-2)
Round 2
David on RG Aggro.
So after round 1, I got called up to the judges table for a deck check. It seems that the first of many random mistakes made during the day was to start off by writing my list wrong and having it total up to 59 cards. I got it straightened out, but the clerical error cost me a game loss this round. We started on game 2, and I was recorded as losing the first game. Craptastic way to get the round started. David was all business and we got started as soon as the judge straightened us out. Starting off with game 2, I came out of the box hard. I took the game with little to no trouble and had a bit of a confidence boost. Game 3 took it away. We came out pretty much squared off toe to toe. Then he dropped a Sword of War and Peace and took it to the bank. Started really thinking about needed Beast Within and O-Rings main deck after these two rounds. I honestly think with a third game, I might have had a chance to win this round, since it seemed we were just racing each other and I was very capable of keeping pace with him.
0-2 (1-4)
Round 3
Cameron on Solar-Flare
I sat down at the table and started looking around as the round started. My opponent hadn't turned up yet so I sat and shuffled for a bit. He turned up a few minutes later and signed the slip with me as two wins and shook my hand, saying he was off to lunch. He didn't get to leave right away and we ended up doing a bunch of trading. Cool guy.
1-2 (3-4 [Kinda])
Round 4
David on Wolfrun Ramp
Game 1 was a blow out. He was firing on all cylinders and there wasn't much I could do but watch as he dropped a turn 4 titan and crushed me under its heels. Game 2, he flooded out and I took the easy win. Game 3 was a real fight. I came out strong and was worked him down to 5, then he gained a little life, then I had him back down to 1 with lethal damage on board. He top decked a Slagstorm and cleared most of my board, save one spirit token. In the process, he killed his own Solemn Simulacrum and drew an Inferno Titan off of it to kill my last spirit and hit me for two. The next turn, I botched up and made my first actual play mistake. I played a Champion of the Parish off of a Plains instead of a Cavern of Souls, meaning I didn't have the mana open to play the Angelic Destiny on it to keep it alive through the titan attack. He killed the champ on his attack and then finished me off. If I hadn't made that mistake, I may have been able to take the game honestly, but he scooped to me on his turn before killing me, citing the need for food and wanting to play in a cube as his reasons for not rubbing his good luck in my face. I thanked him, shook his hand and then went on wondering when my odd luck was going to stop.
2-2 (5-5)
Round 5
Feng (not his first name, but I don't have his first name written down) on UW Miricale Planswalkers.
Game 1 was a complete blow out for him. He hit 3 Temp Mastery with no deck fixing while having Gideon and Tamiyo on the field. Easy win for him. Second game, I boarded out SoWP, both Angelic Destiny, 1 Angel of Jubilation, 1 Champion of Lambholt for both copies of Elspeth and 3 O-rings. My board plan against control went off without a hitch. Elspeth ended up winning both games for me in the long haul. This was the first taste I got of something actually going according to plan.
3-2 (7-6)
Round 6
Sam on Naya Pod.
Sam made the mistake of fixing his deck face up when I came to the table and I had the opportunity to see what he was playing before we started. It wasn't my fault, I don't know why he was doing it that way, but he was. As it turns out, game 1 was an easy win. I dropped turn 1 Champ, turn 2 Mayor, Turn 3 SoWP and he scooped without ever playing more than basic lands. Game 2 ended up being just as easy. I brought in Grafdigger's cages against him and drew one in my starting hand after a mulligan (I had a really bad hand the first round). I played a Pilgrim on turn 1, a champ and the cage on turn 2, and then cruised past to an easy win after a few more tokens came in. I made a play mistake here of missing a Mayor's trigger for my token. That was the second of my actual play mistakes for the day, and probably the least important. He did some grumbling about the cage and how he was holding two pods in his hand. I half expected he'd have boarded them out expecting some kind of hate against them. Another perfect sideboard game.
4-2 (9-6)
Round 7
So perseverance had brought me to the 7th round with a good enough record to have a legitimate shot at landing myself in the prize pool. Obviously not the top 8, but I had a decent shot if I won of making some packs off the top 16.
Jacob on Grixis Zombies
I didn't expect to see this deck at all. I expected a few zombie decks, but nothing like this. Game 1 was a loss for me, and he played heavy control elements and just crushed me with small damage every turn while I couldn't stabilize long enough to mount a comeback. Game 2, I boarded in Day of Judgment and Sword of Feast and Famine, thinking the protection could be vital. I ended up out racing him and never hit a sideboard card. Game 3, I did hit a SoFF, but a missplay ended up costing me dearly. I used an Avacyn Pilgrim to play and equip the sword while I had plenty of land to do so. I had cards in hand that may have been able to save me, but after hitting with the sword, didn't have the mana to play them since I used the pilgrim instead of a land to play it. He ended up being able to win a slightly longer game after my mistake.
4-3 (10-8)
So, not really the way I needed the last round to go, but that's just the way it happens. The only reason I made it that far was because of opponents that were hungry and dropped anyway, so I shouldn't have been so surprised by the loss last round.
As far as things I learned from this PTQ, my deck is very strong against the stuff I expected to see in the metagame, and weak against the things I didn't. Also, making very small play mistakes with the deck's manabase really screwed me out of a few wins. Matchups I expect to see more that need work will be the Wolfrun Ramp and RG aggro matchups. The other seemed pretty solid and Zombies isn't really a deck worth worrying about. My match up against Vensor Control was an anomaly as well, and not something I expect to have repeated.
There are a few changes I think I'll end up making to the deck. I think Garruk Relentless has a solid place in the deck and I'd like to work him in somehow. I think Kessig Cagebreakers need to come out of the board. I never played them and I don't know that I ever would. Especially if I end up dropping more creatures to add Garruk, which seems likely. I also may drop the Entreat the Angels to add a few copies of Beast Within main deck. The card is just too good to be sitting on the sidelines and offers solutions that even Oblivion Ring doesn't. As far as the extra swords in my Board? I picked up a few more SoWP and may make them main deck, moving the Angelic Destiny to my board. I also feel like Timely Reinforcements has a place in the sideboard against decks like Zombies and Boros, but I'm not sure if I'll add it or not.
Anyway, that's about it for my PTQ Recap. Questions and comments are always welcome and feedback on the deck or sideboard plan is always great.
SD13
Well, I guess the first thing to do is to give a shout out and some thanks to my friend Snibble. Without him loaning me around a third of the deck I played with, I never would have been able to play as competitively as I did.
Next, how about a decklist.
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Angel of Jubilation
4 Champion of Lambholt
3 Mayor of Avabruck
(18 Creatures)
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Entreat the Angels
1 Sword of War and Peace
2 Angelic Destiny
(17 Spells)
2 Sunpetal Grove
4 Razorverge Thicket
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Gavony Township
7 Forest
7 Plains
(25 Lands)
Sideboard
3 Grafdigger's Cage (good against Zombies, Pod, Frights, passable against RG Aggro)
2 Day f Judgment (Planed for Boros and Zombies)
2 Kessig Cagebreakers (Plan against control, never ended up using it)
2 Elspeth Tirel (plan against control)
3 Oblivion Ring (Generally awesome card to fix problems)
2 Sword of Feast and Famine (Zombies and RG Aggro)
1 Sword of Body and Mind (Expected to see a few tempo decks)
So lets get down to game play.
Round 1
Tyler on Venser Control.
I sat down across from my opponent Tyler and we went straight to business. We talked a little as we were waiting for the round to start, but mostly focused on the game. He played a bunch in different formats and sounded like a bit of a "grinder." Cool guy though and a great player. He was playing one of my decks absolutely worst matchups. After getting off to a good start in game one, he dropped a Stonehorn Dignitary and I knew I was in trouble. It took a few more turns and I was trying to get in for damage, but as soon as Venser came down, I knew there was no hope for me and I scooped straight to game 2. I brought in all 3 O-rings and dropped SoWP and both Entreats. The second game ended up with me waiting to topdeck the O-ring as he locked me down with Venser and a Dignitary. It never showed up, he got the emblem, and I scooped for a round loss. I was off to a rough start. Tyler was pretty cool though and ended up going 5-2 I think, so I didn't feel too bad about losing to him.
0-1 (0-2)
Round 2
David on RG Aggro.
So after round 1, I got called up to the judges table for a deck check. It seems that the first of many random mistakes made during the day was to start off by writing my list wrong and having it total up to 59 cards. I got it straightened out, but the clerical error cost me a game loss this round. We started on game 2, and I was recorded as losing the first game. Craptastic way to get the round started. David was all business and we got started as soon as the judge straightened us out. Starting off with game 2, I came out of the box hard. I took the game with little to no trouble and had a bit of a confidence boost. Game 3 took it away. We came out pretty much squared off toe to toe. Then he dropped a Sword of War and Peace and took it to the bank. Started really thinking about needed Beast Within and O-Rings main deck after these two rounds. I honestly think with a third game, I might have had a chance to win this round, since it seemed we were just racing each other and I was very capable of keeping pace with him.
0-2 (1-4)
Round 3
Cameron on Solar-Flare
I sat down at the table and started looking around as the round started. My opponent hadn't turned up yet so I sat and shuffled for a bit. He turned up a few minutes later and signed the slip with me as two wins and shook my hand, saying he was off to lunch. He didn't get to leave right away and we ended up doing a bunch of trading. Cool guy.
1-2 (3-4 [Kinda])
Round 4
David on Wolfrun Ramp
Game 1 was a blow out. He was firing on all cylinders and there wasn't much I could do but watch as he dropped a turn 4 titan and crushed me under its heels. Game 2, he flooded out and I took the easy win. Game 3 was a real fight. I came out strong and was worked him down to 5, then he gained a little life, then I had him back down to 1 with lethal damage on board. He top decked a Slagstorm and cleared most of my board, save one spirit token. In the process, he killed his own Solemn Simulacrum and drew an Inferno Titan off of it to kill my last spirit and hit me for two. The next turn, I botched up and made my first actual play mistake. I played a Champion of the Parish off of a Plains instead of a Cavern of Souls, meaning I didn't have the mana open to play the Angelic Destiny on it to keep it alive through the titan attack. He killed the champ on his attack and then finished me off. If I hadn't made that mistake, I may have been able to take the game honestly, but he scooped to me on his turn before killing me, citing the need for food and wanting to play in a cube as his reasons for not rubbing his good luck in my face. I thanked him, shook his hand and then went on wondering when my odd luck was going to stop.
2-2 (5-5)
Round 5
Feng (not his first name, but I don't have his first name written down) on UW Miricale Planswalkers.
Game 1 was a complete blow out for him. He hit 3 Temp Mastery with no deck fixing while having Gideon and Tamiyo on the field. Easy win for him. Second game, I boarded out SoWP, both Angelic Destiny, 1 Angel of Jubilation, 1 Champion of Lambholt for both copies of Elspeth and 3 O-rings. My board plan against control went off without a hitch. Elspeth ended up winning both games for me in the long haul. This was the first taste I got of something actually going according to plan.
3-2 (7-6)
Round 6
Sam on Naya Pod.
Sam made the mistake of fixing his deck face up when I came to the table and I had the opportunity to see what he was playing before we started. It wasn't my fault, I don't know why he was doing it that way, but he was. As it turns out, game 1 was an easy win. I dropped turn 1 Champ, turn 2 Mayor, Turn 3 SoWP and he scooped without ever playing more than basic lands. Game 2 ended up being just as easy. I brought in Grafdigger's cages against him and drew one in my starting hand after a mulligan (I had a really bad hand the first round). I played a Pilgrim on turn 1, a champ and the cage on turn 2, and then cruised past to an easy win after a few more tokens came in. I made a play mistake here of missing a Mayor's trigger for my token. That was the second of my actual play mistakes for the day, and probably the least important. He did some grumbling about the cage and how he was holding two pods in his hand. I half expected he'd have boarded them out expecting some kind of hate against them. Another perfect sideboard game.
4-2 (9-6)
Round 7
So perseverance had brought me to the 7th round with a good enough record to have a legitimate shot at landing myself in the prize pool. Obviously not the top 8, but I had a decent shot if I won of making some packs off the top 16.
Jacob on Grixis Zombies
I didn't expect to see this deck at all. I expected a few zombie decks, but nothing like this. Game 1 was a loss for me, and he played heavy control elements and just crushed me with small damage every turn while I couldn't stabilize long enough to mount a comeback. Game 2, I boarded in Day of Judgment and Sword of Feast and Famine, thinking the protection could be vital. I ended up out racing him and never hit a sideboard card. Game 3, I did hit a SoFF, but a missplay ended up costing me dearly. I used an Avacyn Pilgrim to play and equip the sword while I had plenty of land to do so. I had cards in hand that may have been able to save me, but after hitting with the sword, didn't have the mana to play them since I used the pilgrim instead of a land to play it. He ended up being able to win a slightly longer game after my mistake.
4-3 (10-8)
So, not really the way I needed the last round to go, but that's just the way it happens. The only reason I made it that far was because of opponents that were hungry and dropped anyway, so I shouldn't have been so surprised by the loss last round.
As far as things I learned from this PTQ, my deck is very strong against the stuff I expected to see in the metagame, and weak against the things I didn't. Also, making very small play mistakes with the deck's manabase really screwed me out of a few wins. Matchups I expect to see more that need work will be the Wolfrun Ramp and RG aggro matchups. The other seemed pretty solid and Zombies isn't really a deck worth worrying about. My match up against Vensor Control was an anomaly as well, and not something I expect to have repeated.
There are a few changes I think I'll end up making to the deck. I think Garruk Relentless has a solid place in the deck and I'd like to work him in somehow. I think Kessig Cagebreakers need to come out of the board. I never played them and I don't know that I ever would. Especially if I end up dropping more creatures to add Garruk, which seems likely. I also may drop the Entreat the Angels to add a few copies of Beast Within main deck. The card is just too good to be sitting on the sidelines and offers solutions that even Oblivion Ring doesn't. As far as the extra swords in my Board? I picked up a few more SoWP and may make them main deck, moving the Angelic Destiny to my board. I also feel like Timely Reinforcements has a place in the sideboard against decks like Zombies and Boros, but I'm not sure if I'll add it or not.
Anyway, that's about it for my PTQ Recap. Questions and comments are always welcome and feedback on the deck or sideboard plan is always great.
SD13
On Gaming, Planning, and the Lack Thereof
This is the first in a pair of posts about my weekend adventures in Magic. This one will be devoted to all things not directly tied in to the actual PTQ. There are a ton of things that I'd like to touch on that happened, but I figured putting both the PTQ recap and the side notes all in one post would make it exactly half the length of the book of Genesis.
So what is this post going to relate to... Well, there's travel plans and last minute changes. There's also trading to touch on. And lastly, I think card choices and sportsmanship need to be touched on.
So, let's start with travel plans. The original plan was to meet up with some guys from Legends and ride the majority of the trip with them. Due to some events in the personal life department, my girlfriend and I decided to drive up together. There were a few reasons for this. First, she has friends in Indy and wanted to get out of the house and see them again since we don't get up that way very often. The second is that my step-dad has been having health issues and I didn't want to be stranded if I needed to head home in a hurry. It all worked out for the best and we ended up having a great time both before and after the tourney. Sorry to the driver from Legends from changing plans so many times over the course of the week. I'm sure it had to be a headache!
Of course, at events such as PTQs, Grand Prix, and other large Magic related tournaments and gathering, there are always people looking to trade cards. It's a great way to meet new people and help the community by enriching card pools and wallets. This is a story about the two kinds of traders that I met this weekend. The first guy that tried to trade for me was a complete pain in the neck and I regret even trying to swap cards with him. I don't know where he was from and I didn't catch his name. The long and short of the story is that he wanted to trade for full value for his cards, and wanted an average of 25% of value off of mine. Needless to say, when I want to swap cards, I want equal values. If I want a 25-30 dollar card, I want to be able to trade my 25-30 dollar card for it. Not 40-45 dollars for the 30 dollar card. That is unfair and just being a jerk. Nice not trading with ya, pall. The second part of my trading story is actually very cool. The guy's name was Cameron and he was from here in Indiana. He was there with some friends and was s'possed to be my opponent on round 3 but conceded to me to go have lunch. He didn't end up getting to leave in a hurry because his ride was in the middle of a trade, so we started talking. He was trying to break into Legacy and was building up his card collection. We just BSed about the tournament so far and what our opponents were like and about some of the cards we were looking for. We started to hash out some small trades at first and they were all very easy going. I ended up trading off some of my dual lands to him for some Standard stuff that I really needed. I kinda regretted it, but was willing to make the sacrifice to get the cards I needed in a much more played format. Afterwards, we parted ways, he went and got lunch and I went on to round 4. Later that day, we got back to trading and I ended up getting my playset of duals back in tact. It only cost me a few prized collection pieces that I never played with. I do miss those cards, but at the same time, I helped him get his collection started, restored my playset of duals (with an artist signed copy after the trade), and picked up a ton of stuff I needed or could trade off a lot more easily than the Mox and Chaos Orb.
The moral of the story is... Don't be a jerk when you're trying to trade. It builds bad blood and makes people avoid you. Be cool. Be sociable and likable. Don't be standoffish and over value your cards while undervaluing your trade targets. The fact that Cameron and I were able to establish what values we were comfortable with using, and then sticking to them made things go much more smoothly and even made it fun and profitable for both of us.
Now, on to the sportsmanship portion of my rant.
I played a guy 5th or 6th round that was playing a deck that's very easy to hate against and has a few very solid hate cards to shut it down. My problem with this player's sportsmanship was his attitude about me sideboarding in the card against him in game two. When I played it, he just got a crummy attitude towards me and started being really salty through the rest of the game. I can't help it that he picked a strategy that 1, I knew would be present 2, that I knew how to play against, and 3, that has such easily playable hate. If you play a popular deck choice that has cards that oppose it like that, don't be shocked or angry when it happens to you. Be a better player and play around those cards.
That's all of my non-game related ranting for now. I'll be back in a bit with the PTQ follow up.
SD13
So what is this post going to relate to... Well, there's travel plans and last minute changes. There's also trading to touch on. And lastly, I think card choices and sportsmanship need to be touched on.
So, let's start with travel plans. The original plan was to meet up with some guys from Legends and ride the majority of the trip with them. Due to some events in the personal life department, my girlfriend and I decided to drive up together. There were a few reasons for this. First, she has friends in Indy and wanted to get out of the house and see them again since we don't get up that way very often. The second is that my step-dad has been having health issues and I didn't want to be stranded if I needed to head home in a hurry. It all worked out for the best and we ended up having a great time both before and after the tourney. Sorry to the driver from Legends from changing plans so many times over the course of the week. I'm sure it had to be a headache!
Of course, at events such as PTQs, Grand Prix, and other large Magic related tournaments and gathering, there are always people looking to trade cards. It's a great way to meet new people and help the community by enriching card pools and wallets. This is a story about the two kinds of traders that I met this weekend. The first guy that tried to trade for me was a complete pain in the neck and I regret even trying to swap cards with him. I don't know where he was from and I didn't catch his name. The long and short of the story is that he wanted to trade for full value for his cards, and wanted an average of 25% of value off of mine. Needless to say, when I want to swap cards, I want equal values. If I want a 25-30 dollar card, I want to be able to trade my 25-30 dollar card for it. Not 40-45 dollars for the 30 dollar card. That is unfair and just being a jerk. Nice not trading with ya, pall. The second part of my trading story is actually very cool. The guy's name was Cameron and he was from here in Indiana. He was there with some friends and was s'possed to be my opponent on round 3 but conceded to me to go have lunch. He didn't end up getting to leave in a hurry because his ride was in the middle of a trade, so we started talking. He was trying to break into Legacy and was building up his card collection. We just BSed about the tournament so far and what our opponents were like and about some of the cards we were looking for. We started to hash out some small trades at first and they were all very easy going. I ended up trading off some of my dual lands to him for some Standard stuff that I really needed. I kinda regretted it, but was willing to make the sacrifice to get the cards I needed in a much more played format. Afterwards, we parted ways, he went and got lunch and I went on to round 4. Later that day, we got back to trading and I ended up getting my playset of duals back in tact. It only cost me a few prized collection pieces that I never played with. I do miss those cards, but at the same time, I helped him get his collection started, restored my playset of duals (with an artist signed copy after the trade), and picked up a ton of stuff I needed or could trade off a lot more easily than the Mox and Chaos Orb.
The moral of the story is... Don't be a jerk when you're trying to trade. It builds bad blood and makes people avoid you. Be cool. Be sociable and likable. Don't be standoffish and over value your cards while undervaluing your trade targets. The fact that Cameron and I were able to establish what values we were comfortable with using, and then sticking to them made things go much more smoothly and even made it fun and profitable for both of us.
Now, on to the sportsmanship portion of my rant.
I played a guy 5th or 6th round that was playing a deck that's very easy to hate against and has a few very solid hate cards to shut it down. My problem with this player's sportsmanship was his attitude about me sideboarding in the card against him in game two. When I played it, he just got a crummy attitude towards me and started being really salty through the rest of the game. I can't help it that he picked a strategy that 1, I knew would be present 2, that I knew how to play against, and 3, that has such easily playable hate. If you play a popular deck choice that has cards that oppose it like that, don't be shocked or angry when it happens to you. Be a better player and play around those cards.
That's all of my non-game related ranting for now. I'll be back in a bit with the PTQ follow up.
SD13
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